Breakfast of Champions presents Mary Walsh as featured speaker
Thursday, May 6, 2010
7:30-9:30 a.m.
London Convention Centre

The last stop on the road
An accomplished actress, comedian, and political satirist, Mary Walsh has been entertaining Canadians for more than 20 years. Best known for her roles in the critically acclaimed This Hour has 22 Minutes and CODCO, she is the recipient of more than 30 Gemini Awards and The Order of Canada.

But while Walsh was eliciting joy and laughter across the country with her well known characters, privately she was battling personal demons. Alcoholism and an overwhelming sense of abandonment was a struggle that would eventually bring her to “the last stop on the road.”

“It was an internal hitting of rock bottom,” she explains, “I reached a place where physically, mentally and spiritually I had hit rock bottom.” It was then she began treatment for her addiction to alcohol.

Now 17 years later, Walsh is taking to the stage with some new material and a very different focus. She’s the featured speaker at the 2010 Breakfast of Champions presented by St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

“Addiction is devastating and destructive,” says Walsh. “When you have an addiction, every part of your life is affected, and everything else in life becomes secondary. So many people in this society suffer from addiction and so many people who aren’t addicted suffer from the results of addiction. It makes me terribly sad knowing that people with mental illness and addiction don’t always receive help that people suffering from other physical diseases do. That’s why I have chosen to speak about this topic.“

By sharing her own struggles, Walsh hopes to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and addiction and raise awareness about the need for increased support for people living with those conditions.

Walsh believes that as a society we are on a path and that some good things are happening thanks to a number of factors including the Kirby report – which set out a national strategy on mental health and addiction, the work of mental health and addiction organizations and individuals helping to improve the lives of those struggling daily with addiction and mental illness. A special feature of the Breakfast of Champions is the presentation of the “Champion of Mental Health” award, which honours an individual or organization for excellence in mental health care and delivery.

The event is also a major fundraising initiative with proceeds going to mental health programs in the London region. This is the fourth year for the breakfast, which has brought in nearly $70,000 in net proceeds for community programs supported both by St. Joseph’s Health Care, London and the Canadian Mental Health Association London-Middlesex.

Walsh is pleased to be part of Breakfast of Champions. In her life time, she hopes there will be less loneliness, suffering and sheer misery for those living with an addiction or a mental illness.

Read about the 2010 Breakfast of Champions event

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