Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts will co-host the Comedy Courage
gala fundraiser in Vancouver next month.
Local comic Darcy James is organizing the May 27 event as a way for
workshop participants to overcome their mental-health issues.
James, of Surrey, helps sufferers write and deliver stand-up comedy
routines for the annual dinner and showcase, which is in its sixth year.
James himself overcame severe depression with the help of a comedy-writing
class. "They say that laughter is the best medicine, but no matter how
funny the joke, you're not going to laugh away a diagnosis like
schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder," he said. "Laughing, however, is a
great way to make light of these serious diseases and change how people
think about them."
The May 27 event is emceed by Dawn Chubai of CityTV and Will Davis of
Global Comfest 2009. Co-hosting with Watts is Anita Huberman, CEO of
Surrey Board of Trade.
Tickets are available online at comedycourage.com or by calling
604-598-9200.
Watts co-hosts Comedy Courage
Surrey Now
Friday, April 24, 2009
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts will co-host the Comedy Courage
gala fundraiser in Vancouver next month.
Local comic Darcy
James is organizing the May 27 event as a way for workshop
participants to overcome their mental-health issues.
James, of Surrey, helps sufferers write and deliver
stand-up comedy routines for the annual dinner and showcase,
which is in its sixth year.
James himself overcame severe depression with the help of
a comedy-writing class. "They say that laughter is the best
medicine, but no matter how funny the joke, you're not going
to laugh away a diagnosis like schizophrenia or bi-polar
disorder," he said. "Laughing, however, is a great way to
make light of these serious diseases and change how people
think about them."
The May 27 event is emceed by Dawn Chubai of CityTV and
Will Davis of Global Comfest 2009. Co-hosting with Watts is
Anita Huberman, CEO of Surrey Board of Trade. Tickets are
available online at comedycourage.com or by calling
604-598-9200.
Comedy Courage offers a comedy course for people with mental health issues
Alfie Lau, The Record
Published: Saturday, February 07, 2009
Darcy James knows first-hand the healing power of laughter.
When James took to the stage on July 9, 2002, he was coming to grips with
being sexually abused by his psychiatrist.
"That was the day I really put myself out there," said James. "It was
pretty hard and really nerve-racking, but that was until I got my first
applause."
The best medicine: Finding courage in comedy are, from left, Darcy James,
Lyle Richardson and Billy Mitchell. Mitchell is a professional comic who
will give a free, stand-up training course for those who have mental
health issues. James is executive director of Comedy Courage, which offers
the program. They're preparing for May's annual Laughing and Giving from
the Heart Gala.
Larry Wright/THE RECORD
James realized that laughing with the crowd was good for his mental
health, and he got involved with an organization, Comedy Courage, that
would help others utilize the healing power of comedy.
On May 27, the sixth annual Laughing and Giving from the Heart Gala will
be held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver.
Courageous comedians coming to grips with their mental health issues will
perform five-minute acts.
But before the comedians can take the stage, they have to learn the fine
art of comedy.
Enter professional comic Billy Mitchell, who will give a free three-month
training course at Lafflines Comedy Club in New Westminster, starting Feb.
18.
"I'm really looking forward to this," said Mitchell. "For many of these
people, it's about teaching them to have a light heart.
"I want to show them that laughter and comedy can be a whole mind-and-body
experience."
Comedy Courage offers the free 12-week course, for a maximum of 15
participants, in a safe, supportive environment, to people with mental
health issues recovering from depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia
and other mental health diagnoses.
The goals are to build confidence, self-esteem and social skills.
Comedy Courage is the first program of its kind in Canada to teach people
with mental health diagnoses and issues how to write a comedy routine
about their own personal journeys to mental health wellness and deliver it
before a live audience.
James, now the executive director of the non-profit group, calls himself
the chief opportunity engineer.
"I know how hard it was to ask for help," he said. "I want to help others
come to grips with their mental health illness, and I want to be there
when they turn it all around."
Using his own life as an example, James said he was misdiagnosed on
multiple occasions - he was called everything from bipolar to chronic
depressive to borderline narcissistic - before the correct diagnosis of
post-traumatic stress as a result of sexual assault allowed James to move
forward with his life.
Comedy was one of the tools James used, and performing before an audience
almost seven years ago showed him that laughing with people was a tool for
healing.
"I can't believe how big this event has become," he said. "I think it
might be the craziest show in Canada."
James remembers the first shows being in the ballroom at the Sandman Hotel
in downtown Vancouver. But, when the crowd swelled to 400, they needed
bigger facilities.
"The Westin Bayshore stepped up," said James. "And that's allowed us to
raise even more money."
To date, the annual event has raised more than $350,000 in total, and this
year's goal is to add another $50,000 to $75,000.
For Mitchell, teaching people who have
had little or no experience with comedy is a challenge he relishes. Comedy
Courage offers a comedy course for people with mental health issues
Alfie Lau, The Record
Published: Saturday, February 07, 2009
"Whenever I've taught before, it's normal for people to have neuroses,"
said Mitchell.
"I use laughter as one of the mechanisms for dealing with those neuroses."
And while he doesn't expect his students to become full-time comedians, he
will feel a sense of pride when they hit the stage on May 27.
"There's a huge accomplishment in just being able to perform," said
Mitchell. "Comedy can be very cathartic, and that may be the only time
they're on stage, so I want them to enjoy it, enjoy the feeling of people
laughing with you and laughing for you."
Mitchell has a distinguished pedigree, with more than two decades of
making people laugh.
"I'd been a fan of stand-up since I was seven years old. In my late teens,
I started hanging around Punchlines (in downtown Vancouver) and even did a
little writing, but I didn't get on stage."
It would be almost 10 years before the urge to perform got the best of
him.
"I tried stand-up on a dare. I got a few laughs and found it very
addictive. It's immediate feedback. But, I really didn't have an 'act,' so
I studied comedy writing at Langara College."
It was at Langara that Mitchell learned under mentor Mark Dennison, who
recommended Mitchell to James as a teacher for this year's Comedy Courage
event.
"Mark taught me everything from the art and structure of writing jokes to
developing my own style," said Mitchell.
"And he told me I should get as much experience on stage as I could, and
there was a stretch in the '80s where I was doing almost every open mike
night in the Lower Mainland."
Now doing mostly private shows, Mitchell said his work is mostly clean and
centred around word play.
