Psychological distress and difference negatively impact one in five people in Canada every year. By age forty 50% of the population will have experienced some issue with their psychological wellness. Globally what is most often described as ‘mental illness’ is the primary cause of suicide, the world’s number one cause of violent death, topping both war and murder. Every year 800,000 people around the world die by suicide, four thousand in Canada alone. In addition to the personal cost the financial cost of major psychological issues in Canada is over $50Billion annually.

What is typically called depression is the one of the most prevalent forms of psychological distress, affecting more than 300million people worldwide; it is the primary cause of disability. There are many established systems for dealing with depression in Canada however an estimated 90% of people who experience it do not seek help despite the reality that 80% of those who live with depression respond well to treatment; this problem is particularly pronounced in the Black, Indigenous, and immigrant populations. There are many theories as to why marginalized people either avoid or reject the mental healthcare system but there is evidence that storytelling practices similar to narrative therapy, narrative communication, and talk therapy can help improve depression and psychological distress. This project approaches the assumptions of professionalized and institutionalized psychological care and suggests that the analysis and redesign of individual, communal, and societal stories partnered with informal support systems might offer practical tools to improve the lives of people in psychological distress on their own terms.