FACES OF WHISTLER: Community Connectors

COMMUNITY CONNECTORS

TAKING THE PULSE OF WHISTLER’S MENTAL HEALTH DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC

WHISTLER COMMUNITY SERVICES SOCIETY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JACKIE DICKINSON, PICTURED HERE AT THE SHOE WALL IN THE RE-USE-IT CENTRE, HAS SEEN MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY GO MAINSTREAM IN RECENT YEARS—BUT THE STIGMA REMAINS.

DAVID BUZZARD Towards the end of her maternity leave in late 2019 and early 2020, Jackie Dickinson, executive director of the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS), did as many new mothers do: she hibernated.

With spring as her guideline—March 20, to be exact—Dickinson prepared to introduce her new son to the world.

“That was my goal—that’s when I’m going to come out of my shell, and I’m going to start walking with this baby, and I’m going to be back out there in the mom groups,” she says. “And it’s humorous, right? Because that’s when the pandemic hit and life just changed. So he is a kid that does not have a lot of connections with the outside world.”

In a town built on personal connections and lived experiences, Dickinson and the team at WCSS have shouldered the weight of the community’s anxiety as the COVID-19 pandemic slogs on, continuing to force people apart.

Record numbers of Whistlerites have come through WCSS’ doors since March 2020, with more people identifying as being in a crisis than ever before. But Dickinson doesn’t see this a sign of weakness in the community—in fact, quite the opposite. >>

LONGTIME WHISTLER COUNSELLOR GREG MCDONNELL BELIEVES ONE OF THE KEYS TO LIFE IS TO CONTINUALLY INVEST IN WHO YOU’RE GOING TO BE NEXT. “It’s been really busy, but I don’t use ‘busy’ in a way that’s negative. It’s been really full,” she says, remembering the first time she came back to work after her maternity leave, only to find the big WCSS building at 8000 Nesters Road—typically a hive of activity—completely empty.

“What are we going to do to fill it back up again?” she wondered at the time. “And we’ve been able to do that.”

Dickinson arrived in Whistler permanently in 2008, with a background as a high school teacher in Toronto. She and her boyfriend (now husband) worked for Ziptrek Ecotours before Dickinson took a job as drug and alcohol educator with Sea to Sky Community Services.

Eventually that morphed into a frontline outreach worker role with WCSS, which she held until 2016, when she became program manager. She’s been executive director of the beloved Whistler organization since 2018. It’s safe to say she’s seen a shift in the community over the years.

“I think we see more advocacy for our mental health than we’ve ever witnessed,” Dickinson says, noting that during her time as a teacher in Toronto, it wasn’t a large part of the curriculum.

“To think that almost 20 years later you now have students advocating for a mental health course in the curriculum speaks a lot about this generation.

“I think that as a community and as a province and a country we’re working hard to normalize the conversation of reaching out. [But] I still believe that there is a tremendous amount of stigma associated with it, and that this pandemic has provided more awareness around how we need to access these services.”

GREG MCDONNELL

Greg McDonnell, longtime counsellor and social services worker in Whistler, can pinpoint the moment he knew his true calling. He was a young man uncertain of his future when a mentor suggested he volunteer at a summer camp.

“I had no idea what the summer camp was about. I show up on the first day only to learn it’s a camp for kids with cancer,” he says. “I ended up volunteering there for five summers, and the place changed my life. Like, these kids know how to live. These kids know what their values are, and know what their purpose and meaning is, and they know how to find joy and gratitude out of every moment. And from there I just knew I wanted to work with people.”

Raised in North Vancouver, McDonnell moved to Whistler in 1995—a time when young people were often referred to as “transients,” and there was little in the way of community programs to serve them. Through his role as an outreach worker with WCSS, and then as executive director for five years, he played a major role in implementing many of the programs that exist for young people today.

“Prior to that, Whistler really did feel like a resort, but I think after that we added the community to it,” he says. “There’s a few unique pieces about us, but we’re just like any other town, and it’s going to have its underside, right? So we have to acknowledge that and serve those people.”

As the pandemic drags on, many Whistlerites are “redlining,” McDonnell says, and his advice for people stems from lessons he learned early on as a summer camp volunteer.

There are three things that give us hope, McDonnell reasons: our values (even simple things like family, nature or exercise), our purpose and meaning (even if it’s picking up a new hobby) and our community (“connect with the people who feed you; who don’t take away from you,” he says).

McDonnell thinks back to one fateful day when he was “bored on the Peak Chair,” and subsequently skied home to sign up for a Masters program to become a private counsellor in Whistler.

“One of the keys throughout all of our life is to invest in who you’re going to be next, because our identities don’t stay static,” he says. “That’s what I did that day, unknowingly … now 14 years later, I have this private counselling practice in Whistler.”

EMILY KANE

Like so many others, Emily Kane, owner of Yogacara Whistler, was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Yoga and fitness has been impacted really hard; it’s been one of the hardest-hit industries,” she says. “There’s definitely the moments of deep despair, where it’s like, ‘Wow, am I going to have to make really hard decisions soon, that essentially impact the trajectory of our lives?’”

But as dark as it’s been at times, there’s always something to offer hope when it’s needed, Kane says—and yoga has played a huge role in keeping her grounded.

“I think the biggest thing that yoga and meditation have offered me, especially in this past year, has just been to stay present, and to take things day by day,” she says, adding that if you’re looking for doom and gloom, you’re likely to find it. But I really feel like if you’re looking for those stories of hope and you’re looking for that goodness in the world, that you’ll find that too.”

A yoga practitioner of nearly 20 years, Kane came to Whistler from the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island in 2012.She started Yogacara under a franchise model in the fall of that year, and in 2014 the Whistler Village studio became 100 per cent locally owned and operated.

WHISTLER YOGA INSTRUCTOR EMILY KANE RELEASED HER FIRST BOOK IN 2020: THE ENERGY AND ART OF RESTORATIVE YOGA.

COURTESY EMILY KANE The independence afforded Kane more flexibility (no pun intended)—a godsend when COVID-19 closed the studio’s doors.

“When everything happened with the pandemic, we immediately jumped online, because we knew that our students would need our support there,” Kane says, adding that clients have joined online classes from as far away as California. “So that’s been really cool.”

As for those moments of deep despair, Kane’s advice is to not be afraid to reach out for help, or to try something new.

“And also to accept that there are a lot of difficult emotions to process this year, and not to judge yourself for how you process those things,” she says. “There are a lot of uncomfortable moments, and it might be tempting to go towards certain things to process those emotions … just be really aware of what is going to serve you going forward.” W