As he prepares for his class of Comedy Courage students, Mitchell almost
can't contain his excitement.
"It's a pretty powerful thing to watch people taking a positive step
toward their own healing," he said.
"All I ask of my students is to be open to the possibility of change.
Listen to Darcy's own story, and you can see the power of change. ... I
can't tell you how elated I am at the opportunity to help others."
For more information, go to www.com edycourage.com. Classes at Lafflines
start at 1 p.m. on Feb. 18. While a maximum of 15 people will be
registered for the class, anybody who is interested is encouraged to
contact Darcy James at 604-598-9200 or darcy@comedycourage.com
Darcy James
(from left), Lyle Richardson and Billy Mitchell aim to spread the healing
power of laughter through Comedy Courage, a Surrey-based organization that
offers a free 12-week course in comedy to people with mental health
issues. The next course starts Feb. 18 and culminates with a
performance at the "Laughing and Giving from the Heart" gala event in May
at a Vancouver Hotel.
Free course helps people come to grips with issues
Alfie Lau, Special to Surrey Now-Published: Tuesday,
February 03, 2009
Darcy James knows first-hand the healing power of laughter.
When James took to the stage on July 9, 2002, he was coming to grips with
being sexually abused by his psychiatrist.
"That was the day I really put myself out there," said James. "It was
pretty hard and really nerve-wracking but that was until I got my first
applause."
James realized that laughing with the crowd was good for his mental health
and he got involved with an organization, Comedy Courage, that would help
others utilize the healing power of comedy.
On May 27, the sixth annual Laughing and Giving from the Heart Gala will
be held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver. Courageous comedians
coming to grips with their mental health issues will perform five-minute
acts.
But before the comedians can take the stage, they have to learn the fine
art of comedy.
Enter professional comic Billy Mitchell, who will give a free three-month
training course at Lafflines Comedy Club in New Westminster, starting Feb.
18.
"I'm really looking forward to this," said Mitchell. "For many of these
people, it's about teaching them to have a light heart. I want to show
them that laughter and comedy can be a whole mind and body experience."
Comedy Courage offers the free 12-week course, for a maximum of 15
participants, in a safe, supportive environment, to people with mental
health issues recovering from depression, bi-polar disorder,
schizophrenia, and other mental health diagnoses.
The goals are to build confidence, self-esteem and social skills.
Comedy Courage is the first program of its kind in Canada to teach people
with mental health diagnoses and issues how to write a comedy routine
about their own personal journeys to mental health wellness and deliver it
before a live audience.
James, now the executive director of the non-profit Comedy Courage, calls
himself the "chief opportunity engineer" of the Surrey-based organization.
"I know how hard it was to ask for help," he said. "I want to help others
come to grips with their mental health illness and I want to be there when
they turn it all around."
Using his own life as an example, James said he was misdiagnosed on
multiple occasions -- he was called everything from bi-polar to chronic
depressive to borderline narcissistic -- before the correct diagnosis of
post-traumatic stress as a result of sexual assault allowed James to move
forward with his life.
Comedy was one of the tools James used and performing before an audience
almost seven years ago showed him that laughing with people was a tool for
healing.
"I can't believe how big this event has become," he said. "I think it
might be the craziest show in Canada."
James remembers the first shows being in the ballroom at the Sandman Hotel
in downtown Vancouver, but when the crowd swelled to 400, they needed
bigger facilities.
"The Westin Bayshore stepped up," said James. "And that's allowed us to
raise even more money."
To date, the annual event has raised more than $350,000 in total and this
year's goal is to add another $50,000 to $75,000.
For Mitchell, teaching people who have had little or no experience with
comedy is a challenge he relishes.
"Whenever I've taught before, it's normal for people to have neuroses,"
said Mitchell. "I use laughter as one of the mechanisms for dealing with
those neuroses."
And while he doesn't expect his students to become full-time comedians, he
will feel a sense of pride when they hit the stage on May 27.
"There's a huge accomplishment in just being able to perform," said
Mitchell. "Comedy can be very cathartic and that may be the only time
they’re on stage, so I want them to enjoy it, enjoy the feeling of people
laughing with you and laughing for you.” Mitchell has a distinguished
pedigree, with more than two decades of experience making people laugh.
“I’d been a fan of stand-up since I was seven years old. In my late
teens, I started hanging around Punchlines (in downtown Vancouver) and
even did a little writing, but I didn’t get on stage.
It would be almost 10 years before the urge to perform got the best of
him.
“I tried stand-up on a dare. I got a few laughs and found it very
addictive. It’s immediate feedback. But, I r3eally didn’t have an ‘act,’
so I studied comedy writing at Langara College.”
I was at Langara where Mitchell learned under mentor Mark Dennison, who
recommended Mitchell to James as a teacher for this year’s Comedy Courage
event. Now doing mostly private shows, Mitchell said his work is mostly
clean and centered around word play.
As he prepares for his class of Comedy Courage students, Mitchell almost
cann’t contain his excitement.
“It’s a pretty powerful thing to watch people taking a positive step
toward their own healing,’ he said. “All I ask of my students is to be
open to the possibility of change. Listen to Darcy’s own story and you
can see the power of change…. I can’t tell you how elated I am at the
opportunity to help others.”
Learning
to look at the lighter side By Sheila
Reynolds - Surrey North Delta Leader
Published: January 23, 2009 11:00 AM
Updated: January 23, 2009 11:29 AM
"Laughter is an instant vacation."
It's a quote of actor/comedian Milton Berle's
that Darcy James likes to borrow – mostly because he believes
it to be a truth.
About seven years ago, James decided to use
comedy to take a holiday from his own lifetime of troubles.
He had spent the decades prior spiralling into
a hole that grew darker when he was 19, and his religious
family spurned him because of his sexual preference. Then,
when he finally sought help for his abandonment issues more
than 10 years later, his psychiatrist prescribed him potent
anti-depressants, and sexually assaulted him. Subsequent
doctors diagnosed him with myriad illnesses and prescribed a
plethora of anti-psychotic and other medications which only
made him feel worse. The pit he was in seemed bottomless.
Then one morning James woke up and decided he
needed to change his outlook.
"Basically, I was just tired of crying,"
James, now 49, recalls.
He took a comedy writing course. And he wrote
about what he knew – his own life and his experiences with
mental health issues.
