When Healing Becomes a Summit

As many of you begin preparing for our Virtual Physical Training Program, I’d like to introduce another group within our Landing Strong community who have been training right alongside you, although their mountain looks a little different. From left to right: Jordan, Kell, Krista, Ronnie and Belinda. Maria, out West, is also training as an alternate.

Our Landing Strong Kilimanjaro Training Team has been quietly working toward an extraordinary goal: travelling to Tanzania on a leadership expedition where they will help guide a group of Nova Scotia students, support community service efforts, and ultimately summit Mount Kilimanjaro. Their service project includes helping to build a school dormitory for girls in a remote Maasai community, allowing them the opportunity to attend high school; something most of us might take for granted.

Who could have imagined that recovery from operational stress injuries might lead to standing on the highest peak in Africa? Yet healing sometimes asks us to challenge the stories we tell ourselves about what we are capable of. This team is doing exactly that. They are confronting limiting beliefs, leaning into discomfort, and discovering strength in places they never thought to look.

While you may not be summiting a literal mountain, the journey you are on is no less meaningful. Every step, whether it’s a walk around the block or a mindful pause in your day, represents movement toward health, resilience, and connection.

As you train from home, imagine yourselves walking alongside them. Allow their journey to inspire your own. They climb for themselves, but also on behalf of our broader Landing Strong community. They remind us that healing can take many forms, and sometimes the view from the summit is simply knowing you didn’t give up.

Warmly,

Belinda Seagram, Ph.D., R. Psych.
Executive Director, Landing Strong