Phobies-Zéro helps people with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). The organization has been around for more than 30 years, and on January 1, it was with great pleasure that its directors and team of more than 100 volunteers welcomed its 20,000th member, a sign that its mission is more important than ever, they believe. .
The founder, Marie-Andre Laplante, suffered for years from severe anxiety problems that prevented her from leaving the house. It took the help of a friend to find the courage to one day seek that first victory: taking to the sidewalk in front of her house…
Over the course of small victories and years, she wanted to help people like her with this problem, and since then, the organization, whose main office is still in St. Julie, has expanded throughout the province with dozens of places where it holds meetings and conferences. Workshops are held in person or virtually.
Since the onset of the pandemic, anxiety has been increasingly talked about in society, and appears to have gained momentum in just a few years. It must be said that approximately 20% of the population in Quebec suffers from moderate to severe anxiety disorders, in addition to symptoms of depression, that is, one in five people.
But even more alarming is that a large-scale survey conducted by researchers at the University of Sherbrooke with thousands of participants found that between 45 and 50 percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 25 suffer from anxiety disorders and symptoms of depression.
Break a cycle
“It is enormous!”, launched Daniel Richard, General Director of Phobies-Zéro. “Anxiety is an annoying feeling, but it is normal because it warns us of a certain danger. He explained that it takes time, but it becomes satisfying when a person suffers a lot and also when anxiety prevents us from functioning well.
Faced with this observation among young people, the organization has created support groups specifically for them so that they feel more comfortable talking about their problems. Phobies-Zéro is also in the process of holding self-management workshops for young people so that they can mitigate these crises on their own.
“It's not easy to break the cycle of anxiety,” Mr Richard said. “Our brain decodes that there is danger when it is not really real, but we feel it as if it is real. And often at this time we must move on!”
He added: For these reasons Phobies-Zéro is so important: to provide people with the tools, to engage and to learn. “We received several testimonials from people who said that it changed their lives, and sometimes even saved their lives. One student told me that she wanted to put an end to that…and today she works in this field!”
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Crisis Line: 514 276-3105 or 1-866-922-0002.
Information/Office: 450 922-5964.
Zero Phobia/Facebook.
https://www.phobias-zero.qc.ca/
Additional sources:
Hill Assistant Montreal
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