It was July 9, 2002 when he took to the stage
at a small club on Commercial Drive in Vancouver to try out
his material.
"I told my same story, only through the
looking glasses of humour and I couldn't believe it ... I was
clapped at, cheered for my courage."
After being approached by the Canadian Mental
Health Association and a comedic teacher hoping to help others
with mental health issues, James saw an opportunity to
organize an annual fundraiser.
The Surrey resident is the founder of Comedy
Courage, a national non-profit group which for the past five years has
been putting on a gala dinner and showcase to empower those
dealing with mental illness and give the public a better
understanding of the often-misunderstood topic. This year's
comedy show is planned for May 27 at the spectacular Westin Bayshore,
Vancouver.
Comedy Courage also offers stand-up comedy
classes and students are encouraged to perform at the gala
spring event. Participants are now being sought for the next
round of training, which begins Feb. 18. The free course is
for people with mental health diagnoses or issues. It's taught
by professional comic Billy Mitchell at Lafflines Comedy Club
in New Westminster. It runs two hours per week for three
months.
James says the resulting laughter is valuable
therapy for everyone involved.
"You're nervous before you go up, then you get
your first applause and boom, you're off," he says, adding
feedback from students is always positive. "They get a feeling
of 'I'm not a loser.' They're not beating themselves up as
much. It's pretty hard to be depressed when you're writing
comedy."
James also hopes the openness and laughter
will help reduce the stigma attached to illnesses such as
depression, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and psychosis.
"People with mental health issues are a
valuable part of our community. They're not losers."
Those interested in the classes can
download an application at www.comedycourage .com, call Darcy
James at 604-598-9200 or e-mail darcy@comedycourage.com
Call for Courageous Comedic
Students for Canada’s Largest Comedy Benefit Concert in Support of
Mental Health
(January 17, 2009)
Comedy Courage is seeking courageous comedic students with mental
heath diagnoses or issues to apply for a FREE 3 MONTH COMEDIC
TRAINING COURSE culminating in a gala fundraiser showcase
performance.
Classes will be led by renowned professional comic Billy Mitchell,
at Lafflines Comedy Club in New Westminster. A maximum of 15
participants will be accepted for the 2009 program. Training
consists of one 2hr afternoon class per week for a three month
period beginning in mid-February.
The 6thAnnual
Laughing and Giving from the Heart Gala will be held at the Westin
Bayshore Hotel Vancouver, May 27, 2009 where the courageous
comedians showcase their talent. Major
Sponsors include the Precision Media, The Westin Bayshore Hotel,
Lafflines Comedy Club, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca
Pharmaceuticals, Staples, Sandman Hotel Group, The Vancouver Board
of Trade and the Surrey Board of Trade.
Comedy Courage is the first program of its kind in Canada to teach
people with mental health diagnoses and issues how to write a
comedy routine about their own personal journeys to wellness, and
deliver it before live audience! What began as a slow growing
dream has turned into Canada's largest Comedy Benefit Concert in
support of Mental Health Wellness and our Mental Health
Communities. Comedy Courage was granted a National Non-Profit
Status and Provincial Non-Profit status to raise funding for
mental health wellness.
"Comedy Courage seeks to provide comedic training and public
venues for people to share their experiences about the lighter
side of living with mental health diagnoses. Portraying these
challenges from a humorous perspective lessens the effect of the
stigma and helps empower the individual. It also achieves our
goals of increasing public awareness about the challenges of
mental health and what can be accomplished by those of us who live
with mental health issues.”
Comedy Courage is a Surrey based company and a proud member of
both the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Surrey Board of Trade.
Humour makes all the difference for
Comedy Courage founder
By Darcy James - June 2008—Sounding
Board
In 1993, when I was 33, I was abused by a psychiatrist that I had gone to
in order to seek help for personal mental health issues. I tell you this
story because I want you to understand what led me to become Canada’s
first "Mental Health Consumer/Stand Up Comic" and how I discovered the
healing power of laughter.
I did not want to cry anymore and I realized that I needed to change my
outlook. So, using humour, I began to write about the challenges I had
experienced with my own personal mental health issues. I eventually took
the stage in a small club on Commercial Drive in July of 2002 and told the
story of my abuse, filtered through the looking glass of humour. To my
amazement, the crowd laughed and cheered me for me and for my courage and
my mental health story. What amazed me even more is that I was feeling
better inside.
After this, I arranged to meet with a long-time friend and associate,
Andrea Gaglardi, in her downtown Vancouver Sandman Hotel. I wanted to
secure the hotel ballroom for a comedy fundraiser event. Andrea simply
said, "Okay, Darcy, as long as it is big." The first Comedy Courage
Benefit Concert, held in May of 2004, was a roaring success that generated
nation-wide news coverage.
We have had four successful generations of courageous comics at our annual
Comedy Courage fundraiser with diagnoses ranging from bi-polar, severe
depression, anxiety, agoraphobia (fear of open places and people) and
schizophrenia. Since 2005, we have held classes at Lafflines Comedy Club
in New Westminster where students learn on an actual stage how to write
and deliver a comedic routine on the journey to mental health wellness.
In four short years, I have raised in excess of $350,000, which I have
re-directed right back into the mental health community. I am proud to say
we are Canada’s largest comedy benefit concert in support of mental
health.
On May 6, 2008, I was notified that the Registrar of Companies in Ottawa
approved our national charity number so that Comedy Courage can continue
spreading its mission to raise awareness and break stigmas about mental
health right across Canada.
As founder, I would like to invite British Columbians and Canadians to
come out to this year’s showcase on Friday, June 20, 2008 at Lafflines
Comedy Club in New Westminster, B.C.
Ticket info and the line-up for this year’s Comedy Courage can be found at
www.comedycourage.com.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
By David Spanner - Our Culture
“If you tell your story and you’re in an
angry, poor-me-state, people treat you like you’ve got the plague — ‘Get
Away from me, you’ve got a mental illness.’ You Can tell the same truth
through humour. You’re lifting the load so people are not afraid of it.”
Darcy James —
founder of Comedy Courage
Laughing their heads on
A
group for comics with ‘mental health issues’ explores the healing power of
humour.
Funny that comedy is
seldom taken seriously. Life is serious business, we’re told, with
society’s sombre, dignified personas earning respect, be it in politics or
the arts.
