Tattoo parlour raises money and awareness for mental health

THUNDER BAY -- A tattoo will last for life but attending to mental health can make life last.

The Sunday morning buzzing of tattoo guns in the back rooms of the Red River Trade Company hummed over classic jazz music in its lobby. As patrons showed and told their stories of new and old tattoos, a unique kind of enthusiasm filled the room that can only come from doing something that’s going to change you forever.

As the shortest day of the year approaches, the Cumberland shop fundraiser was brimming with those willing to make the commitment to permanently hosting art on their bodies, with $50 from each tattoo going to the Thunder Bay branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

“(Mental health) has been a part of my life and it’s just something that gets pushed under the rug for a lot of people,” said Red River co-owner and tattoo artist Remy Chunick as he performed one of 11 tattoos he would ink over the day.

“This time of the year, it’s usually a really happy time but for some, it can be a little rough and stressful on the family life. It’s just a stressful time of year.”

Elly Tose knows that stress first-hand. The CMHA’s advancement consultant was moved by the 2013 online Semicolon Project and used Sunday’s opportunity to tattoo the symbolic punctuation mark on her wrist to help spark conversations about mental health.

“A semicolon is used by writers when the could have chosen to end a sentence but the didn’t, so it’s a symbol of support for people who could have chosen to end their life but chose not to. It’s about suicide prevention,” she said.

Tose has had mental health struggles of her own but chose life, based on the support she had from family, friends and community.

“It’s recognizing it really suicide really isn’t a solution,” she said.

“You leave a lot of people behind feeling worse. There is hope out there. There are people who can help you. There are programs you can get into. CMHA offers a lot of programs for themselves for family members who are supporting someone.

“There are a lot of good reasons to carry on.”