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Elsie's Story
““You just have to persevere through it and NEVER give up.””
Adapted from an earlier article by Mental Health Foundation Nova Scotia volunteer, Nicole Regan.
Going into her grade eleven year, Elsie Morden was “sucker-punched” by another girl from her school. After the assault, Elsie found she could no longer hold in her feelings and began writing. She taught herself to play guitar and combined her creative talents to produce music based on her experiences.
Determined to be a role model for the next, Elsie united her music, her story, and her passion into one presentation: No Time For That (NTFT). After the first show, she was overwhelmed by the gratitude of her audience. That was when she knew her anti-bullying presentation would not be a one-time occurrence.
Today, Elsie has turned her motivational message into a registered charity, No Time for That Anti-Bullying Society. Since 2012, she has visited more than 600 schools across Canada empowering more than half a million youth through story and song. Elsie has been named one of 150 Leading Canadians for Mental Health by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and is a youth ambassador for Kids Help Phone. She is a past performer at the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia’s A Different Stage of Mind, a 2017 Community Grant recipient, and most recently the 2019 Let’s Keep Talking Award Recipient for Outstanding Individual.
Elsie’s message to those suffering with mental illness comes from a place of understanding, "It’s okay to not be okay. You're going to have really bad days, but you're also going to have really good days and those days are worth fighting for. It's so important to focus on the positives and what you love to do, even though that's hard sometimes. You have to keep remembering why you are fighting, and focus on them. Surround yourself with the people who accept you for who you are, who are going to support your dreams, and who will care for and love you. Don't let people or things bring you down even though that will be hard sometimes. You just have to persevere through it and NEVER give up."