“That’s encouraged
even if you’re boring and depressing.’ Says Vancouver funny woman Gina
Lantos. “They say, ‘Don’t make a spectacle of yourself.”
Lantos, though, was
part of a recent comedy spectacle at the Westin Bayshore, featuring
students of Vancouver Comedy Courage, which trains people with “mental
health issues” to do standup for their rights, and their health.
Gina Lantos and
Brent Reid are part of Comedy Courage, a program that has enable both of
them to use comedy in their personal struggles for their personal stuggles
with depression. Jon Murray -
The Province
The class clown is
rarely the class president. Movie comedies almost never win Oscars. Jim
Carrey sets aside his considerable gifts for comedy to see recognition for
his lesser gifts for drama.
Although comedy’s
social status may rank a notch beneath drama’s, there have always been
those who see the importance of comedy, realizing that it’s difficult for
someone to hate you if they’re laughing with you — from standup comic
Lenny Bruce lambasting social hypocrisy to today’s graffiti artists
humoursly altering a billboard.
Along with those who
say comedy is good for our society there are growing numbers who say it is
also good for our health. In the Late 1970s, writer Norman Cousins,
hospitalized with a debilitating arthritis, “Made the joyous discovery”
that Marx Brothers comedies were doing more for him than injections.
Soon, laughter’s proponents were vowing it decreases blood pressure,
boosts the immune system and triggers painkiller endorphins. This
new-found respect for laughter prompted everything from “laughing clubs”
in India to Comedy Courage in Vancouver.
“It’s about stigma,”
says Darcy James, who founded Comedy Courage in 2003. “If you tell your
story and you’re in an angry, poor-me-state-, people treat you like you’ve
got the plague — ‘Get Away from me, you’ve got a mental illness.’ You can
tell the same truth through humour. You’re lifting the load so people are
not afraid of it.”
Comedy Courage has a
range of activities, including a website where you can see the students in
action (comedycourage.com), comedy classes taught by professional jester
Patrick Maliha and public events such as the showcase at the Westin
Bayshore.
Brent Reid grew up in
Regina and Surrey, loving comedy, especially the old-timers such as Jackie
Gleason and Don Rickles. It was difficult for Reid to find much offence
in Rickle’s use of “hockey puck’ as an insult term, considering Reid’s
biggest comic influence was his hockey-playing grandfather, former Boston
Bruin Mel Hill who earned the nickname “Sudden Death” after scoring three
overtime winners in one 1939 playoff series.
“How could I find Don
Rickles offensive” Says Reid. “I grew up with my grandfather. He had a
mouth like a trooper.”
After finishing high
school in 1980 Reid worked for a moving company for 20 years. He also
found himself in a battle with manic depression.
Gina Lantos grew up
in Hungary, moving to Canada in 1985, eventually settling in Burnaby with
her husband and three children. Lantos did various jobs before returning
to school to become a family counsellor. She also found herself in a
battle with, among other things, depression.
“It’s like being dead
while you’re still alive,’ she says. And it took its toll on family and
friendships. “I used to get depressed about being depressed,’ says
Lantos. “I thought it was something I should have under control.’
While there is no
cure-all for depression, ultimately Reid and Lantos came through. For
Reid it hasn’t returned since he found a medication that works for him
eight years ago (“I went thought quite a few” he says. Lantos dealt with
depression through medication and “positive lifestyle,” including dieting,
dancing and …..comedy.
Both had often been
told they’re funny, so when they heard about Comedy Courage, they signed
on.
Maliha says Reid and
Lantos are naturals. “Everybody thinks comedy is easy,’ he says. “The
truth of it is anybody can tell jokes but very few can make you laugh.’
He encourages the
students to use their lives as material. Here’s a personal bit from
Reid’s routine; “I went in the hospital. They gave me this Haldol Stuff.
It makes your lip hang down and you tongue hang out. They bring me a bowl
of soup and I had a $40 dry-cleaning bill.
Lantos sees an upside
in her experience with depression. “You fall apart, but if you use it in
a positive way, it’s a chance fore restructuring transformation.
And Comedy Courage is
a part of that process.
“Patrick gave me a
list of amateur comedy clubs,’ says Reid. “I’m going to do that. It’s
fun making people laugh.’
Comedy has become
important to Lantos too.
“First of all I
discovered yes, I am funny,’ she says. “My son came to the show and said,
“Thank God you were hilarious. I thought I was going to have to pretend
you’re funny.’
When you laugh, you
cannot be depressed. It’s impossible. When you’re depressed, you can’t
find anything funny.
By
MICHAEL SCHRATTER — Winning
FIRST PLACE Best
Vancouver Soireé Philanthropy
The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver - DECEMBER 30, 2007
With the help of new medical knowledge, a collective awareness and rapid
societal change, the human condition and its multitude of variations have
truly begun to shed their stigmas. But if there ever was an affliction
that stood strong in a foundation of fear and ignorance, fighting against
acceptance and understanding, mental illness is it. We may no longer be
burning them at the stake or lobotomizing them into silence,
but
we still see it to be reasonable to allow the mentally ill to suffer
homeless on the dirty streets, shunned by everyone except for the
occasional rat or health care worker. How cruel a fate to be sick with a
disease that can not only rob you of your ability to share a common
reality with your fellow man, but also requires you to remain fearful and
silent in your suffering, for not to do so risks exposure and
ostracization.
Left to
Right at the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver:
Comedy Courage Founder & Comedian - Darcy James, Comedic Student Angie
Daybell, Comedic Mentor/Instructor Patrick Maliha.
Last week Comedy Courage had it’s 4th annual event, with all proceeds
going towards the Mind Foundation of BC, a foundation that raises funds
for the BC Schizophrenia Society. The Laughing and Giving from the Heart
Gala brought generous patrons out to the Westin Bayshore Hotel to enjoy
fine cuisine, bid on live
and silent auctions, and then enjoy a bit of dessert while laughing at
people recovering from mental illness. Yes, you read correctly, gala
guests were encouraged to laugh at the comedic stories and tales of eight
amateur comedians, all of which have suffered from mental illness at one
time or another.
