Flora’s Walk, in support of perinatal mental health supports, set for Sunday at Bain Co-op and Withrow Park

Flora’s Walk, a free family-friendly community event and fundraiser for perinatal mental health, will take place in East Toronto this Sunday.

The walk begins at the Bain Co-op Community Centre 100 Bain Ave., and proceeds around Withrow Park, with speakers, mini-workshops, children’s activities, refreshments, and resources for expecting and new parents.

The event is part of Flora’s Walk, a national initiative now in its fifth year, taking place in more than 60 cities across Canada during May, World Maternal Mental Health Month. Funds raised at Sunday’s East Toronto walk will go toward making an in-person prenatal and early motherhood support program available at low or no cost for mothers in the community.

“So many of the new mothers I work with are navigating pregnancy and early motherhood far more alone than they were ever meant to be,” said Twyla Kowalenko, somatic and perinatal educator and organizer of the East Toronto walk. “We weren’t designed to do this in isolation. This walk is about building the support and community that should be available to every parent, regardless of what they can afford.”

The walk is named for Flora, a mother whose lifelong dream was to become a parent. In 2021, after years of fertility treatments, Flora became pregnant. Two months after the birth of her daughter, she died by suicide due to undiagnosed postpartum psychosis.

According to the Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative, mental health conditions are among the most common complications of pregnancy and the postpartum period. Up to 20 per cent of women experience a perinatal mood, anxiety, or related disorder during pregnancy or in the year after birth. Only 15 per cent of those affected receive help. Suicide is the second leading cause of maternal death in Canada.

This Sunday’s Flora’s Walk is from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It starts at the Bain Co-op Community Centre and then around Withrow Park.

Everyone is welcome to attend the free event. Donations will be accepted and information about joining the fundraising team for the local support program will be available at the walk.

For more information on Sunday’s walk, please go to https://www.facebook.com/share/1CuXoAAZJC/

For information on Healthy Start, Healthy Future Inc., which operates as the Life With A Baby Foundation and is a registered Canadian charity, please go to https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/healthy-start-healthy-future-inc/p2p/FlorasWalk2026/team/floras-walk-east-toronto