Disable the Label

Disable The Label, also known as DTL, is our annual 3-day retreat for young community leaders and their adult allies in the mental health system.

Since 2007, The New Mentality has hosted a leadership retreat known as Disable The Label (DTL) for our provincial network. The event brings together over 100 participants, including youth leaders, young organizers, partners and adult allies from across the province, who gather to learn and enhance their mental health advocacy skills, share their local projects, and build meaningful connections. At Disable The Label, together we grow our capacity to be mental health advocates and use our voice to make a positive change in the children and youth mental health system in Ontario.

For more details contact, info@thenewmentality.org

Our Approach

The approach to this leadership retreat is to foster learning and dialogue about how youth and adults can work together to create solutions to complex issues. If we want to see things change, we need to learn new ways of facilitating, leading, planning, and working together. We need to focus on building strong relationships that invite real collaboration and dialogue. The participatory nature of the event fosters ownership and responsibility of new ideas and solutions that must be put into action.

Youth and adult allies, province-wide, are invited to share their projects and most importantly their passion. There are hands-on skill development sessions woven around conversations that create deep connections and empowering spaces. Youth learn to weave their pasts and their presents into the future of change they would like to see. DTL is often referred is the “you had to be there” kind of experience, to understand we hope you can explore our photos, videos, art, and written reflections to get a sense of what the DTL experience is like!