Gary Glacken Executive
Director BC Schizophrenia Society
John L. Daly - Senior Report Global BC, TV -Comedy Courage Host and MC
With their
mantra, “Psychosis sucks, humour heals,” comedic students were mentored
through a 12-week program by professional comic Patrick Maliha. The course
teaches people with mental health diagnoses how to write a comedy routine
about their own personal journeys to wellness, and deliver it before a
live audience at the gala fundraiser. You couldn’t pay me enough to do a
stand-up routine infront of several hundred people, and you’d literally
have to put a gun to my head if you wanted me to publicly reveal my
darkest secrets. How these brave souls found the courage to do what they
did is truly admirable. Comedy Courage understands that the stigma and
misunderstanding of mental illness is the problem. The question is, do
you?
Comedy fundraiser explores
humour in mental health
By: Patricia Morrison
Imagine you’re struggling with a major mental health diagnosis:
depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia. The illness impacts your economic
status, your well-being, your entire life. Would your first impulse be to
get up on stage and poke fun at your mental health issues in front of a
group of strangers as a form of therapy?
Not exactly, right?
It wasn’t Shay Novack’s
first impulse, either. With a history of depression and panic attacks, she
has attempted suicide four times. The last thing on her mind was the
thought of becoming a comedienne.
At the recommendation of her psychiatrist, Novack reluctantly applied to
Comedy Courage, a unique 12-week program
that teaches people from the local community living with mental health
issues to develop and deliver stand-up comedy based on their own personal
experiences. The program builds confidence, self-esteem, and social skills
for the participants and raises awareness of mental health issues.
Novack joined Comedy Courage last year as one of their comics. "Since I’ve
been writing comedy, I don’t feel as depressed," Novack says from the dark
interior of Lafflines Comedy Club where
classes take place. "How can I be depressed as I’m always trying to write
something funny?"
With its black walls and black-painted windows, Lafflines seems an
unlikely place to combat depression. But it’s working — since joining the
program, Novack has performed stand-up routines at various venues and
plans to join the courageous comics again this year at the Laughing and
Giving from the Heart Gala Dinner and Showcase, presented by
Coast Capital Savings, on Wednesday, May
23 in Vancouver. The Gala, Canada’s first and largest comedy benefit in
support of mental health, hopes to donate $50,000 to the
BC Schizophrenia Society.
"We’re thrilled to be the presenting sponsor of this year’s Gala," says
Kate O’Brien, marketing project manager for Coast Capital Savings and
member of the Comedy Courage advisory board. "Comedy Courage is an amazing
program that helps individuals cope with adversity through laughter and
humour. The annual Gala is a huge success, as the courageous comics put on
an amazing performance."
For Novack, the best part of the Gala and the entire Comedy Courage
experience is the personal growth it provides, "The most fulfilling
part is embracing everything about myself and being able to get up on
stage and talk about it.”
Comedy
helps people with mental illness
New training course starting at By Lori Pappajohn
Record Reporter
January 13, 2007
HUMOUR:
Patrick Maliha is leading a new Comedy Courage course at Lafflines, using
stand-up comedy to help people deal with mental illnesses.
This may sound odd, but it
is true: if you suffer a mental health issue, you are being sought to
learn stand-up comedy.
Comedy Courage is seeking courageous people with mental health diagnoses
or issues to apply for a free, three-month comedic training course
culminating in a gala fundraiser showcase performance.
Classes will be led by
professional comic Patrick Maliha, at Lafflines Comedy Club at the corner
of Columbia and Fourth streets.
A maximum of 15 participants
will be accepted for the 2007 program.
Training consists of
one-to-two afternoon classes per week for a three-month period beginning
in mid-February, states a Comedy Courage press release.
Darcy James (also known as
Darcy James Goral), who founded Comedy Courage, says humour is a wonderful
tool to help a person deal with mental health issues.
He should know.
James suffered for years
from mental illness, including severe depression.
One day James woke up and
said enough was enough. James figured that the best way to stop crying
about his life was to start laughing about it. So he enrolled in a comedy
writing course.
It helped change his life.
Now all that was painful and
heartbreaking has become fodder for his jokes - fodder for the medicine
that works - laughter.
You can call it a type of
reframing, says James. Instead of crying, you laugh.
Comedy Courage participants
have varied from those suffering anxiety and depression to those living
with schizophrenia.
Comedy Courage seeks to:
• Reduce the stigma
surrounding mental health diagnoses.
• Show that people with
mental illness are capable, and do overcome their challenges.
• Give people with mental
illness the courage to take risks and make positive life changes.
• Build confidence and
self-esteem for those with mental illness.
• Provide positive role
models for the mental health community and society.
"My biggest passion is seeing the smiles on people's faces and seeing
lives change," said James.
"One participant had not left her house for seven years, unless she
absolutely had to. At the end of a session, she stood up and did a comedy
routine. It takes great courage for a comedic student to do stand-up
comedy, let alone put their mental health on public display."
Says James: "Humour heals.
My life journey brought me to this healing point and I want to share it
with the world."
Maliha said "that a woman who had twice been institutionalized for
suicide attempts, took the Comedy Courage workshop and now does stand-up
comedy.
"No matter what your fears,
you can achieve great and wonderful things," said Maliha, adding that the
workshops provide a safe and supportive environment.
Comedy Courage notes that
Coast Capital Savings credit union is once again the presenting sponsor of
the gala fundraiser where the comedians showcase their talent.
Hosted by Global B.C. TV's John L. Daly, the fourth annual Laughing
and Giving from the Heart gala will be held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel
in Vancouver May 23.
Proceeds from the gala go to the Mind Foundation of B.C. and the B.C.
Schizophrenia Society.
Information from Comedy Courage notes that it is the first program
of its kind in Canada to teach people with mental health issues how to
write a comedy routine about their journeys and deliver it to a live
audience.
For info, contact
Darcy James Goral at 604-598-9200 or darcy@comedycourage.com.
published on 01/13/2007
MEDIA 2006
Documentary
explores
Comedy Courage stories
By
Lori Pappajohn
Record Reporter
The
woman in the documentary is being brutally honest. She struggles with
mental illness. It's not easy on her children, and she knows it.
"It's reality and it hurts me. _ It's painful," she confides.
The
woman is in a workshop where people learn to turn their mental illness
traumas and challenges into comedy - where they learn to laugh at life and
see the lighter side.
So
she gives it a try. She has written a joke about her life - and she shares
it with the others:
"I
feel sorry for my kids. Both of them had to parent me. When I get married
and have children, they will be grandparents."
