Hope in the Darkness walking for mental health resources

By Kelly Anne Smith

NIPISSING FIRST NATION—The founder of Hope in the Darkness, the National Walk for Youth Mental Health, is walking as a call-to-action to find answers to get Canada’s youth mentally healthy.

Sergeant Kevin Redsky of the Anishinabek Police Service has asked Indigenous and non-Indigenous police officers to take a stand for youth mental health by walking in the Hope in the Darkness. Redsky has met with youth and listened along the way and says his walk is for all youth in Canada.

“We want to get answers as to where resources can be better utilized.”

I met up with Redsky who was walking on Highway 17 on a sunny Sunday morning with a gentle breeze from Lake Nipissing. His wife Harmony was following along in the official walk van.

Redsky has been walking since April 1 from Canada’s easternmost point—Cape Spear, Newfoundland. He will have walked for 126 days when he arrives at the final destination of Vassar, Manitoba on August 3.

From Shoal Lake #40 First Nation, Redsky has been a police officer for 15 years. He is currently posted in the Peterborough area at the Curve Lake First Nation.

Redsky grieves from the death of his niece. Now he walks to raise awareness for all mental health.

“There are so many different areas of mental health but having lost my niece I’m really personally connected to the struggles our youth are facing.”

Redsky also sees tragedy firsthand as a police officer.

“It’s being with these kids at the hospital when they are going through the process and seeing what may be lacking in the system. We want to better the system somehow.”

“The best way I think is to create the awareness and get the discussion going at the youth level and the front-line worker level because they are the ones that know what will work…Our issue is the money. I applaud the governments for recognizing mental health but not if they are throwing around money and not necessarily knowing the best area where to put it.”

“We want to get answers as to where it can be better utilized,” adds Redsky.

That’s why his mission and that of the others walking for Hope in the Darkness is for all youth in Canada.

“It just so happens I’m a First Nations person. I work on First Nations communities. They’ve been the ones that have really reached out to us to come…Yes, it is for all youth, yet I know the struggles our communities are facing firsthand, living them.”

Redsky is dedicated and staying true to walking the kilometres promised. After being welcomed in Mattawa,  Ontario, Kevin and his wife had to exit the walk. They zoomed back (doing the speed limit, of course) to Peterborough to proudly witness their 17-year old daughter graduate from high school before she goes to university in the fall.

Redsky says the steps were still taken though.

“I had an excellent crew take over for two days.”

Sergeant Al Naveau of the Nipissing detachment was enlisted to walk the steps for Sergeant Redsky in his short absence. Sergeant Naveau also had the company of 17 OPP officers to complete the walk from Mattawa to Corbeil.

Back on the road again, leaving North Bay, Redsky explains that youth may be facing multiple areas of challenges.

“The analogy I like to use is that, ‘you are a flower’. You can’t fix the flower until you fix the root. If you look at the root of the problems within our communities, those have to be addressed. There are so many social issues such as intergenerational trauma because of the residential schools, so it’s being passed down. When a child is born, it is born with that weight. That’s all they see is the struggles. A lot of work has to be done at the community level for sure.”

Redsky will share the findings and stories that he heard at the completion of the walk.

“We’re putting together everything to share with the mental health organizations, the police, and the First Nations. We are learning a lot out here. There are some good ideas that we definitely want to share and that’s the whole point.  One young lady said, ‘I needed help yesterday, not four months from now’. To have those resources available within the school would benefit them. If they are having a bad day, or something is not right with them, they should have that opportunity to have immediate help within the school system.”

As Sergeant Kevin Redsky turned into the Jocko Point turn off, he and his wife were joined by Sergeant Al Naveau and Anne Naveau. They all met with Nipissing First Nation youth and Corey Couchie for Jocko Point Fish and Chips for a gathering and to fill Redsky with energy to continue on his journey.

There is a Go Fund Me campaign to help fund Hope in the Darkness and raise funds to support culture-based youth mental health services across the country. Read about Redsky’s journey on Facebook and the friendly folks who welcome him along the way.