Many university students have a tendency to spend their weekends casually procrastinating on homework, binging Netflix episodes and opening the fridge several times, knowing full well there is nothing in there. The same can’t be said for third year communications and cultural student Alexis Lahorra, however, who spent the first weekend of October mingling with little-known couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. How did this Concordia student end up in British Columbia chilling on on a boat with the Royal Family? Well, for anyone who knows anything about Lahorra, one thing is for sure; she worked her butt off to do so.
Lahorra is a woman with many achievements on her impressive resume but the one that has been most frequently highlighted this month, as it is Mental Health Awareness month, is her creation of the Concordia chapter of Jack.org, a national network of young leaders attempting to change the way we think about mental health through talks, summits and events nationwide.
According to Lahorra, she was driven to start a Concordia chapter after becoming the victim of cyberbullying when she first started university. This, added onto the regular stresses of university, really affected her mental health, and because of this national stigma around how people think about mental health, she said she didn’t know about the psychological services Concordia provided or where to start to help herself.
It eventually occurred to her though that, if she was struggling with this problem, there must be others at Concordia who were as well. This realization made her roll up her sleeves and get to work.
In the early days of Jack.org, the main idea was to demonstrate that, just like physical health, mental health drastically needed to be a topic of open conversation and education. Mental health issues are rampant in Canada, and it doesn’t do anyone any good to pretending otherwise or treat those with mental health issues with disrespect. The Canadian Mental Health Association reported that 20% of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime.
“It’s okay to not be okay,” Lahorra said. “And it’s okay to reach out for help.”
The incident of cyberbullying was not Lahorra’s first encounter with bullying. When she was a young girl, the kids at her school threw rocks at her for being “different.” Not to be deterred, she said she used this as motivation to go on and create an anti-bullying awareness campaign in 2014 called “Stronger than a Rock.” The campaign awarded first place in the Mutual Aid, Peace and Justice category by Forces avenir, an organization that seeks to honour and promote student organizations. As part of the campaign Lahorra got students and teachers at Vanier College to paint on rocks words or images that described their personal experiences with bullying.
“I wanted to illustrate that people are stronger than the adversity of bullying,” Lahorra said.
With her drive to bring people together and her focus on mental health, it was not long before Lahorra’s name was amongst those chosen to meet the royal couple.
During their visit to Canada, the Duke and Duchess wanted to meet with mental health advocates, to have a conversation about what can be done to end the stigma around mental health. Nineteen young people, including Lahorra, spent the afternoon with the royal couple in hopes to further ameliorate the way in which mental health is perceived in this country and worldwide.
In an impromptu display of character, during this interview, a woman fell in front of us and injured herself. Lahorra immediately rushed over to help the woman, went to advise security and then stayed with the woman until she was okay. When she returned to the interview, she continued on as if what she had just done was an average, regular thing.
Lahorra is no stranger to altruistic behaviour. A few years ago, she spent the summer volunteering in the Dominican Republic building houses. She even took it upon herself to learn Spanish through a two-month intensive course so that she would be able to communicate with the people who lived there.
When asked how she juggles all her endeavors, Lahorra said it’s all about organization and priorities.
“I think the first thing is time management; having an agenda and putting my priorities on paper,” she said. “I also try to figure out what makes me happy and try to prioritize it.”
Lahorra admitted that she goes home most days pretty tired, but that overall it’s worth it. She said her drive comes from her family, who immigrated to Canada. Through their determination and struggle, Lahorra learned that the opportunities here in Canada can, if we are willing to put the hard work in, change lives.
Lahorra’s future goals are as ambitious as they are fitting—she hopes to work in international relations for the UN. She said she knows what she wants and works for it, all the while stopping to help whomever she can on the way.
Here are a few links to projects Lahorra has taken part in, including a video she put together which Bell Canada asked to share for their Let’s Talk Mental Health Awareness project.
Jack.org
https://csu.qc.ca/clubs/jackorg
CTV Interview
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=956101
Stronger Than a Rock Campaign
Royal Visit Canada
Bell Let’s Talk Video
https://www.facebook.com/BellLetsTalk/videos/1176279835740039/