Illness, Wellness, Resilience, and Survival

Susan Doherty and Hal Hannaford

Susan Doherty and Hal Hannaford, both born and raised in Montréal, have been married for 37 years. For 31 years, Hannaford has successfully led three Canadian CAIS schools as headmaster. Doherty and Hannaford’s long union is forged from a mutual appreciation of their differences as much as their similarities.

The intersection of mental illness and physical illness establishes the thesis of their keynote: Healing pathways for survival are found through the abiding need for human connection. Mutual love of the arts also helps.

Doherty began her working life at Maclean’s magazine in Toronto. Next, she worked for a digital publishing company in Paris, freelancing for The International Herald Tribune, La Tribune de Genève, and The Independent in London. Back in Canada, she studied creative writing at University of Toronto, Concordia University, and the Humber School for Writers, while founding and operating her own advertising production company, On Location Productions.

In 2015, Doherty released her award-winning debut novel, A Secret Music. A lifelong volunteer, she devotes time to the YMCA and the Douglas Institute and has served on the boards of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Quebec Writer’s Federation, and Nazareth House, a shelter for the homeless and addicted. Doherty also volunteers with patients suffering from schizophrenia. Her latest book, The Ghost Garden, addresses the idea of the transformative power of compassionate connection to tackle mental illness — a burgeoning global health crisis.

Hannaford holds degrees from Concordia University, University of Toronto, and INSEAD in France. As a young teacher, he also served as director of Kilcoo Camp, a summer camp for boys. Hannaford has taught elementary and high school in Canada, and served on the Faculty of International Business at the American University in Paris. As a teacher, he survived with his unique brand of energy and creativity. In Toronto, Hannaford was the founding headmaster of Kingsway College School in 1989. He joined Royal St. George’s College School in 1996 as headmaster and remained there until he moved to Montreal to become headmaster of Selwyn House School (Canada) in 2009. Enthusiastically philanthropic, Hannaford has raised more than $30 million for charities as a volunteer auctioneer, most notably for The Children’s Aid Foundation in Toronto.

Doherty and Hannaford have two children: Alisse, a medical resident in Philadelphia, and Reid, a filmmaker in New York.

Marriage is a verb, and represents something to be earned. Laugh. Commiserate. Celebrate. Forgive. Love. Mental and physical illnesses are merely symptoms when genuine partnership can provide the tools for recovery.

The Value of Together

By Hal Hannaford, Headmaster

Covid-19 has made life complicated, different, overwhelming, reflective, creative, interesting not to mention a challenge. Selwyn House @Home was a reflection of all of these varied states, but in the end due to our commitment to maintain the priority of community, our distant learning program continues to be a huge success. It was by no means the way I foresaw the ending of my career, but truthfully I have so much to be grateful for that I cannot complain. I have felt love, warmth, and caring from so many, and in the end that is what I will take with me when I leave.

The Known & Loved Gala was billed as a tribute to both Susan and myself. We were determined to help create a fund enabling Selwyn House to train teachers and staff using mental wellness first aid. That still remains the purpose and goal. I am hopeful that the gala will still happen at some later date. The initiative is just too important, not simply for us, but for the school and the entire Selwyn House community. By now, many of you know the story of Susan’s journey and my own hard-fought trials with symptoms of mental illness. Together, we have attempted to bring more light to these issues. We have both become stronger as a result. The presentation we gave at the International Boys School Coalition annual conference one year ago, has now been repeated to many different audiences, including once to the entire middle and senior school student body. That talk was on the Monday before March break. I left for Philadelphia and the NAIS annual conference on Wednesday, and thus one regret I have is that I never had the chance to follow up with the students. The insight of teenage boys about personal adversity is always inspiring. There is much to ponder from that presentation, and for my final article in VERITAS I want to remind you of those takeaways that have helped me throughout my career, as a father, husband, friend. Let me begin by reminding you of my definition of a great school:

A Great School is one that strives to become a truly Relational School, dedicated to the Glory of Education, while at the same time placing the highest possible emphasis on the development of a vibrant, strong, progressive, and exciting Faculty Culture.

It is important to keep this definition in mind as I review the lessons we wished to convey in our presentation;

Being positive is a state of mind. Each day you can make that choice. Remind yourself that you alone have that power.
We are not here to achieve or earn or accomplish, we are here to experience, which means that everyone has an equal chance of happiness and living a purposeful life.
Mental illness has the capacity to open doors not shut them. This is all about the first truth of Veritas – True to Yourself. When you know yourself, you can then believe in yourself, and your struggles, no matter how arduous, can be turned into advantages in life. Resilience comes from navigating a difficulty.
Your most important life line is your relationship with yourself and others. It is nearly impossible to climb out of illness or darkness alone.
Everyone needs help.
Everyone needs to learn how to ask for help.
The development of connection should be the cornerstone of every school’s purpose and strategy.
The people who are the most difficult to connect with, our most challenging students, need love and connection as much as anyone else.
And everyone…EVERYONE…needs love and connection.
Being untethered from others is a door to both mental and physical illness.
Bearing witness to the turnaround of a student who has been sidelined for any reason has a profound impact on every member of the school community.
Despite any kind of physical symptom, be it mental or physical, you can still live with purpose and happiness which ultimately leads to success, achievement, and accomplishment.
It is not a question of being cured, it is about embracing and owning who you are.

I am a lucky man. I am a privileged man. My journey with Susan has been both an adventure, a blessing, and filled with life lessons. I learned firsthand the value of a true partner in love (thank you Minna I will use this expression for a long time). I have some strong feelings about where education is heading in the future. I remain hopeful, and what I know for sure is that partners, friends, relationships, connection, and self-awareness will make the greatest difference in the lives of our boys, our men, our future. I leave you with one final strategic thought. VERITAS. Strategic planning is complete.

Thank you everyone. Selwyn House made me a better person.