Storytelling Archives | Allan Kehler
Project Semicolon

Project Semicolon

In 2013, Amy Bleuel went to social media and asked anyone who had struggled with a mental illness to draw a semicolon on their wrist and post a photo. A semicolon symbolized that a sentence wasn’t over yet, and neither was their life. Just like that, Project Semicolon...
Listen Don’t Fix

Listen Don’t Fix

Anytime that I speak at an event in Winnipeg, I try to connect with my Uncle Ray. When he first found out that I was struggling with mental illness, he was upset that he had not known sooner. He believed that these were the very issues that a family needed to discuss...
Mental Health and Connection

Mental Health and Connection

With a six-hour layover in Halifax, I walked into Customs this morning hoping that they could squeeze me in for my Nexus interview. I approached the counter stating my intention, and a man asked me what I did for work. After telling him that I was a speaker on topics...
Vulnerability Equals Strength

Vulnerability Equals Strength

Before introducing me for this morning’s keynote, the director of Saskatoon Light and Power, Trevor Bell, shared that he struggled with anxiety. Never before had he spoken those words out loud to his colleagues. Why did Trevor choose to share? Because he has...
Facing Your Fears

Facing Your Fears

This picture was taken while delivering a keynote back in 2014. What I remember most is being absolutely mortified as I walked towards a stage that was surrounded by screens that projected my every move. I had never experienced that before. I struggled with body...

Stories Shatter Stigma

  While we are certainly moving in the right direction with mental health, stigma remains evident in our places of work and communities. Learning about various mental health issues from a book or a workshop is a great start, but do you know what’s even...

“What’s stronger than a broken man who has the courage to rebuild himself? It’s time to redefine what it means to be strong.”

- Allan Kehler