"My happy place is never a place, it’s always a group of people." This Pride Month, we asked the LGBTQ2S+ community within our network to share their experiences as part of both the queer and mental health landscapes. We also sent out disposable cameras and invited our participants to give us a candid glimpse into their day to day lives. You can find Sarah’s photos over on our Instagram! Happy Pride! Play video Pride 2019: Sarah speaks on finding acceptance, Get Real and mental health. What makes you the most proud to be a part of the queer community? What makes me most proud to be part of the queer community is the sheer love and acceptance that is felt throughout the community. As people that have all experienced some form of oppression, bullying, or discrimination, based on our identities, the members of the community tend to be very kind, not wanting anyone else to feel the way they did. What will make you the most proud once something changes? When members of the community stop excluding others, I will be proud. Many members of the community feel as though they are not accepted, and that's not okay. People who identify as asexual, aromantic, the bi or pan person in a heterosexual relationship, and people whose identities have changed over time are some of the most commonly exluded or looked down upon, from a community that is supposed to be all about acceptance. Is there a specific resource or platform that has helped you that you want to shine a light on? Get Real is an LGBT non-profit organization that I have been working with since ninth grade. Knowing and working with them made it much easier for me to come out and accept who I am. The work they do is truly amazing and I’m so happy I get to be a part of it. How does your queer identity intersect or affect your mental health? Being part of the LGBT community and struggling with your mental health can be very difficult. It can make you feel like your problems are irrelevant, because others may have it worse. You might hear that someone got kicked out of their home, or someone died by suicide, so you think to yourself “surely my struggles can't be that important.” That of course is not the case, but being reduced to a statistic can make anyone feel small and unimportant. Where is your happy place? My happy place is never a place, it’s always a group of people. Places where I feel I can be my most honest self are where I am happiest and feel at home. Choir and Scouts Canada are my two happy places that have never changed - for as long as I've been a part of them, I have felt safe and content there.