With an emphasis on adjusting to the hardships of life and accepting the helping hands around you, Social Entrepreneur and Mental Health Advocate Aanchal Vash sets out to leave an everlasting impression on all those in attendance at EmpowerCon 2019.

“I want to leave audience members feeling empowered to go and seek the right help they need or have the resources to help someone suffering in their immediate circle,” explained Vash.

Operating under the same philosophy as her founded organization and EmpowerCon collaborator, Reach Out Together, Vash looks to provide the tools for dealing with mental health issues directly to both the victim and those closest to them. Whether it be through providing clarity, awareness or mental health first-aid techniques, Vash and Reach Out Together are on a mission to improve the mental health of all those they come in contact with, while also destigmatizing a conversation that a lot of environments are afraid to talk about.

“The wide range of people that I have come across personally have been from ages 13 to people in their 70s, and the underlying message is still the same–people aren’t feeling well,” details Vash. “They don’t have the right support system or they are in the wrong environment.”

Reach Out Together is an organization that is set on changing those environments and providing people with the tools necessary to create a comfortable support system. By promoting a sense of togetherness and implementing the idea of a ROT Ambassador program, in which members from across the world can apply to become mental health first-aid certified and receive the tools necessary to touch their own communities, Reach Out Together has held life-altering events across the globe, from Canada to Nigeria.

The success of Reach Out Together is truly a testament to the resiliency of Vash, who has faced one hardship after another since the age of eight. From losing a brother to malaria to watching her mother fight cancer, Vash has faced more than her fair share of adversities throughout life, but none have casted a darker shadow than mental health. Just three years ago, her twin brother, whom she moved across from India to Canada with, committed suicide.  Despite having to operate in foreign lands alone while dealing with her own mental health issues, the international speaker has used her story as motivation to rise above it all and wants to bring others up with her.

“To someone who is suffering, I would tell them to believe that recovery is possible because I am the person who has been affected,” said Vash.

That same sentiment will be shared at EmpowerCon 2019, as Aanchal Vash will be speaking alongside a bevy of other motivational speakers. Although the event is months away, the Reach Out Together founder already has her message in mind.

“It’s all about leaving people with one thought,” declares Vash. “Recovery is possible.”

Written By: Taj Mayfied, contributor currently studying Journalism at the University of Southern California