Students are invited to lace up their running shoes and support mental-health awareness with the Douglas College Miles for Mental Health event Oct. 16.

Hosted by the Canadian Mental Health Association and Douglas College, the annual fundraiser features 2.5-km and 5-km run/walk options at Queens Park and will kick off at 9am with registration and coffee. The 5-km run will begin at 10am followed by the 2.5-km walk at 10:15am.

Douglas College grad Meredith Graham will serve as a student ambassador for the run, which is open to students, staff and faculty. Graham, a youth and family development worker in Burnaby, was given the diagnostic label of four mental illnesses – bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She notes that events like this are important to raise awareness.

“We need to facilitate conversations around stigma and deconstruct the stereotypes and myths that society holds of people who journey with mental health,” she said. “It is important for folks to know that we are not disordered. Change is made when we appreciate that we all join to create community, we all have something to offer and something to learn, we all have gifts and darkness is relative.”