awareness, understanding, mindfulness.
VOLUNTEER WITH US
- Winter Applications Open: February 10 - February 25
Mental health is a universal topic that deserves a level of awareness we have yet to achieve.
We at Free Your Mind want to promote mindful lifestyles that focus on well-being and happiness. We deliver meaningful education to the Canadian public while amplifying genuine youth voice. We urge you to join us on this journey – we can’t do it without the voices of youth like you.
Co-Director of Events
This is a senior position. Please note, you may hold up to 1 senior position at a time (see FAQ).
Apply here: Winter 2025: Co-Director of Events Application Form
Information about this role:
We are recruiting two Co-Directors of Events, who will collaboratively lead a small team of youth to plan, organize, and execute public-facing engagements. We are looking for one Co-Director of Events to lead the CI Group, and the other to lead the KP group. Everyone who applies through this form will be considered for both leadership positions, and the final appointment will be determined collaboratively with applicants.
The Co-Directors of Events work together to manage the Events Team’s activities. The Events Team is currently split into two working groups: the Community Initiatives (CI) group and the Keystone Projects (KP) group. CI produces smaller events once every three months, and past events include educational webinars, community roundtables, photovoice projects, and social media campaigns. The KP group works to produce a single in-person event, which requires roughly one year of dedicated development. This event is an open-air initiative promoting Albertan mental health resources, community building activities, and mental health dialogue.
Regardless of group, Events Team volunteers shed light on mental health struggles from a youth perspective. We address social justice topics (e.g., housing insecurity, LGBTQ+ rights, responsible leadership) using a nuanced, evidence-based approach, and produce initiatives built with, not for, the local community. As Co-Director of Events, your role is to support Events Team volunteers in their daily tasks. You will take the lead in scheduling and facilitating weekly meetings, where general volunteers brainstorm events, share progress updates, and receive feedback from yourself and each other on their work. In between meetings, Events Team volunteers may learn to conduct research, build budgets, and complete grants, depending on the initiatives they are producing, and may require mentorship from you. You are also responsible for planning any additional meetings that you feel supports the team, such as a virtual social night.
As a team director, you will work closely with FYM’s executive leadership. You are responsible for attending monthly meetings with other FYM directors and providing updates on your team’s progress and needs. You should regularly check in with Events Team members, gauge their needs, and bring requests for support to the executive leadership as needed. You may connect with other team leads, with the potential of initiating cross-team collaboration. Please recognize that this role description is not a comprehensive list of everything the Co-Director of Events is meant to oversee — this is a framework, which may change over time, and as the needs of the Events Team evolve.
Recommended skills:
The Director of Events role is complex. A volunteer successful in this role will show solid communication and leadership skills, a keen motivation to be creative and take risks, and show personal initiative. A strong research background or experience with handling academic, public, and other sources of information is highly recommended.
Estimated Time Commitment: 6 hours per week.
Mode: Virtual.
Co-Director of Speak Your Mind
This is a senior position. Please note, you may hold up to 1 senior position at a time (see FAQ).
Apply here: Winter 2025: Co-Director of Speak Your Mind Application Form
Information about this role:
Free Your Mind is looking for a young, passionate, and driven leader to join the directorial team for our mental health advocacy blog: Speak Your Mind (SYM) as a Co-Director. We act as a platform to amplify youth voices, with goals to break the stigma surrounding mental health through emphasis on community-building and transparency. The Co-Directors of SYM are tasked to lead the blogging team, which involves editing and publishing monthly blog submissions from general volunteers – ranging from personal stories, updates on research breakthroughs, and self-care strategies. Additionally, SYM Co-Directors organize bi-weekly team meetings to form a collaborative writing space, encourage creativity, and ignite conversation related to mental health. Individuals in this role are provided the opportunity to enhance their skills as both an editor and leader, as well as overlook the SYM blogging page.
