The Stress & Stigma Problem
In your school
15% - 25% of youth suffer from mental health problems in school.
22% of Canadian teens considered suicide this past year.
In your workplace
27% of Canadian workers reported days to be 'quite a bit' or 'extremely' stressful.
39% of Ontario workers would not tell their managers of a mental health problem.
In your community
Only 49% of Canadians would socialize with a friend with a serious mental illness.
2 in 3 people suffer in silence fearing judgment & rejection.
Our Mission
Accessible Solutions
Human support is invaluable, and technological innovations are great, but we take a back-to-basics approach with tangible tools which can support someone 24/7, glitch free.
Decrease Stigma
Mental health stigma often means mental health discrimination. We aim to educate and inform to dispel myths about people living with mental health problems, to allow for better recovery and quality of life.
Make the conversation visible
The first aid kit is always there to emphasize the urgency to treat trauma. PASS wants to do the same for mental health. We aim to bring awareness to mental health symptoms and urgency to its management.
What is a PASS Kit?
PASS (Panic, Anxiety, & Stress Support) has developed the PASS kit, a self care tool for communities to manage daily stressors and stimulate the mental health discussion.
"The mental health first aid kit."
FLASHCARDS
with concise counselling advice
EARPLUGS
for blocking uncomfortable noises
STRESS STAR
to grip and release to relax tense muscles
SLEEPING MASK
for shielding disturbing lights
CHEWING GUM
to chew for focus and for refreshment
In the News
How can you get involved?
At PASS, we believe that the mental health dialogue should be barrier-free.
Everyone should feel comfortable and safe discussing their own mental health.
Start the dialogue, listen to others, and share your story using #mypass on social media.
PASS kit wants to help the bad times pass - together.
We look forward to hearing from you and helping those fighting the stigma of mental health.
facebook.com/mypasskit, twitter.com/mypasskit
tina@mypasskit.com, @mypasskit
Tina Chan, Co-founder, CEO
Health Studies at the University of Waterloo
I founded PASS in my last years of my undergraduate studies as a St. Paul's GreenHouse fellow. I struggled during my early years of university while combating anxiety and depression and wanted to do something about it. It didn't sit well with me that the discussion around mental health in schools and workplaces was so different from the openness of the dialogue around physical health.
erik@mypasskit.com, @erikvan33s
Erik Van Ees, Co-founder, Sales & Marketing
Psychology & Business at the University of Waterloo
Why PASS? Because it means a lot more than a kit.
Mental Health is still something we work on everyday to help others understand. There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding mental health, a lot of stigma, and it's difficult to change what people believe if you're not even talking about it. That's why our kit opens the conversation to mental health and this, more than anything, is what's important to me. Beyond every kit is a conversation. When a college purchases a thousand kits for their campus that's 1000 conversations, and that is how you improve a campus' mental health on a large scale. Our kits improve an individuals' mental health, but they also work to break stigma and develop a new understanding of what mental health is. That's why we approach mental health differently, with something tangible, visual, practical, and easy to understand.
Melanie Warren, Content Curation
Masters of Social Work at the University of Toronto
Hello, I'm Melanie Warren. I proofread the flashcards in the original PASS kit and managed social media for fall 2015. Currently, I'm doing research to strengthen the evidence base for the flashcards and generate ideas for new ones. My input to the PASS kit team was and continues to be grounded in my psych and social work education, social justice perspective, and lived experience with mental illness. I am a recent graduate of UofT's MSW program.
— OUR HOME —
PASS kit
Velocity Garage
151 Charles St W.
Kitchener, ON N2G 1J7