Jacqueline Dixon started organization to inspire, empower and celebrate women
July 8, 2022
When you hit rock bottom, the only way you can go is up.
After her brother’s severe mental illness diagnosis at age 19 and their mom’s death shortly after in the early 1980s, Jacqueline Dixon sunk into depression.
Patrick Dixon, who died in February 2021 as a permanent ward of the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH), was an outstanding basketball player and long distance runner at Bathurst Heights Secondary School that closed in 2001.
“My brother quickly deteriorated into somebody that we didn’t know and we didn’t recognize,” his sister said. “It brought a lot of shame to my family and because they didn’t know how to support or react, they deemed it as evil or witchcraft. I had to contend with that as a teenager. I felt the burden and weight of that pressure. Back then, people didn’t talk about mental illness possibilities. That’s the era that I came up in.”
With her world turned upside down, Dixon started using drugs and attempted suicide on two occasions.
She credits her late father for helping to turn her life around and become a successful societal citizen.
“On the last occasion when I tried to kill myself, I was taken to a hospital and I remember a police officer telling me I was killing my father because he was at wits’ end and didn’t know what more he could do for me,” Dixon recalled. “I guess they spoke to dad, asking to give me a chance because I had potential. After nearly six months in rehab, I began to understand that bad things do happen to good people and that the situation I found myself in was not a reflection of who I am or my upbringing.”
It was only after her father’s death in 2020 that she publicly shared her ordeal.
“I know the pain that would have been inflicted on him if I had done so when he was alive,” she said. “I was already comfortable speaking in mental health settings about what I went through because that is a community that is receptive to what I had to say.”
Jacqueline Dixon (l), Margaret Trudeau & Jean Augustine (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
What would Dixon say to young people who fear stigma if they seek help for mental illness?
“To thine own self be true is the first bit of advice I will give them,” she said. “You have to be true to yourself and accept whatever has happened in your life. You can’t change that or bend the truth to facilitate someone else’s standards or expectations. You have to be able to find within that truth, no matter how painful it might be, some semblance of power and purpose to lift up others that may be going down that dark road.”
Dixon is a certified sales professional, motivational speaker and entrepreneur.
Eight years ago, she started ‘Meet the Motivators’ to educate, inspire and empower females to pursue leadership positions. The organization also celebrates women leaders’ accomplishments.
After a highly successful one-day workshop on May 21 in which women leaders shared their experiences, Margaret Trudeau – the widow of late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau – was the keynote speaker at a banquet the following day.
Trudeau, who struggled with bipolar disorder and spent time in a psychiatric hospital, is now a mental health advocate.
“Growing up, I read about her erratic behaviour and it baffled me how a person who is so successful and fortunate could behave like that,” said Dixon. “When she disclosed that she had a mental illness and was seeking help, it dawned on me that this is someone I can relate to because of our lived experiences.”
Claudia Harvey (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Other workshop and banquet speakers included ReelWorld Film Festival founder Tonya Williams, BG Wealth Group co-founder and philanthropist Claudia Harvey, Immigration Consultant Mala Sharma-Singh, Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce president Michelle Meghie, social media personality Jillian Danford and Alabaster Wellness Clinic Chief Executive Officer Nadine Wong.
Jill Danford (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Funds raised from the banquet will go to CAMH and the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment.
Mala Sharma-Singh (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Dixon is a CAMH change agent, making monthly donations that fund groundbreaking mental health research that is helping people on the path to recovery.
Nadine Wong (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Almost 11 Canadian lose to their lives to suicide daily.
“Mental health and education are the two key components that inspire me to continue on the journey I am on with ‘Meet the Motivators’,” Dixon, who left Jamaica as an infant, noted. “Because of my lived experiences and gratitude to them for me and my brother, mental health is a no-brainer. With the Jean Augustine Centre, it aligns so well with our desire to educate girls and women. She has a centre that’s functional in addition to an Education Chair (at York University).”
Impressed by her motivation to inspire others, Augustine is a big fan of Dixon.
“I support people who are doing positive things in our community which is what Jacqueline is doing,” said the first Black woman elected to Canada’s House of Commons.
Master of Ceremony Robert Small (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Black History Month Legacy Poster creator Robert Small was the Master of Ceremony while two-time Grammy Award winner Dan Hill and singer/songwriter Jay Harmony provided entertainment at the banquet.
Jay Harmony (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Two-time Grammy Award winner Dan Hill (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