The
other workshop participants laugh. They can identify with her. They are
part of the Comedy Courage documentary, filmed at a Comedy Courage
workshop held last year at the Canadian Mental Health Association's Simon
Fraser Branch offices in Sapperton. The documentary premiered at the
association's annual general meeting last month.
Ami
Catriona, who produced and directed the documentary, said it was wonderful
watching the participants transform during the course of the workshop.
Participants varied from those suffering anxiety and depression to those
living with schizophrenia.
"The
people were dealing with stigmas and prejudice and you saw them become
completely empowered."
New Westminster
comic Kimberly Beaudoin taught the free, 12-week course, helping people
explore their emotions, put them into words, form jokes and stand up and
tell them.
Catriona notes that "by using their own personal experiences and a
tremendous amount of courage, they hope to change the way people look at
mental illness, and prove that laughter might just be the best medicine.
"Currently, it's estimated that one in three British Columbians suffer
with various forms of mental illness but, because of the stigma attached,
many never seek help. Comedy Courage is the attempt to triumph over that
stigma."
Rodney Baker, executive director for the Simon Fraser Branch of the
Canadian Mental Health Association points out in the documentary that the
author of The Road Less Travelled said everyone is mentally ill.
2005 Gala Performance - Vancouver, BC
"It's just a question of how much," said Baker.
Comedy Courage workshops, founded by Darcy James Goral, seek to:
•
Reduce the stigma surrounding mental health diagnoses.
•
Show that people with mental illness are capable, and do overcome their
challenges.
•
Give people with mental illness the courage to take risks and make
positive life changes.
•
Build confidence and self-esteem for those with mental illness.
•
Provide positive role models for the mental health community and society.
— LAUGHTER —
Helps Mental Illness Comedy Courage Shines Light
in Dark Places
KRISTYL CLARK — Reporter —
The Langley Times • Sunday, June 04, 2006
Once
upon a time, those who showed signs of having a mental illness were locked
away in white padded rooms, where they were sterilized and drugged into a
vegetative state.
Those who were able to avoid living in a mental institution were
forced to keep silent about their illness in fear of isolation and
abandonment from friends and family. Unfortunately, this is not a fairy
tale that happened long ago, in some far away land.
Although very few are locked away now for hearing
voices, feeling sad or fat, many live in silence with their illness in
fear of being ostracized from society. Although I'm 24, I only found out a
few years ago that my own father has been living with schizophrenia for
the past 20 years. Although I only see him a few times a year, it wasn't
hard to see that he wasn’t' like my friends' dads.
He'd often phone me up two or three times a day to talk about
random topics, often not making any sense at all. As strange as it may
sound, I was actually relieved when I found out that he had been ill all
those years. I could no longer be mad at him for his strange behaviour or
embarrassed by his antics, now that I knew it had never been his fault.
But like my family, I kept silent about his illness, fear the
judgment I'd receive for having a Schizophrenic father. Recently, I had
the pleasure of attending one of Canada’s largest benefit concerts in
support of mental health. It was held at the convention Centre in Langley.
Called "Laughing and Giving from the Heart" it
showcased stand-up comedy performed by the participants of a group called
Comedy Courage.
Comedy
Courage is an innovative comedic training program for individuals living
with a mental illness. It helps them to achieve the confidence to step
onstage in front of a room full of people, to make light of their
diagnosis.
Schizophrenia, agoraphobia, depression... you name it,
they have it! We are taught as young children that we should look away
instead of pointing out ones problems, but Comedy Courage doesn’t want the
public to look away.
They want the world to pay close attention and see that
a mental illness does not define an individual. Once the Comics began
their routine I realized the strong effect that comedy has. It is well
known that laughter is the best medication. I just never realized until
that night just how effective it can be.
A few weeks prior to the event, I met with Barbra
Coates, one of the comics. She has lived the majority of her life in fear,
suffering agoraphobia. Sitting on a park bench in Douglas Park she seemed
timid and meek.
Never
in a million years could I envision her standing up in front of hundreds
of people, telling jokes about what its like to be afraid to walk down the
street. Yet she did it and she was fabulous.
Through
comedy she was able to transform from being fearful and shy to a
confident, savvy woman who commands the attention of the entire room.
As for my dad, I am glad that I'm no longer in the dark
about his illness. Knowing about it has helped me better understand him,
allowing us to build a new relationship based on honesty and compassion.
Whether it's through
comedy or just talking openly and honestly, the negative stigma of mental
illness can be broken, one voice at a time.
LANGLEY TIMES
— LAUGHTER —
Still The Best Medicne
KRISTYL CLARK — Reporter —
The Langley Times • Firday, May 12, 2006
A group of courageous souls are battling the stigma of
mental health diagnoses, one chuckled at a time.
Front Left to Right - Rick Sands, Barbara Coates, Robert Thompson, Darcy James, Andy Hryszowy.
Back - George Roshko "Corporate & Private Sponsor - Spa Utopia" Comedy Courage comedians will take the stage in Laughing and Giving
From the Heart at Langley’s Coast Hotel on Wednesday, May 17 to raise
funds for Ishtar Transition Housing Society.
They are the talented participants of Comedy Courage a innovative program
that provides comedic training and public venues for people to share the
lighter side of living with mental health diagnoses.
On May 17 they will perform their stand-up routines on stage at the
Langley Coast Hotel and Convention Centre for their 3rd annual gala dinner
and showcase Laughing and Giving from the Heart.
This year, 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to Ishtar transition
Housing Society. A silent auction will generate additional revenue for the
charity.
Ishtar's executive director, Dorothy McKim, said they are planning to use
the funds for an innovative anger management program for men. The annual
cost of the program is $42,570.00
“Comedy Courage's approach of education and training for those with mental
health issues to discuss and express their experience and challenges by
employing stand-up comedy is both innovative and empowering” said McKim.
The mastermind behind Comedy Courage is Darcy James Goral, a man who is
living proof that having a mental illness shouldn't stop anyone from
living an enriching life.
The trick, he says, is getting others to focus on the person, not the
illness.
“Say you have a new beautiful car and you get a big scratch on it. That
scratch is all everyone is likely to focus on. The same goes for having a
mental illness, when you have it it's all people seem to see,” said Goral.
It is Goral's goal to show the world that a mental illness is only a small
part of the person.
