Jetty receiving therapy at Markham Stouffville Hospital

Finding a safe place through therapy at MSH

The day started like any other for Jetty. She had just started seventh grade, and she and her two siblings were home from school for a professional development day.

In one day, everything changed

The day started like any other for Jetty. She had just started seventh grade, and she and her two siblings were home from school for a professional development day. Jetty’s mom was at work. Her dad was no where to be found, until they realized his bedroom door was jammed shut. He wasn’t answering his phone. Jetty never heard her dad’s voice again.

911 was called and they had to break down the door. Tragically, Jetty’s dad had taken his own life.

His death affected Jetty in many different ways, filling her with grief, anxiety, and so many questions. It was difficult to understand why he would do it when he always seemed to be a happy person.

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Jetty Nobes

Surviving her darkest point

A year later, Jetty and her family moved from Montreal to Uxbridge during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the midst of the lockdown, Jetty found herself lost in the depths of grief and in desperate need of help. Thankfully, Oak Valley Health’s Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH) was there and Jetty was able to begin the mental health treatment she urgently needed. She began online therapy with a social worker at MSH in 2020 which helped for a while, until she stopped attending her online therapy sessions. So much of Jetty’s life was online at the time because of COVID-19 and she felt she couldn’t continue therapy that way, too.

Just a few months later, feeling lost and hopeless, Jetty reached her darkest point. She didn’t know how to share how she was feeling and believed that her only way out was death. At fourteen years old, she attempted to take her own life. Jetty survived, and returned to MSH for treatment, this time in person to see her social worker, Alex Fernandes Hoyt.

Slowly, one day at time, Jetty started to heal. At first, she found it difficult to say much, then found that the more she went to therapy, the more she opened up. She began to learn how to share her feelings and how to help herself in ways that she couldn’t before.

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Your gift will help MSH care for more patients, like me, who experience mental health trauma of their own.

Jetty Nobes

Healing and hope

Today, at 16, Jetty still struggles, however is managing because of all the tools and coping skills she has learned. She has a better understanding of herself, her feelings and actions, and has learned to be okay with not being okay sometimes. Through therapy she has also learned a lot about mental health and mental illness, and how it can impact anyone at any time – even someone as young as herself.

Most importantly, she has experienced first-hand how important it is to have exceptional services close to home, like those she accessed at MSH, to help those who are struggling.

Thanks to generous community support, Jetty – and many others like her – are able to receive the mental health treatment they urgently need. It was treatment that helped save Jetty’s life.

Sadly, there are many who still need this kind of care. In 2022 /2023, there were over 35,000 outpatient visits for mental health services at MSH.

MSH is already doing amazing things in mental health and plans to do more, including optimizing the patient experience in the Emergency Department (ED) as well as enhancing their inpatient and outpatient mental health services to meet the growing demand in the community.

“I’m very lucky that there are generous people like you in our community, willing to support MSH,” says Jetty “Your gift will help them care for more patients, like me, who experience mental health trauma of their own.”

Many will turn to MSH this year for help. Some will need life-saving treatment for cancer, heart disease, or other physical illness. Others, like Jetty, will need help with their mental health.

With your support, MSH can do whatever it takes – buy equipment, expand departments like mental health, and invest in the latest technology - to care for everyone in the community.

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