Remembering Josie, Supporting Change
Josephine Wearmouth was a second-year psychology student at UBC, in 2017. She was very active, keen on her studies, and a member of the Thunderbird cheer and dance teams. She is fondly remembered by her peers, friends, family and many others whose lives she touched. Her gifts were many. Josie’s smile could light up a room, her laughter was contagious, and her heart of gold made us all feel loved. Her beauty was truly radiant, both inside and out.
To our surprise, Josie was drowning in depression. Muzzled by stigma, she refrained from voicing her struggles to family or friends. She wrote in her journal about strong feelings of worthlessness, embarrassment, shame and that she couldn’t find her way through the stigma. She tried to navigate the uncertain world of an emerging adult - juggling social media, bullying, academic expectations, and peer acceptance. She gave into her struggle at the age of 19.
It is our wish that no one should ever have to experience such pain, again.
In honour of Josie, suicide prevention and mental health research at the University of Calgary has been established to help close the gaps currently experienced by young adults facing life threatening mental health challenges.
The Josephine Wearmouth Memorial Doctoral Scholarship: Aims to inspire student leadership in mental health and empower students in campus mental health by supporting graduate research in suicide prevention. Together we have raised over $150,000 to ensure this endowed award exists in perpetuity and inspires mental health leadership for generations to come. THANK YOU.
Research in Honour of Josephine Wearmouth: Aims to ignite youth participation in exploring solutions. The “Engagement & Co-design - Collaborative Research Towards Student Empowered Mental Wellbeing Project” focuses on bringing young adults and family to the table to re-imagine components of mental health and wellness, and suicide prevention.
Phase 1 – Engagement of diverse student and caregiver/family cohorts
Phase 2 – Co-design support with student and caregiver/family partners
Phase 3 – Pilot implementation of select co-design support models
Phase 4 – Assessment and long-term sustainability of piloted supports
Our collective investment fully funded Phase 1, yielding important insights with solid recommendations from early analysis of engagement data. Thus far, addressing recommendations range from long term, cultural-institutional shifts that would require more robust exploration to near term opportunities to develop specific supports. Prioritization of recommendations and co-design of specific supports is part of Phase 2 and will require additional funding as the project progresses.
We invite you to join Josie’s family and friends – alongside others who have been impacted by mental health challenges and suicide – to make a difference in Josie’s memory. Please join us to strengthen campus mental health and improve suicide prevention. Together we can support positive change!