If you know Joe McGillis, you know his energy might put a nuclear plant out of business. He’s a husband, a father, a musician (a drummer to be specific). He’s a full time high school teacher at St. Peter Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough ON. Joe McGillis also has depression.
Joe the drummer and MF
No one would ever have guessed that Mr McGillis suffers from depression. His students were shocked.
Last week after I interviewed Michelle Garvey about her struggle with depression, she invited me to meet with The Change Your Mind Group at St Peter. I tagged along and Joe told his depression story to the group. It was raw and powerful. He spoke about the trauma of losing so many important people in his life. He talked about how he’s struggled with his emotions since high school. He told the story of what happened last May when he was off work on stress leave. This is one of, not if the longest VLOGS I have ever done, it took HOURS to upload!!! It’s definitely one of my favourites. Pull up a chair, get comfy and turn up the volume. (Watch time 9:45)
Drumming to the Beat of Depression“If you know Joe McGillis, you know his energy might put a nuclear plant out of business. He’s a husband, a father, a musician (a drummer to be specific). He’s a full time high school teacher at St. Peter Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough ON. Joe McGillis also has depression”. Meet him & some incredible students in this #BELLLETSTALK Vlog! Read the full blog here –>
Posted by Michelle Ferreri on Wednesday, January 27, 2016
I am truly blown away by the maturity of the students in the Change Your Mind Group. Julie Vallieres, the founder of the group, wasn’t able to rock out with us because she was teaching, but we will be sharing her story in the coming weeks. As for Mr McGillis, he is genuine, hilarious and a true leader to share his struggles the way he has. The students at St Peter are truly lucky to have him. I want him back in my mini van soon so we can do more air drums!
Thank you to Joe, and to Michael Landsberg for reminding us that sharing your story can truly change someone’s life, including your own. Today is Bell Let’s Talk, so do it. Get talking and don’t stop.
#BELLLETSTALK #ENDTHESTIGMA #SICKNOTWEAK #BEKIND
MF
Hi MF, thanks for giving people a safe place to share their experiences. I have depression, anxiety and OCD. But I like to say it doesn’t have me. After many years of struggling with emotions, feelings, behaviours I had a mental collapse and was seen by an extraordinary physician who helped me. I am on the other side of mental health illness but make no mistake every day is a challenge. Thanks to my family and friends who have helped me along the way. I do feel badly for what I put my family through; it was a scary time for all of us. God bless us all.
Keep up the fight Marie. It’s a illness of the body just like any other disease. It’s no ones fault and it certainly doesn’t make you weak! Thank you for watching, commenting and sharing your support!
Wow , MF, Each time you help just one person in any crisis it helps millions of others who watch & listen and realize …hey I’m not alone. Young people today have (I think) more to deal with life in general. I really wish we could clone you so more would open up and stop hiding in the dark so to speak.
You are a blessing for all and I say this in sincerity my friend.
P.S. I shared your video with the information about Instagram with family & friends and asked the to share it too…. I’ll just bet most parents were not aware of this very important subject. God Bless you MF 🙂
Great message. Thank you for being brave and talking about it.
Michael Landsberg sent me here. Much awe and admiration for you both. So much power in your voice. I hope to share my story such a platform very soon. Thanks for the inspiration. Sending love from Sudbury.
Thank you so much Allison! Good for you for taking action and sharing! Good luck on your journey!
Posts like this make the innetret such a treasure trove
thank you;)
Great for Joe to be so forthright and honest about what he went through. Such a great example for the high school kids. Michael Landsberg is amazing. A close friend of mine went through a very traumatic situation due to mental health. I was there to help him through it…. one of my proudest moments. Made me realize that if we as a society are more open about destigmatising mental health it makes us all stronger not weaker!
I have been working with mental illness care for 25 years. I don’t think Mr McGillis has the first clue about what mental illness truly is. This sounds more like a mid-life crisis. Aside from this article — and Mr McGillis himself — telling us how wonderful he is, there doesn’t seem to be any serious dialogue about Mr McGillis’ struggles with mental illness other than “oh, he thought about suicide once”. Oh and he’s not a saviour…but who ever suggested he was a saviour other than himself? This is a shameful attempt by Mr McGillis to try to convince us all he’s a survivor (and perhaps saviour) when all he seems to have had to survive is thinking about suicide once. I don’t think Mr McGillis has earned the right to become an “ambassador” of mental illness for Sick not Weak…perhaps he should become an ambassador of self-promotion and self-aggrandizement.
