On Nov. 14, a crew of stand-up comedians gathered at Hecklers comedy club in Victoria to joke about mental health. 

These funny folks are part of Vancouver comedian David Granirer's Stand Up For Mental Health (SUFMH) program, which, for 30 years, has helped people with mental health conditions gain confidence, foster connections and fight shame.

B次元官网网址淧eople feel really ashamed of having a mental health condition,B次元官网网址� said Granirer, who himself lives with bipolar disorder. B次元官网网址淏y talking about it openly and by having people laugh with them, it's just a wonderful, wonderful way of dispelling that internalized shame.B次元官网网址� 

Granirer began teaching the craft to general audiences at his Stand-Up Comedy Clinic course at Langara College in Vancouver. It was there he realized the positive impacts cracking jokes on stage can have. 

B次元官网网址淚 saw the difference it made in people's lives who didn't have mental health issues, just in terms of confidence and self-esteem,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to translate this over to people with mental health conditions who really, really need that boost?'B次元官网网址� 

In 2004, thatB次元官网网址檚 exactly what Granirer did, founding SUFMH, through which he teaches comedy fundamentals to participants, each of whom have to perform a live set at the end of the program. Since then, the comedian, who is also a licensed counsellor, has led the class in over 50 cities in Canada, Australia and the U.S. 

One of SUFMHB次元官网网址檚 hundreds of participants, Sasha Granneman, who performed at Hecklers on Thursday, spoke about the programB次元官网网址檚 positive impacts. 

Diagnosed with OCD and bipolar disorder, the North Saanich resident has faced a slew of challenges, including breast cancer, which, in 2021, metastasized in her spine, breaking it in two places. 

B次元官网网址淭his was a really low point,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淢y mental health was back in the tank.B次元官网网址� 

Thanks to SUFMH, though, Granneman was able to combat her mental health challenges with laughs. 

B次元官网网址淓very Friday, we got together, and we all chatted and laughed and came up with material,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚t was great for my self-confidence and my overall self-worth, especially after performing for an audience.B次元官网网址� 

Granirer explained that when people joke about their own problems they help trigger what he calls a "cognitive shift." 

B次元官网网址淲hen people do comedy, especially in my classes, they take a lot of things they've been through that have been really tough or really bad and they turn them into stand-up comedy,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲hat that means is that, all of a sudden, all that bad stuff you've been through just becomes great comedy material.B次元官网网址� 

That shift is apparent in the way Granneman frames the problems in her life. 

B次元官网网址淚t's nice because I have all this new material now, being mentally ill with stage-four breast cancer,B次元官网网址� she said, soon reciting one of her jokes. B次元官网网址淚 had someone tell me to stop using cancer as an excuse to get out of things, and I said, 'I'd really love to try that, but I have cancer.'" 

Local non-profits, Connections Place and the Umbrella Society, which help people with mental health challenges and substance-use issues, sponsored the event. 

B次元官网网址淎nytime someone is able to laugh and have fun in recovery, their mental health improves,B次元官网网址� said Evan James, Umbrella Society's manager of strategic initiatives. B次元官网网址淏eing able to share in these moments with others and have that camaraderie is another hugely integral part of recovery.B次元官网网址�  

Connection PlaceB次元官网网址檚 executive director Neelam Pahal expressed a similar sentiment. 

B次元官网网址淭here are folks ... who prefer to try to find the humour within life's difficulties,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚t can be a way to empower oneself, face stressors and difficulties and overcome the hold that illness can have on one's ability to experience joy.B次元官网网址� 

The Hecklers event, which sold out days beforehand, proved a huge success, with laughter spilling out of the basement club onto Gorge Road for passersby to hear. Events like this one make Granirer proud of the folks courageous enough to hop on stage, stand under hot lights and crack jokes in a room chock-full of strangers. 

"The biggest takeaways are the strength and resilience that you find in the mental health community and the courage and the bravery that people have," he said. "What I've realized is that when you take someone with a mental health condition and you give them something they really, really want to do, they will do whatever it takes to make that thing happen."