Meet Uxbridge Ambassador Haley

Haley Roter wants to end the stigma around mental illness. As a Cam's Kids Ambassador, she is working to spread the word that people struggling with anxiety should be encouraged and accepted.

Haley's experience with anxiety includes a friendship with Cam Hicks. “Because Cam was a close family friend I definitely have some closeness to mental illness.”

Through her friendship with Cam and some struggles with mental illness in her own family, she has a perspective that others without these experiences may not have. Working with Cam's Kids has been an opportunity for Haley to help foster understanding. “I have been dealing with it in my family for years so I don't see the stigma any more. Cam's Kids has been a chance to relate to people that have never seen this before.”

Haley says that volunteering with Cam's Kids has also been a fun experience. “I think that it's really great that it's a bunch of young people that are happy and energetic. All Cam's friends are there talking to people, engaging with people and letting them know their own struggles.” Haley has volunteered at many events including the Ponder This! Hockey Tournaments and Golf Tournaments. At the golf tournament she hosted a hole in one contest with her mom. No one has hit a hole in one at her hole yet, but one man came close. “There was one guy with a foot cast and his buddies had to bring him up to the hole and hand him his golf club. He hit it and he was the closest. That was pretty cool.”

When she's not volunteering with Cam's Kids, Haley works in the food and beverage industry and as a yoga instructor. She has begun to apply her knowledge of yoga to her work with Cam's Kids, recently appearing in an article on the site about yoga and mindfulness. View article here

Volunteering for Cam's Kids is important to Haley and her family, many of whom are also involved. “Keeping Cam's memory alive in such a positive way is really important to me and my family. My family's been really good friends with the Hicks for many years, they're still really close. It's important to me.”