Reaching Out Together: a Virtual Series for Mental Health Awareness

Toronto, Canada, June 15, 2020 --(PR.com)-- Canadian non-profit Reach Out Together will be marking its fourth annual “Reach Out Together Day” this July 12, in a unique way. In the midst of social distancing and travel restrictions, Reach Out Together is launching a first-of-its-kind 12-hour virtual series involving mental health industry leaders, speakers, recovery advocates, and leading performers from across the globe. Individuals from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and South America are invited to share their stories to create social change.

The central focus will be, as always, on facilitating connections and continuing conversations to overcome stigma surrounding struggles with mental health and to build strategies for personal and common success.

Started in memoriam to founder Aaanchal Vashistha’s late brother Tushar, who passed away to suicide in 2016, the day has been a way for her to simultaneously honour his memory and spread awareness of mental health coping strategies. When individuals and communities learn to recognize the warning signs of someone struggling, Aanchal says, they can reach out, intervene, and work it out together.

As the project proposal for World Reach Out Together Day says, “Reaching out is not just action: It’s interaction.” The 12-hour series of speakers, seminars and more will include interactive exercises to encourage the audience to build on what leaders and experts have to say. Reach Out Together’s stated purpose for the day in its project proposal is clear: “It is a time to share and to listen, not lecture.” The scope of the series will be as broad as the audience: speakers are invited to share songs, poetry, stories, and more.

The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic & social consequences is global. So, too, Reach Out Together says in its project proposal, is the concurrent mental health crisis and so too must be the international response to it as countries take steps toward what world leaders & media are calling a “re-opening.” Reach Out Together is calling on professionals and organizations worldwide to step up and speak up so that those otherwise struggling in silence might be empowered to do the same.

This year’s event marks yet another milestone for Reach Out Together with the co-publishing of Amazon best-seller "Success Strategies" by Jack Canfield and Aanchal Vashistha, highlighting the habits and personal guidelines of successful entrepreneurs. "Success Strategies: The World’s Leading Entrepreneurs and Professionals Reveal Their Secrets To Living a Happier, Healthier and Wealthier Life" was published by CelebrityPress®, a leading business book publisher that publishes books from ThoughtLeaders® around the world and was released on January 23, 2020.

Perhaps Aanchal’s most frequently-cited piece of wisdom from Jack Canfield is the “success formula,” which is, as Canfield writes in several books, “E + R = O (Events + Responses = Outcome).” Aanchal’s organization’s event proposal for its July 12 global event says Reach Out Together believes its response to the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will determine societal & personal outcomes.

Individuals and companies interested in participating can find an application form online or contact info@reachouttogether.com for further inquiries.

About Aanchal:
Aanchal Vashistha is an award-winning community leader, international speaker, author, Certified Canfield Trainer in the Success Principles™, Certified Mental Health First Aider and social entrepreneur.

Her career started in technology working at Citibank and moved to a digital advertising network. She also worked as a freelance consultant helping organizations with their branding and communications strategy.

Aanchal says that while sitting in class during her Mental Health First-Aid Certification in January 2017, she realized her brother’s daily lifestyle reflected that he needed professional support and anyone with a basic level of mental health awareness would have been able to notice.

Before Tushar's passing, he was online on Facebook and Instagram checking on his friends and saying final goodbyes. He was still showing online for the next 20 minutes on Facebook after he took his life on July 12, 2016.

Six months after the passing of her twin brother to suicide, Aanchal founded Reach Out Together, a Canadian not-for-profit organization to encourage people to maintain good mental health through educational programs and networking.

In 2017, the day was first marked as World Reach Out Together Day, an international event for outreach to spread mental health awareness through public speaking and other networking strategies.

Aanchal is the co-author with Chicken Soup for the Soul author Jack Canfield, of the new best-seller "Success Strategies." She has appeared frequently in the media and as a guest speaker at several events including EmpowerCon at the Los Angeles Convention Center, The Global Love Ambassador Summit at Metro Hall Toronto, as well as at other memorable events in Nigeria, Canada, United States and India.

Aanchal received an EXPY® Award at the Annual ThoughtLeader Summit for her accomplishments as an entrepreneur, expert and professional, in Hollywood, California on September 25, 2019. She also received the Community Development Award on October 6, 2019 at the African Scholar’s Award Ceremony at the University of Toronto.

About Reach Out Together:

Reach Out Together is a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization empowering people to improve their mental health, break stigma and work toward recovery through educational and interactive programs and events. Reach Out Together has hosted outreach events across the world, from Toronto to Mumbai. Its vision for them is to make Reach Out Together the largest global network of mental health change-makers.