As a team director, you will work closely with FYM’s executive leadership. You are responsible for attending monthly meetings with other FYM directors and providing updates on your team’s progress and needs. You should regularly check in with Events Team members, gauge their needs, and bring requests for support to the executive leadership as needed. You may connect with other team leads, with the potential of initiating cross-team collaboration. Please recognize that this role description is not a comprehensive list of everything the Co-Director of Events is meant to oversee — this is a framework, which may change over time, and as the needs of the Events Team evolve.
Recommended skills:
- Experience in WordPress is an asset.
- Experience in editing (line-by-line, fact-checking, etc.) is an asset.
- Knowledge of APA citation style is an asset.
- Excellent communication and problem-solving skills.
- Comfortable with collaboration.
- Excellent grasp of grammar, syntax, organization, and other essential writing tools.
- Enthusiasm and passion for mental health advocacy.
Estimated Time Commitment: 6 hours per week.
Mode: Virtual.
Director of Finance
This is a senior position. Please note, you may hold up to 1 senior position at a time (see FAQ).
Apply here: Winter 2025: Director of Finance Application Form
Information about this role:
FYM is looking for a youth passionate about mental health and holding skills in financial management (and looking to further develop those skills) to become our Director of Finance. The Director of Finance will oversee all financial management and planning for FYM. This includes developing and implementing an annual and quarterly budgets, preparing quarterly financial reports, being the point of contact for financial communications, and handling reimbursements and transfers between volunteers, FYM’s funds, and any external donors or funding bodies. The Director of Finance will also collaborate with relevant teams in identifying and submitting grant applications as needed. As a Director, you will work closely with FYM’s executive leadership, and you are responsible for attending monthly meetings with other FYM directors and providing updates on your progress and needs.
Recommended skills:
- Higher education in a relevant field (i.e., a Bachelor’s or Diploma program in Finance, Business Studies, Accounting, etc.), completed or in-progress, is an asset.
- Experience with financial budgeting and reporting.
- Strong analytical and writing skills.
- Proficiency in Excel and Google Sheets.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Estimated Time Commitment: 3-4 hours per week.
Mode: Virtual.
Blogger
This is a junior position. Please note, you may hold up to 2 junior positions at a time (see FAQ).
Apply here: Winter 2025: SYM Blogger Application Form
Recommended Skills:
- Experience in writing is an asset.
- Knowledge of APA citation style is an asset.
- Excellent written communication.
- Creative and innovative thinking.
- Enthusiasm and passion for mental health advocacy.
Responsibilities:
- Write a minimum of one blog per month (min. 500 words) on a topic of your choice (to be verified by Speak Your Mind Co-Directors).
- Closely collaborate with Co-Directors during the editing process and implement the appropriate feedback.
- Attend bi-weekly, blogging team meetings.
- Remain in contact with the Co-Directors of Speak Your Mind and respond to all messages within 48 hours.
- Communicate any questions, concerns, and accommodation requests to the appropriate Free Your Mind Director or Executive.
- Frequently check relevant channels on the Free Your Mind Discord server.
- Complete orientation sessions, basic mental health literacy training, and periodic workshops relevant to your role.
Estimated Time Commitment: 2-4 hours per week.
Mode: Virtual.
IT
This is a junior position. Please note, you may hold up to 2 junior positions at a time (see FAQ).
Apply here: Winter 2025: IT Application Form
Recommended Skills:
- Familiarity with website design and editing (especially with WordPress)
- Understanding of cyber-security across platforms.
- Effective digital troubleshooting.
- Proficient time management.
- Proactive communication with other Free Your Mind personnel.
Responsibilities:
- Maintain and update the Free Your Mind website on an as-needed basis, typically between once a week to once a month.
- Assist with setting up virtual events, in collaboration with other Free Your Mind teams.
- Manage cyber-security across social media and video conferencing platforms.
- Engage in digital troubleshooting.
Estimated Time Commitment: 1-2 hours per week.
Mode: Virtual.
Faq
Free Your Mind consists of different teams, and each team is made up of around 3-10 General Volunteers and a team Director. There are also Director positions that do not oversee a specific team, like the Director of Accessibility, and Director positions that oversee multiple teams, like the Director of Communications. General Volunteer is a junior position, and Director is a senior position. Senior positions carry more responsibilities, are expected to commit more hours, and may be expected to lead a team of volunteers.
