Making a difference in two young lives
SAPACCY was there to help them through troubled times
When Zachary Khan moved to Toronto in Grade 9, he noticed that people started to see him differently.
Back home in Guyana, Khan looked like every other kid; in Toronto, he was one of two black students in his grade.
He could never shake the feeling that his teachers liked him less — Khan was suspended eight times for “tiny things” he says other kids got away with — and when someone he knew was mugged by a black person, Khan was baffled to find himself suddenly accused.
By the end of high school, Khan was struggling with anger issues, depression, marijuana addiction and a brush with the law. His mother worried he was spiralling.
But today, the 26-year-old is studying tourism and hospitality at George Brown College and he feels healthier and more productive than ever before.
He knows exactly who to thank. One is his family; the other is SAPACCY, where staff not only worked with him to overcome his addiction and anger issues, they supported him in court, helped his family members with their own struggles, and provided a space where Khan felt seen and heard.
“I’m going to be more comfortable with someone I can relate to,” he said. “Just the atmosphere, you feel much more comfortable and (with other programs) certain things are just lost in translation.
“My mother couldn’t have dealt with me without SAPACCY. I don’t think anyone in my family would be where they are right now,” he continued. “They make a big difference.”
Tiffany Burton first realized something was deeply wrong when she noticed that she was always crying. The tears came during many sleepless nights.
She had an unhappy family life as a young child, either holing up in her room or avoiding home altogether. When she started self-harming and attempting suicide, her mother sent her to counselling but it wasn’t always helpful; one of her counsellors was a white man, who she felt uncomfortable speaking with candidly, especially about her sexual orientation. But at SAPACCY, she found help. Burton, now 20, says her social worker, a black woman, helped her dismantle her own stigmatizing of mental health.
“We always have a stereotypical way of saying, ‘Black people don’t need help from therapy. We don’t deal with psychologists,’ ” Burton said.
“She made me look at it in a different perspective.”
The program also focused on culturally specific issues around body image and self-hatred.
“Sometimes black youth can be racist to other black youth, saying things like, ‘Oh, that girl’s darker than me, she’s not as pretty,’ ” Burton said. But Burton says SAPACCY has made the most difference in helping her find her future, connecting her with scholarships and educational opportunities.
“She’s opened up more motivation for me, especially as a black woman going to university,” she said. “She has opened my eyes a lot.”