Bring Change 2 Mind

Hey, there and thank you for visiting my page! My name is Jessie and I'm really excited to raise money for Bring Change 2 Mind while training for my first half Ironwoman! 

2020 has brought change 2 mind for a lot of us. Like others, I and many close to me have struggled with mental illnesses. I believe the more we talk about mental health the more we will create space for a world with love and I think we could all benefit from a world with more love these days.

The shame and power that mental illness has over humans' lives every day are detrimental. So for this race, my "why" is for all the people out there who have or had struggled with an eating disorder, addiction, depression, anxiety, or anything else under the sun. 

About 5 years ago I saw my first Ironman race in Whistler, Canada and that sparked my passion to complete a race one day. A year later I did my first sprint tri so 3 years later I decided it was time to embrace my FFT (if you know Brene Brown you know what this stands for) and go for it. Not sure what this journey will hold but I am excited to raise some money for an important cause as well as challenge my mind and body. 

Please consider donating to my page or even talking about mental health with colleagues, family, and friends.

For more information about Bring Change 2 Mind visit: https://bringchange2mind.org/

Bring Change to Mind (BC2M) is a non-profit dedicated to ending the stigma surrounding mental illness.

I, Dr. Kahane, am planning to run the Miami half marathon in a week and a half. I am not an experienced or veteran runner and training for this has been a new and challenging :) journey for me.

I feel it is important to use this run as an opportunity to, in some small way, contribute to a cause that has universal merit.

Over the course of the past few months since I began training for this race, I have explored many causes. I have decided to run for an organization called Bring Change 2 Mind (http://bringchange2mind.org/ ) whose mission is to normalize mental illness.

Through my own work as a psychologist and through my involvement in the community, and with my family and friends it has become very clear that people who struggle with emotional illness frequently live in isolation with a great deal of pain, intensified by the stigma attached to mental illness.

Often these children, adolescents, and adults get penalized and disciplined for their emotional struggles rather than helped. Instead of receiving the support of the community, these families often get blamed, ostracized or rebuked for their children's behavior as if they are irresponsible or bad parents.

Sometimes it also prevents people from getting the treatment that they need due to the concerns over the stigma that their child or their family will face. This reality is toxic and damaging to our very being. Mental illness needs to be related to no differently than physical illness and we as a community need to come together to acknowledge and face this issue.

There is much to be done on this front, but to start, we encourage you to join us in this very important endeavor by making a donation to this organization.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Dr. Tamar Z. Kahane