Rachel Beazley,18, proves that age is truly just a number with her impressive resume of social advocacy work.

Diagnosed at the age of seven with Anxiety, Obsessive Compusive Disorder (OCD), and Tourette Syndrome (TS), Beazley is no stranger to the difficulties of living with mental illness. After remaining silent for over a decade regarding her diagnosis, she has now embraced a life of advocacy, and works to give a voice to those who, like her, have been silenced as a result of the stigma surrounding mental disorders.

"As a child, I didn't have a voice," Beazley shared. "I just felt like I couldn't be an advocate for myself."

Having since decided that "enough was enough", Beazley created the Instagram account, @thisistheday_endstigma, where she began to share her own experiences about living with multiple mental illnesses. Her website of the same name also offers resources and techniques for individuals experiencing crisis.

Beazley also published her first book in March, This Is The Day: One Year of Mental Illness Advocacy Through Storytelling, which she fondly calls her "collection of notes, quotes and anecdotes". She is currently writing her second publication, a novel, which she hopes to release in the spring of 2018.

Currently studying at the University of Winnipeg (UW), Beazley plans to become a high school teacher, and to use that position to further everyday conversation regarding mental health.

"Five out of five people have mental health, one in four in Manitoba have mental illness," Beazley explained. "Something to acknowledge is that every kid needs to know about mental health."

To those who currently struggle with mental illness, Beazley offers her own story as hope.

"I was in a lot of darkness," shared Beazley, "and I didn't see hope. Now, I'm the process of this advocacy work, and I've found my life purpose, and I think what I want to tell people is just hold on that extra day, that extra two months, that extra summer, just to see where it leads. There will be opportunities, life changes all the time, things ebb and flow, positivity comes in and our of your life, the winds blow, things change.

"Just hold on, wait that extra bit of time, and see where things lead."

In honour of Mental Health Week, the Manitoba government has committed to developing stragegy to implement througout the province with Virgo Planning and Evaluation Incorporated to better identify and address the needs of Manitobans through their mental health and addictions programming.