Photo taken by contributor Kyle Anderson, a man from Saskatchewan, Canada. Kyle has struggled with an anxiety disorder for most of his life. After a traumatic accident ended his career in health care, his life became unmanageable and he sought out the help that he so desperately needed. As a longtime photographer, when he found Broken Light Collective in an article it instantly resonated. He now runs a photography program at his local mental health association. He has since become a certified mental health peer specialist and advocate. He also writes local editorial and uses his platform to help erase the stigma of mental illness in his community.

About this photo: “The transition from the interior to the external reflection in this image is a strong metaphor. We often hide those dark places behind a bright facade. As a result people often only see what they want, or what we will “allow”. What people don’t see is that the light flows into us too and that ” darkness ” often lets us see things clearer and with less distortion.

‘Everybody’s born with some different thing at the core of their existence. And that thing, whatever it is, becomes like a heat source that runs each person from the inside. I have one too, of course. Like everybody else. But sometimes it gets out of hand. It swells or shrinks inside me, and it shakes me up. What I’d really like to do is find a way to communicate that feeling to another person.’
– from THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE by Haruki Murakami”

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