For Goral, it all began one day when he woke up realizing that he had been
wallowing over his mental health diagnoses and issues for 10 years. That
morning he decided to break the cycle and prove to the world that even
with a mental illness, one is capable of doing great things for the
community.
Having a passion for comedy, Goral signed himself up for a comedic writing
class in 2002.
“I did not know a thing about laughing or writing, so I wrote about me and
the challenges I had with my own mental health issues,” said Goral.
Once he fine-tuned his material, he hit the stage of a small club on
Commercial Drive.
“Lo and behold, I was cheered and applauded for my courage to do stand-up
comedy on my real life experiences in mental health namely my mental
health, “said Goral.
After he began to make a name for himself in the comedy scene, he was
approached by a comedic teacher and the Canadian Mental Health Association
to help others with real mental health diagnosis and issues through his
experience. He saw a great opportunity to do a major fundraiser.
The first thing he realized was that he needed a place to do the show,
which he found a Lafflines Comedy Club in New Westminster.
On April 22, several of the participants, many of whom are from the
Langley area, gathered at a bench in Douglas Park to share their
heart-felt experiences with the program.
Among the group sat Barbara Coates, an attractive soft-spoken women in her
40s who has lived in Langley most of her life. Coates revealed that she
has Agoraphobia, causing her to have frequent panic attacks. She said she
grew tired of living every moment of her day in fear prompting her to give
Comedy Courage a chance.
“I didn't have any desire to become a comic but was urged from a friend to
give it a try.' Said Coates.
“My illness has been a problem for so many years, that I figured something
good had to come out of it… I really have to believe that all this that
I'm suffering from hasn't been for nothing.”
Since joining the program Coates has come out of her shell and has made
several close friends, including Langley resident Rick Sands.
Sands has been making people laugh all his life, but the laughter stopped
when he was diagnosed as being bi-polar in his early 30s and experienced
isolation when he was cut-off from friends and family.
Sands hopes that his stand-up act will change people's minds about mental
illness.
“When I walk down the street I want to be acknowledged as being the funny
guy, not the crazy one.
“Hopefully people will see that we are ordinary people and that one day
we'll get rid of the stigma.'
Comedy Courage doesn't end with the Show. Afterwards the showcase of
“Courageous Comics” will continue to perform at public events,
conferences, treatment centres, and functions throughout the summer.
The Coast Hotel and Convention Centres is at 20393, Fraser Hwy. Tickets
cost $150.
All purchase for individual tickets, tables and donations will reflect a
100% charitable tax receipt.
For information visit www.comedycourage.com or contact Goral at
604-598-9200.
LangleyAdvance
Comedy cracks stigma
of mental illness
Friday May 12, 2006 Langley residents who suffer
from mental illnesses are
laughing their way to healing
They say laughter is the best medicine,
but who really needs a doctor when you’ve got a comedy coach instead?
A group of participants from the third annual Comedy Courage even came
together for a laugh at Douglas Park.
From Left:
Ishtar Transition Housing
Society executive director Dorothy McKim, Comedy Courage president Darcy
James Goral, and two comedy students Georgene Waltham and Any Hryszowy.
This was the approach that former
Langley resident Darcy James Goral took in the spring of 2002 when he
ventured into a writing course in comedy after enduring 10 years of abuse
and misdiagnoses of mental illness.
After growing up in an oppressive
Jehovah’s Witness family, losing his mom at the age of 19, and being
shunned by his family after the discovery of his homosexuality, Goral went
looking for some help.
Goral was first referred to a Vancouver
psychiatrist in 1992 and immediately prescribed a powerful antidepressant
known to cause psychotic outbursts.
Six months in the drug therapy program,
Goral was sexually assaulted by his psychiatrist. While he left the
doctor and the drug, Goral’s body had grown so attached to the drug that
he fell into episodes of mania that landed him into the emergency wards of
Langley Memorial Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital about 50 times.
“I was always being told and treated
like I was a child,” he said.
After spending the next decade going
through drug after drug and psychiatrist after psychiatrist, as well as
fighting for justice and compensation over his rape in 1993, Goral decided
he had had enough.
“It all started when I woke up one day
realizing I had been crying for 10 years solid over my mental health
diagnoses and issues, recognizing that I needed to change my outlook” he
said.
While going through the comedy course,
he wrote and talked about the one thing he knew really well – mental
health challenges.
“I just got up on stage and started
talking about my mental health issues” he said, “and I was cheered”.
“With mental health, the diagnosis is
everything,” Goral added. “Everybody always focused on my diagnosis, not
my talent.”
Through comedy, Goral found an outlet
where he could express his talents rather than just the stigma of mental
health problems.
His story was told in The Province
newspaper in 2002 and he was quickly approached by the Canadian Mental
Health Association to help other with mental illnesses.
He realized then that he wanted to share
his newfound therapy with others, but also make it an affair to remember.
This Wednesday May 17, will mark the
third annual Comedy Courage gala event, where a class of comedy
students – all suffering from a variety of mental illnesses – will get up
on stage before a crowd of people at the Coast Hotel and Convention Centre
and deliver their own, personal routines.
Georgene Waltham is one of six students
this year who have studied for the past couple of months under the
tutelage of comedic mentor Patrick Maliha.
Waltham, 36, suffers from schizophrenia.
In her early 20’s, she said she would
hold herself up in her room each night after work and not talk to anyone.
“I lived inside my head,” Waltham said.
“Music helped me dream up a world that was not of this world.”
But soon, she said, her mind began to
deteriorate and at 25, she ran away from home and lived on the streets of
Langley for three days, paranoid and that her parents were out to kill
her.
She was eventually found by police and
taken to the psych ward at LMH, where she was officially diagnosed.
She was put on an experimental drug,
which helped control her illness, but made her feel incredibly tired.
After stopping the drug, she had a relapse and ended up at LMH again in
2000.
She was given another experimental drug
– Sequeril – which she has taken ever since.
“It’s a fantastic drug,” she said.
Since then, she has turned her life
around and continues to celebrate a new birthday for each year she remains
healthy.
“I tell myself, ‘You’re six years old.
Happy birthday,’” she said.
“It’s an acknowledgement for myself that
I’m proceeding on in my life.”
Waltham has worked at the same company
as a production worker for the last 16 years, she recently completed her
GED at the Langley Education Centre, and speaks to groups about her mental
illness as part of the B.C. Schizophrenia Society.
