ROB MURRAY: I’m joined now by Scott Walker. You Are Not Alone is an event that’s taking place online all day this Saturday. This is an event that you’ve hosted in person the past couple of years. What can you tell us about it?

SCOTT WALKER: At first I was honestly a little bit bummed out because I did like seeing some people in person. That being said, I decided to start inviting different friends of mine who have had struggles with depression or have some sort of business that helps support people with depression, and more and more people said they were interested in speaking. It’s shaping up to be in a really amazing event.

RM: What’s the purpose of this event?

SW: The grounding of the event is to help that one person who is really struggling. The person that is maybe finding it really hard to get out of bed. They might not be even taking a shower. They might not even be getting outside. Sadly, there are more and more people struggling right now with their mental health because of all the pandemic things happening. That person might hear one thing during this event that inspires them. They might hear one tool that assists them in moving past a really challenging time. They might feel called to reach out to somebody, whether it’s a friend, a medical professional, or a support line. It’s really to help that one person that is struggling.

RM: This is happening this Saturday. According to the Facebook event page, it looks like you’re going to be live streaming for over 12 hours straight. Is that correct?

SW: I’ll be taking breaks personally. That being said, there’s over 25  speakers that have 10 minutes each. There’s four friends of mine teaching classes that are 30 minutes each. There’s a local friend of mine doing an acoustic concert for 30 minutes. It’s a drop-in style, so people can feel free to join through the Facebook event page at any point in the day.

RM: People tuning in can win some great stuff too?

SW: That’s right. We have some generous local companies that have donated some amazing draw prizes. I’d really encourage people to tune in., even if it’s for two minutes. On the Facebook event page we’ll have a pinned post at the top, and that will be for the draw prizes. We have over $800 in draw prizes donated by incredible local Bow Valley companies.