Junior volunteers are welcome to take on a second role, if they wish, after at least four months with us and if they can demonstrate the capacity and ability to adequately meet the higher demands of a dual role. We do not allow senior volunteers to take on more than role at a time due to the high demands of senior roles.
All of our volunteer opportunities are virtual: they can be done online! We use a combination of different online platforms and tools to communicate with each other and carry out our activities, including but not limited to: Google Suite (Meets, Gmail, Drive, etc.), Discord, Zoom, and WordPress.
Some of our activities are synchronous, which means volunteers need to interact with each other in real time (examples: attending team meetings, hosting events). Other activities are asynchronous, which means that they can be done individually at the volunteer’s own pace (examples: writing a blog, designing a social media post). All of our volunteer positions include both synchronous and asynchronous activities.
If you have more questions about the virtual aspect of our programming, please feel free to contact us.
Free Your Mind was founded in Calgary, Alberta, but now we are proud to have youth volunteers across Canada! (And a few outside of Canada, too.) All of our positions are virtual, which means volunteers have the flexibility to stay in their role regardless of where life takes them. Volunteers joining us from time zones that are farther away may face some challenges with attending our meetings and events, but we attempt to accommodate everyone to the best of our abilities and we encourage you to reach out if you have any questions.
Free Your Mind operates using Mountain Time (MT). This time zone is observed mainly in the Western part of North America. All interviews, team meetings, and events are scheduled and communicated using MT. If you are not in this time zone, please keep in mind that some platforms such as Google Calendar may automatically convert and display meeting times to your local time zone, while some may not. Always review meeting details carefully.
We strive to accommodate volunteers who are in other time zones, including attempting to schedule meetings at times that work for everyone or discussing alternate ways to accomplish a task. If you are concerned that time zones may be an issue for you, please let us know and we will do our best to try and find a solution.
We are currently exploring ways to engage our volunteers with in-person activities and meetings, but our planning is in its preliminary stages. You will not be required to attend an in-person meeting or event.
We’re delighted that you’re wanting to get involved with us! Please keep in mind that a successful applicant to each of our teams will have some level of specialized skills, unique to that team, prior to entry. While our organization is a space to grow and improve those skills, it may be more challenging without some of this pre-existing knowledge. We strongly encourage you to review the Recommended Skills and Responsibilities of each role to make sure that you are considering only roles for which you are best suited for, in terms of both interests and skills.
Once you have done so, please see the FAQ below for information on how to apply for more than one role and what to expect if you are accepted.
A final note: we embrace that our organization is primarily youth-led and youth-run, which means that it’s okay if you don’t hit every recommended criteria! We encourage you to apply, or contact us with questions you have about applying!
If you are interested in and have the skills for more than one position, that’s great! There are a few things to keep in mind before applying and following a successful application.
When applying, you may do so in one of the following ways:
1. If you are interested in more than one role, please submit only ONE APPLICATION to the team that you are most interested in, and note your interest in other teams at the end of the form, such as saying “I would most like to join Team A, but I would also like to be considered for Team B if I am not accepted to Team A.”
2. If you remain equally interested in more than one role, please pick any form to submit only ONE APPLICATION, and note your interests at the end of the form.
Most of our volunteers are youth aged 12-25 years as part of our mandate to platform youth voices. You may apply at any age as long as you can demonstrate your ability to address the needs of contemporary Canadian youth.
All of our volunteer positions are ongoing, with no set end date. Each year you volunteer with us, we will hold a review meeting between you and your team Director. Depending on you and your Directors’ opinions, you may either leave the position, change positions or continue on in the same position. This is something we do to help make sure everyone is in a position that still feels like a good fit for them.
Contact us
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at info@freeyourmindinitiative.com
Connect with us on Instagram to stay updated on our application cycles and more! @freeyourmindyyc
Land Acknowledgement
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.