Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Lacy Tulloch has a very personal reason motivating her to organize the Unmasking Mental Health Gala, which will take place Nov. 3 at Bath’s Loyalist Golf and Country Club.
The event, which will raise money for mental health initiatives, is being held in honour of her brother Ryan Parsons, who took his life in June.
Devastated by the sudden and unexpected loss of her best friend, she decided to pay tribute and help prevent anyone else from going through the same thing.
“We started going to the Next Gen Masquerade for the United Way in Kingston,” Tulloch said of her and her brother. “W went a couple of years and decided to make it a yearly tradition. Now that he’s passed away he’s no longer here to do the Masquerade with me. We decided to take a little spin on it (for the Nov. 3 event) and at midnight we’re going to have everybody drop their masks so they’re no longer pretending that there’s nothing wrong and people can show who they really are, whether it’s good, bad or difficult and they can move forward without having to hide.”
Tickets for the event, which begins at 8 p.m., are $45 and available at https://www.eventbrite.ca/ and searching Unmasking Mental Health Gala. A select number of tickets may be available at the door the day of the event.
Dress is formal and guests are encouraged to wear a mask. There will be light refreshments, dancing and a silent auction.
Along with raising funds for mental health, Tulloch hopes the event will help start the conversation going on an otherwise difficult topic.
“When I went to tell my story, I even had people tell me not to because if you do people may not think you are who you are,” said Tulloch, who says she too has battled mental health issues. “This is part of who I am. You could see how people perceive it and it shouldn’t be that way.”
She says her brother didn’t seem like the type who suffered from mental health issues. Growing up in Violet and attending Napanee District Secondary School, he was always popular with plenty of friends. He was just 23 when he passed.
“I spoke to him the day he died and I had made plans with him, him and I were best friends and he always said had lucky he was to have a sister and best friend all in one,” said Tulloch. “I was saying let’s get together, I’ve been thinking about you, you’ve been kind of quiet lately. He had just had a party the day before I spoke to him. I spoke to him on Father’s Day and I was supposed to see him on Wednesday and then Monday I got the call that he had died.”
Tulloch hopes by erasing the stigma around the issue, she hopes more people will feel more comfortable seeking help.
LGCC is located at 1 Loyalist Blvd in Bath.