Karla Zlatarits' anxiety started at age nine.
At first, she started avoiding sleepovers and social events at friends' houses, and then she started staying home from school several days each month.
But when her mother noticed her daughter wasn't sick, just nervous, she asked her family doctor to provide some support and coping methods for her anxiety.
It wasn't something that was going to simply go away, but it also wasn't some-thing that was going to take over her daughter's life.
Having the resources and the support that she did, Zlatarits said she has great appreciation for community initiatives that encourage people to be open about their mental health issues and get help before the problem grows out of control.
"With anxiety or any mental health issue, the support from the community and your family is key for the success of getting through it," she said. "Because without the support from your family and your support group, you really become isolated, and that's an issue."
Today Zlatarits is an educational assistant at the B.C. Provincial School for the Deaf in Burnaby and is studying at Douglas College to become a child and youth care counsellor for kids with anxiety and depression.
She still considers herself to be someone with anxiety, but knows she can handle it because she's learned to advocate for herself and get the support she needs.
"I never got the impression from family and friends that it was something I needed to be embarrassed about," she said. "And I found, at a very young age, that the more I was open about my situation and advocated for myself about what I needed to be successful in a social situation, or what I needed from teachers to be successful in school. the more that my teachers and my friends were able to set me up for success."
To help spread awareness of mental health issues, Zlatarits has formed a team of friends, family and co-workers to cycle 10 kilometres this Sunday for the Shoppers Drug Mart Ride Don't Hide event - a fundraiser and awareness campaign for the Canadian Mental Health Association.
So far, she and her teammates - collectively known as team Keep Calm and Ride On - have raised $5,000 for the cause. On Sunday, they will join cyclists in Burnaby, and another 12 communities across B.C., to ride with the goal of raising $400,000 for the association's mental health programming and raise awareness of mental health issues for women and their families.
About one in five Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime, the majority of them women, according to the association.
This type of campaign is a good way to make visible that which is often hidden, according to Michael Anhorn, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver-Burnaby branch.
"The stigma around mental health is pretty intense, and the more people we have talking about it, the easier it is for people to talk about their own experience of it," he said.
As of June 20, Ride Don't Hide raised just over $259,000.
All proceeds from the campaign will go towards programming supporting mental health for women and their families, including a new Enjoy Your Baby program, a course that helps new moms cope with the stress and anxiety that can follow childbirth.
In Burnaby, the event will start and end at Swangard Stadium and cyclists will ride 10-, 20-or 60-kilometre routes through Vancouver.
Registration is open until Saturday, June 22, and pledges can be brought in on the day of the event. Participation is $35 for adults, which includes a cycling shirt, bike valet post-ride, and pre-and post-ride food. Youth 14 and younger can participate for free.
For more information, or to register or donate, visit www.ridedonthide.com.
