The Brain Canada – Vocal Fry production returns with Katie Jensen as host

Playing with Marbles, Brain Canada’s English-language podcast on everything brain, is back. This season we’re zeroing in on the perspectives of people with lived experience of different mental health conditions.

Half of Canadians will have experienced a mental illness by the age of 40, and young people are especially vulnerable to mental illness. Whether due to societal pressures, post-pandemic stress, the current political climate, or other factors, young Canadians often find themselves grappling with mental health issues at disproportionately high rates.

“One in four young people need to access mental health services every year,” says Dr. Viviane Poupon, President and CEO of Brain Canada. “Mental health conditions are actually becoming more and more present, and it’s not just because we’re more aware of them now. The need for treatment is actually rising, and it’s time to acknowledge that and act on it now.”

Join host Katie Jensen and travel deep inside six unique brains to learn first-hand about what it is like to be a young person living with anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), dissociative identity disorder, and an eating disorder. You’ll also hear from neuroscientists and clinicians about what they think is going on inside our brains and have the opportunity to learn more about some of the latest treatments.

“Every episode this season follows the story of a real person living with a real mental health condition,” says Katie Jensen. “Since most mental illness starts when we’re young, that’s where we’re starting this season.”

Listeners can expect to hear from Brain Canada-funded researchers including Dr. Jo Henderson, Dr. Tamara Vanderwal, and Dr. Sheena Josselyn, alongside many other special guests.

In the first episode, Dr. Jo Henderson, a recipient of a Brain Canada Youth Mental Health Platform grant, powered by RBC Future Launch and the Scientific Director of the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) says “We’re coming out of a pandemic where many young people experienced significant limitations with the way they engaged with their communities and they’re facing a lot of worries. As a result, many young people are experiencing increases in their distress levels as well as their symptoms related to mental health.”

Playing with Marbles is a Vocal Fry Studios – Brain Canada production. This season is produced with support from RBC Future Launch.

Playing with Marbles is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Mental Health Facts:

• Globally, one in seven 10- to 19-year-olds experiences a mental health disorder.
• By the time people in Canada reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have, or will have had, a mental illness. Importantly, young people aged 15 to 24 are  more likely to experience mental illness than any other age group.
• Up to 70 percent of mental health challenges begin during childhood or teenage years.
• The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the mental health of young people in Canada. Only 42 percent of youth in Canada aged 15 to 24 years old reported having excellent or very good mental health in late March and early April of 2020, compared to 62 percent in 2018—the largest drop of any age group.
• Less than 20 percent of youth struggling with their mental health receive appropriate treatment.

To learn more about what Brain Canada is doing to address mental illness in Canada. https://braincanada.ca/brain-diseases/mental-illness/