With humour, candour and a gentle heart, Jordie tells the story of his youth and his not-so-typical journey to higher education; he being the first in his family to attend university. The forest used to be a place Jordie went to escape life; now it is where he finds connection.
Trigger warning: talk of suicide (approx. time code: 44:10 to 49:00) and swearing.

This piece is one of 4 participatory works created with and produced by Audio Artist Dawn Matheson as part of her How To Draw A Tree (“to draw” here meaning “to attract”) multimedia soundwalk project. Matheson worked with 4 students living with mental illness who paired with trees for a year-long creative, care-taking engagement culminating in immersive storied sound walks on the grounds of the Arboretum in Guelph, Canada and virtually, online designed by artist Richelle Forsey. (www.howtodrawatree.ca)