Back again for another year! On Friday, May 17th, I’m taking the stage again in support of mental health and eliminating the stigma surrounding it.

I'm taking the #OneBraveNight challenge again this year because of my brother Carey. He struggled with profound mental illness for many years until it finally took his life in 1996.

That was a long time ago, and there have been many and myriad positive changes to the way we approach mental illness – new meds, therapies and programs to name only as few. CAMH has been at the forefront of these efforts for decades. Indeed, they were there for Carey at a time when it wasn’t necessarily OK to talk about it too loudly.

Carey was a die-hard music fan, so once again for my ONE BRAVE NIGHT I have decided to sit at my piano and sing and play until I can’t anymore. I humbly ask you all to support me in my efforts to inspire hope for those living with mental illness by making a generous donation to my ONE BRAVE NIGHT event.

Last year’s event was an astounding success – it took place in my living room with some invited guests and we live streamed it on Facebook. We raised over $20,000 and had over 2500 people watching well into the night. Breakfast Television featured us on their broadcast and the event was picked up by several other media outlets.

As amazing an experience as that was, this year is shaping up to be a juggernaut. The Richmond Hill Center for the Performing Arts has generously offered to host this year’s event AT THE THEATRE! As such, there is way more room to add some very special guests to the lineup for duets, solos, surprise guests and other awesome jams. And if that wasn’t enough, we're also looking at a fantastic silent auction, cash bar and maybe even a swag shop. And of course, we’ll be live streaming the whole shebang again in case you wanna watch it in your jammies!

Here’s how it will work: Because there is limited seating at the theatre, for every donation of $100 received, you will be entered into a random draw for two tickets to the evening's festivities!

Due to the theatre's availability, we will be holding this event on Friday May 17th (the week after CAMH's date for One Brave Night), but every penny will still go there.  More details will follow as we confirm guests and other special additions!

Again, I am participating in ONE BRAVE NIGHT because I want to inspire hope for people living with mental illness now – and to defeat mental illness completely so that no one ever has to deal with Carey’s kind of pain again. By making a donation to my One Brave Night, you are helping CAMH improve access to care, conduct research to find better treatments, and build more spaces for healing.

This is our chance to step up! Please donate generously and help me reach my fundraising goal. Stay tuned for more details – and save May 17th on your calendar!!