And recently, she has been trying her
hand at comedy.
“I need to get back my sense of humour
because I lost it throughout the years,” she said.
Waltham found out about Comedy
Courage through Stepping Stones and has loved seeing each of the
students grow so much over the last couple of months.
“You have to look at life comically,”
she said. “It’s true that laughter is the best medicine.”
Comedy Courage will be at the
Coast Hotel and Convention Centre on May 17, beginning with a silent
auction at 4:30p.m., followed by a dinner and the show, hosted by John L.
Daly.
Tickets can be bought through
www.comedycourage.com for $150 per person at $1,100 for a table of
eight. Donations can also be made online.
All the donations raised will go towards Langley’s Ishtar Transition
Housing Society for an anger management program for men.
MEDIA 2005
LANGLEY
Comedy
Aids Mentally Ill
June 28th, 2005
A Langley company has raised thousands of dollars for
the Canadian Mental Health Association by bringing the gift of laughter to
those with mental health issues.
COMEDY COURAGE, founded by Darcy James Goral, raised
more than $14,000.00 by teaching people who are bi-polar or who suffer
from schizophrenia how to write and deliver stand-up comedy routines.
The routines, performed on May 18 in Vancouver, were
about the participants' own mental health journeys, so they could rise
above their setbacks through humour.
COMEDY COURAGE will present a cheque to CMHA's BLUE
BIRD HOUSE transition home in New Westminster on July 5, 2005.
Dire Need:
Government must offer hope for their future.
Cliff isn’t a
household name. He’s never closed a deal with the nation’s movers and
shakers. Nor does he have a cast of merciful supporters to buoy his
spirits when he’s running on empty.
But, like former
Burnaby MP Svend Robinson, who has now disclosed that he suffers from a
mental mood illness, Cliff, too, has been there, done that.
The daily must-dos
we take in stride can be as daunting for the 45-year-old has a climb up
Mt. Everest would be for you and me; boarding SkyTrain, researching in the
public library, applying for a job, approaching someone he fancies for a
date.
Three years ago,
his manic-depressive self could only fathom futility; signing off forever.
But Cliff harbours hope today because of support staff and peers at
Bluebird House who are helping him shuffle up that steep slope toward
self-sufficiency and normalcy.
Few admit it, but
mental disabilities touch us all, affecting an estimated 20 per cent of
people in our communities, our families, our circle of friends.
The cost to
Canadian society and the economy is staggering; $14.4 billion a year,
particularly in worker absenteeism and the soaring number of psychiatric
emergency visits to our hospital, according to a 2005 report by the B.C.
Alliance for Accountable Mental Health and Addictions Services.
Poverty and house
are the most pressing issues.
As many as 3,000
mentally ill men and women are waiting for housing in the city; factor in
the street homeless and the disproportionate number of adults with mental
illnesses mixed up in the criminal justice system, and you get a sense of
the dire urgency.
Bluebird is a
sanctuary. The modest, two-level bungalow in New Westminster with two cats
in the yard is home to Cliff and four others
learning-to-function-on-their-own residents; a transition house for the
schizophrenic, the bipolar, the manic depressive and the only one in B.C.
fully-owned and run by the Canadian Mental Health Association, Simon
Frraser Branch.
Why aren’t there
scores of Bluebird houses in every B.C. Community?
Funding, for
starters. And the lack of both a province-wide mental health/addiction
plan and a framework for performance assessment and accountability. Sure,
previous governments have made minor adjustments, handed out funds here
and there, but the impact has been impossible to track — not unlike the
situation plaguing our health-care system as a whole.
“It is troubling
that we continue to see evidence of a very significant gap between needs
and services,” states the report by the alliance, which is comprised of 14
member groups, including the Vancouver Police Department, the B.C.
Schizophrenia Society and the CMHA.
Voters can get
involved by insisting that election candidates explain their policy on
mental health and whether they’d support an authority similar to the ones
overseeing the rest of B.C.’s health-care system.
You can aid the
CMHA by making a donation to help cut its $65,000 mortgage on Bluebird
House, or by supporting Comedy Courage’s second annual fundraising dinner
with laughs and silent auction a week tonight:
www.comedycourage.com or call 604-516-8080
FYI – Global’s
News reporter John L. Daly is MC and I’m auctioneering.
On May 12 comedian
Kimberley Beaudoin will present a night of humour at New Westminster’s
Lafflines Comedy Club, 26 Fourth St., to benefit the Canadian Mental
Health Association – Simon Fraser Branch.
Beaudoin has been
teaching comedy to folks with mental illness through the website
www.comedycourage.com and is raising awareness for the Big Comedy
Courage Gala May 18. Two of Beaudoin’s students will perform routines, as
will Victoria Pattison and headliner Carter Hortie, who has performed at
the Vancouver International Comedy Festival and Just for Laughs in
Montreal. Tickets are $10 from 604-525-8862 or via e-mail at
info@kimberleyscomedycorner.com
MEDIA 2002
Very Special Thanks to
SHELLEY ECKSTEIN Our Event and Volunteer Coordinator
and all of her wonderful volunteer teams including:
STAPLES DISTRICT MANAGER - VICTOR CHIMA
STAPLES GENERAL MANAGERS - KJ DARWAL, RANJ SEHDEV, RITA HARDEN,
DELMAR KYLLO, ANDREA BACKMAN
STAPLES STORE VOLUNTEERS - SAMMY GREFFORD, WAYNE VAN DER WESTHUIZEN,
JAMES SUTTON, KIM MEYER
but
we still see it to be reasonable to allow the mentally ill to suffer
homeless on the dirty streets, shunned by everyone except for the
occasional rat or health care worker. How cruel a fate to be sick with a
disease that can not only rob you of your ability to share a common
reality with your fellow man, but also requires you to remain fearful and
silent in your suffering, for not to do so risks exposure and
ostracization. 
and silent auctions, and then enjoy a bit of dessert while laughing at
people recovering from mental illness. Yes, you read correctly, gala
guests were encouraged to laugh at the comedic stories and tales of eight
amateur comedians, all of which have suffered from mental illness at one
time or another. 
Comedy
helps people with mental illness 
Never
in a million years could I envision her standing up in front of hundreds
of people, telling jokes about what its like to be afraid to walk down the
street. Yet she did it and she was fabulous.
