Having conversations that take you beyond the stigma
I’m Onika. I’m a lived experience writer, storyteller, mental health advocate, and group facilitator. My work makes room for honest stories about the complicated parts of being human.
A work in progress.
On the stage & in the room
Onika joins talks, panels, workshops, and open conversations with organizations that are ready to listen.
2026
Guest speaker · Durham Region
Presented by Lakeridge HealthRecovery Is a Community
Onika joined the breakfast as a guest speaker, sharing lived experience and a message about the community, care, courage, and hope that help make recovery possible.
2026
Workshop · Ajax Public Library (Durham Region)
Presented by Dainty Ever After Creative
Level 1 of a three-part workshop series for adults and seniors, with guided prompts that make journaling welcoming and practical.
2026
Guest lecturer · University of Toronto
Guest lecturer for the Master of Social Work program at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, speaking as a Lived Experience Advisor to future social workers.
FacultyDr. Amar GhelaniAssistant Professor (Teaching Stream)
2026
Panel · Toronto
LEAF (Lived Experience and Families) on the Process of AssessmentDr. Sharon Nelson & Panelist
A deep-dive panel developed with The Sashbear Foundation, bringing lived experience and family perspectives into conversations about more collaborative, compassionate, and effective assessment.
View Abstract2025
Associate · Mental health education
Joined Validate Mental Health Consultants as an Associate, contributing as a public speaker, workshop consultant and mental health advocate.
Working withValéry Brosseau, MSWCEO & Head Facilitator
Ongoing
Community & media
Public education, youth events, group sessions, and media conversations led with honesty and care.
Warm. Clear. Unscripted enough to be human.
Published work
Onika’s published and forthcoming work brings lived experience into social work education and collaborative storytelling.
Peer-reviewed journal article
Social Work Education
The article explores how people with lived experience can help design and deliver more realistic social work simulations. It highlights opportunities to strengthen empathy, critical reflection, and meaningful professional learning.
Onika Dainty, co-authorPublished online August 24, 2026
Collaborative book
Onika L. Dainty, contributing author. A published collection featuring the voices and experiences of women who chose to share their stories.
Forthcoming original book
A forthcoming collection of honest, accessible stories shaped by mental health, recovery, identity, advocacy, and the everyday work of beginning again.
In development · Coming soonMeet your lived experience storyteller
I’m a Caribbean-Canadian writer, speaker, and mental health advocate. For more than 20 years, I’ve lived through diagnosis, recovery, relapse, rediagnosis, and starting over. I know the everyday work it takes to find yourself again.
I write about lived experience so people can see it clearly. My work reminds readers that a person is bigger than a diagnosis and the systems around them, even during the hardest chapter of their life.
Step into the journalExperience & achievements
Common questions
Clear answers for readers, event organizers, families, and people looking for honest mental health stories.
Onika is a Caribbean-Canadian lived experience mental health advocate, writer, storyteller, group facilitator, public speaker, and certified Peer Support Specialist.
Onika speaks about mental health advocacy, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, recovery, peer support, identity, creativity, and navigating mental health systems with dignity.
Yes. Onika explores writing and journaling as ways to witness experience, reflect, tell the truth, and support personal recovery. Her writing shares lived experience and is not medical advice.
Yes. Onika is available for keynotes, panels, moderated conversations, workshops, group facilitation, community events, and media interviews.
The journal
Start with the newest journal entry, then explore a small selection chosen by Onika from across the journal.
When the light fades
Depression · lived experience
Depression can arrive quietly. It can drain your energy, shift how you see yourself, and make connection feel far away.
Read the journal entrySelected highlights
View the full journal26 / 03 / 26
How writing gave me a place to survive, tell the truth, and begin again.
14 / 05 / 26
Depression can arrive quietly. It can drain your energy, shift how you see yourself, and make connection feel far away.
27 / 05 / 25
How blogging became more than a platform for sharing and created space for reflection, connection, and lived experience.
10 / 12 / 24
Why gratitude can become more than saying thank you, and how sharing stories can support recovery and connection.
For producers, hosts & event teams
The speaker kit gives event teams a clear introduction to Onika, her signature conversations, available formats, selected experience, and booking details.
A companion to Dainty Ever After Creative
