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Welcome to the Emerging into Light Gallery, a place dedicated to celebrating resilience and recovery. Our place to celebrate victories, share sorrows and honour heroes.

Please share with us your own original story, art, fiction or poetry. Inspire us with your own life or that of someone who has touched you in a significant way.

Emerging Into Light focuses on inclusion of people who have mental illness as part of our community Rather than focus on the implied negative message, of "anti-stigma", People who have been affected by mental disorders are encouraged to share and celebrate their stories and struggles. The Emerging into Light symbol speaks to the public about recovery and resilience. We are united behind a symbol that says our struggle is important, far from over and needs to be publicly recognized.

The image is the original artwork of Jennifer Osborn, a consumer and young woman of considerable artistic talent. She has recently returned to work after a period of recurrent illness. Jennifer created this image for us, as a donation, because she wanted to share her story through art. Jennifer worked closely with our design firm to create an image that would be distinct, simple and convey the dignity of our ongoing battle against mental illness.

The symbol is larger than any one organization. It has become a personal badge of pride for people who truly care about mental health and illness issues. By adopting the Emerging into Light symbol, we are bringing mental illness out of the dark ages and into our community. We are no longer hiding.

In July, 2000, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Health formally endorsed the symbol and agreed to act as custodian of the image. CMHA is proud to collaborate with the Canadian Psychiatric Association, the Mood Disorders Society of Canada, the National Network for Mental Health and the Schizophrenia Society of Canada in the acceptance of this personal symbol of resilience and recovery.