A Saturday walk at a Surrey park will remember Sasha “Sashbear” Menu-Courey and raise money for suicide-prevention programs launched in her name.
Soon after the death by suicide of the Toronto-area athlete in 2011, at age 20, her parents started a foundation to help others diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The Sashbear organization also teaches families how to communicate with loved ones struggling with mental illness.
On May 13, for a second straight year, Surrey’s Hawthorne Park is the site of Canada’s first Sashbear walk of 2023, with four in-person events planned in other cities on later dates, plus a virtual walk.
The 5K fundraiser has been held in Toronto since 2013, and has expanded nationally to include walkers wearing orange shirts.
Saturday’s event in Surrey, starting at 10 a.m. with registration, will involve mental-health advocates, doctors and a Sashbear Foundation director as guest speakers, at 10513 144 St.
One in four Canadians are affected by mental health challenges, according to Canadian Mental Health Association, and one to two per cent of the general population has BPD.
For “Sashbear,” the pain associated with BPD was too great, says a post on the foundation’s website (sashbear.org).
As a teen she won a scholarship to swim at the University of Missouri. In her second year there, Sasha slipped into a depression after a difficult breakup with her boyfriend and a back injury resulting from an alleged assault by football players, according to a bio on the website.
“She was eventually diagnosed with BPD and discovered both the university and the health system failed to support her needs. She was able to get some private treatment with a U.S. psychiatrist, but the weekly eight-hour drives were costly and too arduous. Sasha struggled to understand why the treatment that was ‘like water’ was so expensive and difficult to locate.”
Proceeds from the walks “directly support Sashbear’s evidence-based Family Connections program and Expert Education Webinars which are provided at no cost to participants,” the organization says.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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