LOVE organization helps teen find her path
Leave Out Violence among groups celebrated at West Island Community Shares gala
Krystal Uribe has struggled with mental-health issues much of her life. When she was 15 years old, the Ontario teen tried to kill herself. She was violent towards her parents. Her parents thought a change of scenery might help, so they sent her to Montreal to visit a godparent.
Uribe ended up at Riverdale High School in Pierrefonds where she met a kindred spirit who introduced her to Leave Out Violence (LOVE), an organization that helps young people break the cycle of violence and develop leadership and communication skills.
“When I joined LOVE, I thought, ‘Wow, a community of youth talking about things that matter,’” Uribe said. “It was the first time I felt I had a voice — that I was being heard.”
Uribe, now 17, spoke about her life and LOVE at the West Island Community Shares gala at Salle Pauline-Julien in Ste-Geneviève last week. West Island Community Shares handed out $1,205,500 in cheques to 41 West Island nonprofit groups and organizations, including LOVE. It raised an additional $60,000 for flood relief.
The cheque helps LOVE pay for programs offered in schools and after-school that steer young people away from self-destructive behaviours and onto educational paths which could lead to work in fields including social work or criminology.
Uribe has been followed by doctors and therapists over the years and they help. LOVE went beyond the medication and therapy to offer her stable and positive interactions with peers.
“I have been struggling with anxiety and depression since I was nine years old,” Uribe said. “After I tried to kill myself, I was institutionalized. I was violent. I came to Montreal with no expectations. I was selfish, making life all about myself.”
Uribe now lives with a foster-mother in Lachine and is attending night courses as part of the continuing education program at Dawson College. She has participated in LOVE’s media arts program and leadership training and plans to repeat the leadership training with a different instructor who takes a different approach to the material. The students learn public speaking, best practices in interpersonal relationships and how to express themselves through various storytelling techniques.
LOVE was founded by Montrealer Twinkle Rudeberg in 1993 to honour the memory of her husband Daniel, who was killed by a young gang member in 1972. Rudeberg wanted to help young people break the cycle of violence and acquire the skills necessary to forge a fulfilling life while contributing to the community. LOVE has helped thousands of young people through its chapters in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
“I was able to learn that I have so much strength just by using my words,” Uribe said. “I can use what I have gone through over the years in a positive way. I didn’t think I would still be alive today and now I am about to start working as a community-relations intern for LOVE.
“When I tell my story, the one point I want to make is that it’s OK to not be OK. Realizing that gave me so much freedom.”
WICS is setting a new goal for its 2017-2018 campaign, launching Sept. 7.
The goal for campaign co-chairs Pfizer Canada president John Helou and RBC Royal Bank regional president Martin Thibodeau is to raise $1.3 million.
For more information about LOVE, visit www.quebec.leaveoutviolence.org.
For more information about West Island Community Shares, visit www.communityshares.ca.
I was able to learn that I have so much strength just by using my words. I can use what I have gone through over the years in a positive way.