Driven young woman cycles coast-to-coast for mental health

Jim Dumville,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Jade Dulle is a driven young woman. Her drive helped her overcome mental health challenges. It fuelled her efforts to pedal across Canada, from B.C. to Newfoundland and Labrador, on Jade’s Ride for Mental Health.”

Dulle’s drive propels her to expand her knowledge, collect information and turn that knowledge and information into coast-to-coast policy changes to ensure everyone gains access to the mental health they need and deserve.

On Sunday, July 21, Dulle jumped into the Atlantic Ocean at Mile One in St. John’s, Newfoundland, completing a cross-country cycling challenge which began May 6 in Prince Rupert, B.C. Jade’s Ride finished as planned at the starting point of Canadian icon Terry Fox.

“Terry Fox, he basically laid the foundation for these trips,” Dulle said.

On July 12, during a brief stop at Tim Horton’s on Beardsley Road in Woodstock, Dulle explained the history and motivation for Jade’s Ride.

“I want to improve the mental outlook for Canadians,” said the spirited 28-year-old Saskatchewan native.

Jade’s Ride is more than just completing a challenge. It is drawing attention to the mental health challenges millions of Canadians face in every province and territory. It is raising money for the Canadian Mental Health Association. Most importantly, it is about meeting and interviewing people to learn about their experiences with the mental health system.

Dulle said she talked to people and conducted interviews in each province during her cross-country journey. She talked to people hurt by the failed system, including their family members, healthcare professionals, and people supporting the system.

Dulle will use the gathered information for her thesis as she expands her Bachelor’s in Social Studies into her Master’s.

With the support of some politicians, mental health experts, law students, and others, Dulle plans to deliver her report on future mental health legislation to Parliament Hill next year.

Dulle also plans to publish papers detailing the mental health situations for each province, noting that the issue is a provincial jurisdiction and that the level of services, regulations, and problems differ from province to province.

However, she added, the foundation of care is based on federal laws and regulations protecting the rights of mental health patients nationwide.

“There must be something we can do to make the system better, adequate and accessible,” Jade said.

Dulle explained current laws only protect mental health patients institutionalized in a treatment centre.

“You’re only protected if you’re subpoenaed by the court or arrested,” she said.

Dulle pointed out existing legislation doesn’t protect those who volunteer for mental health services.

“If you’re mandated for mental health services, do you really want the services?” she asked.

Dulle explained she knows from personal experience the difficulty in accessing mental health care and the lack of available support.

However, she acknowledged she was one of the lucky ones who managed to navigate the complex path to adequate care.

Dulle spent the first two years of her life in foster care before being adopted “into a wonderful family.”

She learned both her biological parents had schizophrenia.

Dulle began experiencing mental health symptoms at 18 years of age. She prepared for university after graduating high school as a good student with high marks. Unfortunately, her symptoms impaired her pursuit of her goals.

Understanding she needed help, she visited the emergency room in Saskatoon. Dulle didn’t find the help she needed. The hospital basically sent her home, explaining it lacked the resources required to help her.

The young woman and her family found themselves on their own, trying to navigate their way through the mental-health maze.

Dulle began her own research while studying social work to understand the system better. She reached out to her birth parents and learned their mental health history.

Over the next seven years, Dulle faced challenges with inadequate care, but upon graduation from university, she was better prepared to navigate the system. She accessed private care, which she personally paid for with the help of her family.

Within two months, she began to improve under private care.

“I actually felt better. I felt well,” Dulle said.

The young woman’s experience cemented her immediate and long-term goals.

While Dulle received the help she needed, she fully understood that care was beyond the reach of millions of Canadians.

She knew most people lacked the knowledge and the funds to pursue private care.

Dulle made it her mission to pursue legislation to protect the rights of those seeking care and to ensure governments direct healthcare dollars to where they’re needed.

“We need to streamline those services, and people lining up at the door can actually get the attention and help they need,” she said. “I guarantee we can reintegrate those people really fast because they actually want the help, then follow up to see if they are staying on track.”

Before starting her Master’s thesis, Dulle took on her first cycling challenge, pedalling from southern Saskatchewan to Flin Flon, Manitoba, in 2017. She raised $25,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association and attempted to destigmatize mental health issues.

In the interim, before embarking on Jade’s Ride, Dulle continued her social services studies and added to her growing catalogue of mental health information. She acknowledged what she found didn’t paint a positive picture.

Dulle referred to a 2019 report identifying care for 20 per cent of five million people seeking mental health “fully unmet.” She added another 25 to 30 per cent, which were only partially unmet.

“And that was before COVID,” she added.

As she hit the Maritimes for the last leg of Jade’s Ride, Dulle said the positives far outweighed the negatives on the challenging cycling journey. She said she gained valuable information from the people she met along the route, including the arranged interviews.

Dulle enjoyed her view of Canada as she averaged 100 kilometres per day along Canada’s highways.

She said she began training for the gruelling trip last November with the help of her former wrestling coach. From Prince Rupert, she travelled the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton, then across the Prairies, through Northern Ontario to Quebec, and finally to Atlantic Canada.

Dulle said weather can help or hinder cycling, especially wind direction. While she travelled through a couple of heat waves, she said the intense heat was not a problem while rolling along at 30 km/hr or so. But it hit hard when she stopped.

While experiencing a few animal encounters, including a wolf along the highway in Northern Ontario, she said horse flies, black flies, and mosquitos presented greater aggravation.

Dulle said 90 per cent of drivers, especially in Quebec, show great respect for cyclists. She cited log truck drivers as the least respectful.

A driver in a van loaned to her by a B.C. veteran dealing with PTSD accompanied Dulle during her coast-to-coast journey. She charted her progress online through her Jade’s Ride website and social media.

Her online petition on Change.org, calling for the federal government to uphold the standard of mental health, has earned more than 11,000 signatures to date.

With the journey complete, Dulle will turn her focus to completing the job and enacting change.

“I have the knowledge and understanding, the support and maybe the political backing to do something,” she said. “It won’t happen overnight, but I’m motivated.”

This fall, Dulle will continue her studies and begin compiling her reports and proposed legislation to deliver to Ottawa.

While Jade’s Ride is over, her drive continues.

“My mission statement in life is ‘be the light,’ whether that’s warming things up or shining light onto what needs to be in the public eye. Or, burning things down that are broken,” Dulle said.

Jim Dumville,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
River Valley Sun