Seeing past the illness and recognizing mental health consumers as people is the message behind "Accept, Don't Reject," the theme of this year's Mental Health Week, running May 5-9.

Gladys Perepeluk, branch director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), said they work all year round to battle the stigma of mental illness, and Mental Health Week is partly held to expose and emphasize that stigma.

"We're coming out of the woodwork and saying, 'Hey, we are human, we are just like the next person,'" said Perepeluk, adding one in five people will be affected by mental illness at some point in their lives.

Another purpose of the week, said Perepeluk, is to draw attention to the services that the CMHA offers in the community.

"We offer many other things besides rehabilitation," she said. "We do advocacy, education, information just a whole gamut of things."

The CMHA also involves itself with a number of special projects outside its regular services. For example, the association was one of the key groups doing research with Mental Health Services on a project with seniors.

They were also one of the key groups to acknowledge the issue of suicide in the community of Weyburn, said Perepeluk, and are helping to establish a Community Low-Income Centre (CLIC) to work with low-income residents. It's part of the CMHA's focus to identify and acknowledge the needs of their community, she added.

Mental Health Week will be proclaimed Monday, May 5. On that day, an information table will be set up at the Weyburn Square Mall, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The big event of the week is the Mayor's Luncheon on Tuesday, May 6. This luncheon is held every year by all the associations in the province, after mayors across Saskatchewan decided to work together and acknowledge the issue of mental health.

The luncheon will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion, starting at 11:45 a.m. The guest speaker this year will be Rev. Ross McMurtry, who will be speaking about the theme of this year's Mental Health Week.

Tickets are $15 per person or $75 for a table of six. For more information, contact the CMHA.

The week will continue with a hot dog sale on Wednesday, May 7, at the downtown CIBC. The sale will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Finally, on Thursday, May 8, there will be a come-and-go tea and plant sale at the CMHA community resource centre, located at 404 Ashford Street. The event will run from 2-4 p.m.