Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. Easter Yassa, '14 PhD
*This volunteer spotlight was co-written with the volunteer.
Dr. Easter Yassa, '14 PhD, is the founder and director of the non-profit, World in Wonder, Integrity and Kindness™ (WIWIK™ Mental Wellness Foundation) and the creator of the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Initiative. A registered psychologist, Dr. Yassa also has a private practice providing counselling and psychotherapy. The I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Initiative is based on a therapy approach created by Dr. Yassa that integrates aspects of various research-based treatment approaches. Clients work with Dr. Yassa to externalize and shift their relationship with their inner negative critical voice or the voice of a particular mental health challenge, illness or diagnosis as a Gremlin. Wanting to make mental wellness accessible to more people, she brought the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Initiative to the U of A community through collaborating with the Days of Action committee. All the time Dr. Yassa spends on this initiative is donated as part of WIWIK™.
The I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Initiative was developed to increase awareness and reduce shame and stigma associated with struggling with mental health challenges, illnesses or diagnoses and reduce isolation and increase peer support and healthy help-seeking behaviour. According to Dr. Yassa, we all have a Gremlin. By participating in this initiative, we can begin to learn how to externalize our Gremlin, separate from it, understand it, challenge it, and relate differently to that which is causing us distress, emotional discomfort, or shame. Submitting (anonymously) our creative representation of our Gremlin to the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Art Gallery, which is part of the initiative, is one important way in which we can contribute to increasing the understanding that we all have a mental health story and are not alone. This Gallery is a creative expression of the U of A campus community's commitment to changing the discourse around mental health.
Dr. Yassa's vision is to have a physical gallery space for people to walk through and view and interact with the Gremlin creations submitted, but she is delighted to have the opportunity to bring this initiative to fruition online during the pandemic. In collaboration with the U of A Days of Action committee, Dr. Yassa is offering workshops to U of A students, staff and faculty to support them in walking through the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ steps in externalizing and capturing the image of their Gremlin. Members of the UAlberta community are invited to submit their creations to the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Art Gallery. The pandemic has made things challenging for everyone, but Dr. Yassa says this has made it even more important to launch this initiative now. Dr. Yassa's vision is for this initiative to be implemented at every major university, hospitals, and public and private institutions across Canada, as well as to the public.
The feedback received about this the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ initiative has been remarkable, says Dr. Yassa. On several occasions she has been struck by how quickly people resonate with the initiative, and voluntarily share their own Gremlins with her. Dr. Yassa says she has been deeply moved by the content and the courage of the early submissions for the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Gallery and is excited to see more as they come in.
Dr. Yassa's advice: Emotional pain or discomfort is a part of being human, but you can learn to dance with it. You are much greater than your Gremlin.
Learn more and find out about how you can participate in the I Am Not My Gremlin!™ Mental Health Initiative
