Every two years Journey to Hope in Moose Jaw hosts an event called Hope Summit.

This initiative was created to give local residents a chance to share their struggles and triumphs regarding mental health. 

However, speakers aren't the only ones who benefit from this bi-annual event; the audience is given a chance to connect with someone who may have gone through a similar situation. 

"We are looking for a new group of people who are willing to share their stories, and so we're putting a call out for speakers," explained Della Ferguson, Spokesperson for Journey to Hope. "This year we're just going to have four speakers. We found that seven (speakers) last time was too many, it was overwhelming to take in so much of these deep experiences."

Ferguson noted that the team wants to motivate and empower the audience as well as attendees at all their other events. 

"It's to inspire hope. For whatever people are going through, whatever barriers they're feeling held back by. We want to inspire hope in them in helping them find ways to break through them, and the way we're doing that is through the storytelling of those who have found that they've broke their barriers and broke through their stigmas."

One lasting feature from the 2016 edition of Hope Summit is the videos that are still available on the Journey to Hope website so that residents who weren't able to make it to the event could still hear from the inspiring speakers.

"This year we asked some of the last year's speakers if they'd be willing to share the difference it made for them. And the one woman said 'it changed my life' because it took into an inward journey and she found her voice in a brand new way and was empowered at a much deeper level."

If you'd like to speak at this year's Hope Summit 2018, applications are available at W.J. Jones and Son Funeral Home, as well as at Rainbow Retro.