MARNIE & MICHAEL PARTNERS WITH INSIDEOUT FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
MENTAL HEALTH GIVEBACK INITIATIVE 2022
TORONTO (April 5, 2022) - - As a lead up to the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Week from May 2-8, 2022, social enterprise and artisan retailer, Marnie & Michael has partnered with Canadian not-for-profit, InsideOut Initiative for a special Mother’s Day campaign to raise proceeds and generate awareness of the InsideOut Initiative acadeME Bootcamps for teens and parents-of-teens.
Founded by Jennifer St. John during the pandemic, Marnie & Michael is a namesake to her parents while also honouring her mother’s own mental health journey. The social enterprise cultivates a supportive virtual mental health community and donates 15% of all profits from St.John’s artisan handbags to mental health initiatives.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with InsideOut and we hope this partnership with their Youth and Parent Bootcamps can help equip both, with the tools and language to connect,” said St. John.
Currently, more than 6.7 million people in Canada live with a mental health condition, with the pandemic dramatically escalating the amount of Canadians (youth and adults) who require support. The InsideOut Initiative recognizes that in order to thrive in today’s world, youth need to understand who they are, what they’re passionate about, and live by that.
“Growing up, the only constant in my life was instability and I felt shamed into saying nothing; keeping my home life a close secret,” said St. John when describing her experience of living with a parent that struggled with mental health. “I am determined to be a part of the conversation and space that is changing this.”
To help generate awareness of the InsideOut Initiative not-for-profit and their transformational acadeME Bootcamps, Marnie & Michael has donated several of their handcrafted leather bags for promotional giveaways, which will commence in April leading up to the event in May. There will also be bootcamp registration giveaways on Marnie & Michael’s social media channels over the next two months, including Youth/Parent acadeME Bootcamp combos which will be awarded in the month of May.
“We’re honoured to be partnering with progressive creators like Marnie & Michael on their
Mental Health Initiative 2022. We are grounded in our shared belief in the power of personal storytelling, breaking the mental health stigma, and inspiring all to live from the InsideOut.” Asma Kenshil, Co-Founder of InsideOut.
Striving to empower Gen Z, InsideOut’s youth acadeME Bootcamp is a self-directed self-discovery virtual program that guides youth towards understanding their needs, wants and desires. With their research-based integrated youth services approach in mind, they are designing an adjacent bootcamp for parents that will be self-paced and accessible 24/7. Both bootcamps will launch in late Spring 2022.
For more information visit: marnieandmichael.com
For more information on InsideOut visit: https://www.ioi.live/
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Marnie & Michael is a luxury artisan retailer meets mental health initiative. An online shop and six retail locations, Jennifer and her team create and handcraft each of their high-end leather bags and accessories - with 15% of all profits devoted to mental health initiatives.
Media Contact:
Amanda Sutton
Catalyst communications choreography
amanda@catalystcc.ca
