Distance education opens doors for mental health advocate

Life changed due to ‘insidious’ mental illness

From an early age, Wood was an eager learner and a voracious reader. She would read whatever she could get her hands on: the cereal box at breakfast, the back of the shampoo bottle, or anything else within arm’s reach. 

This translated to the classroom, as well, where she thrived—until she didn’t. 

“I was great student in elementary school, and I made the honour roll in Grade 9,” she said. “In Grade 10 is when my life fell apart.” 

Wood describes the process as “insidious,” where it wasn’t clear at first what was happening. She had always been anxious as a child, but slowly the anxiety became more prominent. She began avoiding ever more things in her life without even realizing it, including school. 

“I wasn’t going. I kept dodging class,” she said. “In Grade 11, I just dropped out and never went back.” 

Wood’s parents, the school administration, and a social worker ultimately chalked it up to a kid going down the wrong path, or hanging with a bad crowd—but whatever her friends may have been going through was not the same. 

“They were being teenagers,” she said. “I was mentally ill.”

Online education opens doors

By the time Wood was 18 years old, she says she was “fully locked in,” which meant she was cut off from access to mental health services. Without being able to leave the house, a diagnosis was next to impossible, never mind ongoing supports. 

Despite a few unsuccessful attempts to complete high school via distance learning, it didn’t come easily. She never completed high school, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing a university degree. 

In 2007, she enrolled at AU—as an open university committed to improving access to learning, a high school diploma isn’t a prerequisite. She completed almost all the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts Major in Psychology, but didn’t complete it. She had failed a statistics course and had realized working in the field would be challenging for someone who couldn’t leave the house. 

Meanwhile she had gotten married and started an accounting business, which allowed her to work from home. She also took on a freelance bookkeeping role with Canadian Mortgages Inc. (CMI), which has an entirely remote workforce. 

Her educational focus had shifted to business, and she completed an undergraduate degree from Thompson Rivers University in 2019. This included the statistics course that she had previously failed, and with that credit she earned her AU degree as well. 

She was ultimately hired full time at CMI and quickly worked her way up to the role of executive vice-president. Since completing a master of business administration from Laurentian University in 2022, she has again been promoted and now helps lead the company as chief administrative officer. 

Wood has thrived in her career, and in other aspects of her life as well: she is married, has a close family, animals, works several jobs, owns businesses, and enjoys a rich life. 

“How do I do that without leaving? I just trailblaze my own path, I guess.” 

Disclosure at work leads to support and advocacy

Wood is by so many measures successful in life, but the weight of hiding such a significant part of herself from the world caught up to her shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was a challenging time for the company, and while it has since rebounded, at the time the future was uncertain. Combined with her own struggles, she realized she needed to take a leave from her job. 

“During that time, the pandemic brought me the beginning of many blessings I’ve received.” 

She began seeing a psychologist regularly, and with so much more clinical treatment being provided online, was able to get the formal diagnoses she had long suspected. 

It was also during this time that she shared the LinkedIn post with the world, which has been like lifting a weight off her shoulders. 

“Mental illness is very lonely. When people don’t know, you’re alone in a room of 100 and it’s exhausting to constantly keep up this mirage that you’re presenting to the world,” she said. “It takes a lot out of you.” 

She found overwhelming acceptance and support after her disclosure and has shifted some of her focus to advocating for improved mental health supports for everyone—including vowing to one day overcome her agoraphobia and advocate to the provincial government in person at Queen’s Park in Toronto. 

Wood has also long advocated gender equality in the workplace, something she said she could easily implement at CMI thanks to the way her boss trusts, supports, and empowers her. 

“When I came to him and said, ‘I don’t know if you noticed this, but we have less than 20% women in leadership,’ he said, ‘Fix it,’” she said. 

“I want to keep putting women in positions of leadership to let them succeed and let them shine.” 

Distinguished alum focused on creating opportunities for others

Wood has had, and continues to have, an impressive career—but it is just one part of what drives her. She hopes to slow down by 55 and start turning her focus to other things in life. 

On top of the ongoing advocacy work related to mental health, she plans to pursue a career in academia. She currently teaches continuing education at McMaster University and plans to keep building on that experience. 

She and her husband also dream of creating a not-for-profit dog sanctuary—the kind of place where dogs can live out their lives in safety while providing peace to those struggling with their mental health. Wood knows from experience that dogs can help heal people. 

“If I can bring them half an hour or 45 minutes of just peace and healing, with these animals that nobody else wants, maybe they can save each other. That’s the dream, anyway.” 

Wood will also continue to focus on her mental health and continue making strides to open her world up. With the support of her therapist and husband, she has been travelling further and further from home. Having a meal in a restaurant or travelling eight blocks from home on an e-bike may not be major accomplishments for some, but for Wood they’re transformative and a source of great pride. 

For all Wood’s ambitious plans, though, there’s one that you might not expect for someone so well-educated and accomplished: some day, she hopes to earn her high school diploma. 

“My high school experience is the first thing my anxiety took from me,” she said. “I want to spit in the face of my anxiety and say, you know what? You don’t get that.” 

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