Armeen Ahmadian has been an active volunteer with CASA Mental Health, contributing more than 125 hours of his time supporting CASA’s programs.
He began his journey at CASA as a member of the Youth and Family Advisory Council (YFAC), providing presentations to classrooms and community groups.
In 2022, when Armeen aged out of YFAC, he looked to stay involved at CASA and joined the clinical volunteer stream. Since then, he has provided age-appropriate gym activity programming to the residents of CASA House on a weekly basis, until he recently relocated to another province.
How and why did you first start volunteering at CASA?
A couple years previously, I’d witnessed someone die by suicide. That was about 2019, so I was 19 years old, and that had quite an effect on me. I accessed some mental health services through the university to kind of work through that and then, I think during COVID, I was looking at ways to get more involved in mental health, because that was an area I wanted to work in, potentially. I came across CASA, and I saw that they had some opportunities for younger people to get involved.
Why did you want to get involved with CASA House?
I wanted to create a positive experience for people in gym class, because I didn’t always have one, even though I love games and being physically active. I think aspects of physical education can be shaming or can be a little daunting to get involved. I wanted to make it more fun. There’s no stakes. The stakes aren’t high because there aren’t any, you’re just showing up.
Do you have a favourite part of being a CASA volunteer?
I think just seeing how resilient the kids are, I think that’s one of my favourite parts. They show up and they’re not always having a good day. Some of them are having a really bad day. I can tell that some of them are really having great times and sometimes the ones that were having bad days, by the end of the gym class, are a little bit more upbeat. That feels nice to see that.
The staff are really great, and I love it when the staff participate because that’s super important. It’s nice that the staff at CASA House are energetic and obviously passionate about being there, and they really care about the residents.
How do you take care of your own mental health?
I’ve played guitar since I was eight years old, and that’s a big part of my life. Sitting down, learning a song, listening to music, playing music with people, or just learning and reading about some of my favourite musicians is always great. I love learning about their lives; they usually have very interesting ones.
I like staying active, weightlifting, team sports. I grew up playing hockey, soccer, so playing casual pickup games of soccer, or making teams for university intramurals with my friends. Those are really great ways that I find I take care of myself. Also eating healthy foods, not eating processed stuff, and really taking the time to learn how to make something that is nutritious for me, because at the end of the day, what I’m eating is going to influence how I’m feeling.
For more information on becoming a CASA volunteer like Armeen, visit casamentalhealth.org/volunteer.