Most people with mental illness suffer indescribable anguish and torment most hours of every day…these people suffer through suicidal thoughts every hour of every day for their entire lives even with proper medical care and treatments. These people would kill for the chance to be alleviated from their crippling, debilitating mental illness as easily as Mr McGillis apparently has. Mr McGillis has no idea what mental illness is.
Hi,
This is Joe McGillis. First, thank you very much to all the kind and wonderful comments from positive people. However, there is always some jealous idiot. I am not afraid to put my full name on anything I write or do whether people accept it or not. Like Pearl Jam’s song “I Am Mine”. However, Brian seemed to forget his last name. I wonder why? Is his name really Brian? Or, could it be a very jealous teacher? Brian or Idiot, as I will refer to the negative jerk, has no idea who I really am. 25 years in what field Brian? You forgot to mention that? I am not a professional like you – ha ha – but all of my students and many adults relate to me. You most definitely do not deserve my response, but I am not a coward hiding behind technology. I bartended for 7 years and when someone had an issue with me and said it to my face, well, I can’t finish this sentence for legal purposes- you figure out what happened to them.
The following sentence could not be more incorrect: “Misrepresentation of fact in pursuit of self-glorification serves only to discredit the entire fight against mental illness.” The entire website of Sick Not Weak is about regular people sharing their stories in hopes to help others and feel not alone. Obviously with your 25 years of expertise you should know that sharing stories helps others? Do you not Brian?
However, when there are pompous, arrogant and negative idiots who pretend to be academic (25 years, so what if you are an idiot)– how many times did Brian write the word “Oh”. Also, if you are going to quote in your text such as ” “oh, he thought about suicide once”. where is that quote in the actual article?
You made it up, that’s right.
Don’t be an idiot all your life Brian. Sounds like you are jealous of someone who is only trying to help his students. I am almost positive you are a teacher, and a jealous one at that. Students likely hate your class.
Get a life.
You are likely an internet troll. Get outside and exercise and burn off some of your negative vibes. Moron.
Hey Brian, go complain to someone will ya? You are a loser. Big L. Are you male or female?
Joe- you’re a supposed “teacher”? Making online threats?
Mr McGillis you are a phoney. You’re just some guy who’s going through a mid-life crisis unhappy with your life and desperately seeking attention. What better way to gain attention than by latching on to something wherein the hard-work and suffering has already been taken care of by Mr Landsberg and SickNotWeak? Easy peasy for you to skip all the unpleasantness and just become some sort of celebrity-hero in your own mind. You’re not sick, Mr McGillis, you’re just a guy who wants to be a hero.
Are you going to threaten me again, Mr McGillis? In response to my comment above you said, and I quote (above): “I bartended for 7 years and when someone had an issue with me and said it to my face, well, I can’t finish this sentence for legal purposes- you figure out what happened to them.”
Joe McGillis is nothing more than a grandstander and megalomaniac. He will not help those in their time of need. I know this personally. But what I find particularly troublesome is how the media can consider him among the top 20 “most influential”. This is completely insulting to the intelligence of not only our population, but that of our ill. He is publicly bullying and threatening others who disagree with him and call him out for what he is. Joe- just to set the record straight, why are you publicly threatening physical violence against those who call you out? Do you even consider yourself a “teacher”? Shouldn’t teachers lead by example? And more importantly, shouldn’t “champions of mental illness” lead by example? Quite laughable. And sad. Tell your adoring public, Joe, who will star in the film based on your novel? Writing a sequel? Planning the soundtrack? Freedom 45?
There are many, many people who agree with Brian and Jacob. He is an embarrassment to his family and I feel sorry for his wife and kids who have had to put up with his narcissistic behaviour for so long.
Joe – Just in case you want to write another rant on mental illness, focus on what you really have:
Definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder By Mayo Clinic Staff:
Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. Behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.
Also – there are so many typos and grammatical errors in your book it is laughable you were an English teacher. Next time you self-publish, pay for a better editor.
Midlife Crisis is ironically the name of his band…