{"id":416965,"date":"2026-04-25T14:13:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/416965\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T14:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:13:28","slug":"calgary-philanthropists-legacy-inspires-life-changing-mental-health-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/416965\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary philanthropist\u2019s legacy inspires life-changing mental health research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI think he just created his own dramatic moments in life by \u2014 let\u2019s call it \u2014 some grassroots micro-philanthropy,\u201d said Trevor Johnson<\/a> of his father Norm, a former CEO in land development and oil and gas who passed away in early April.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Norm, who was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, became known for his generosity and openness to talking about his mental health challenges.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNorm Johnson was an oil industry executive who was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and became well-known for his generosity and openness to talking about mental health.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSupplied to Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm was incredibly generous,\u201d said Emily Poherlic, manager of Caf\u00e9 Beano in Calgary where his empathy was regularly on display.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

He\u2019s spend many hours there just shooting the breeze with friends and soon-to-be friends, often opening a tab to cover the cost of everyone\u2019s drinks as they sat and visited and he\u2019d leave gift cards for people in need at the till.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJohnson\u2019s legacy prompted his son to inspired Trevor (left) to help champion fundraising efforts for the University of Calgary\u2019s Mental Health Initiative for Stress and Trauma (MIST).\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of pay it forward \u2014 a lot of people would add $20 to the pile and it would kind of keep going all day. It definitely encourages people to be giving, to take care of each other,\u201d said Emily Pohorelic, manager of\u00a0 Caf\u00e9 Beano.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Receive<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm broke stigma. He was a well-off man who was open about struggles,\u201d added Pohorelic.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJohnson\u2019s family and friends say he would spend hours hanging out at Calgary\u2019s Cafe Beano, talking to them, even complete strangers, about their struggles with mental health.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tProvided to Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm found a friend in every stranger, and in talking to some folks, he didn\u2019t judge the way you looked,\u201d said Trevor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Health
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just found value in every human out there and allowed himself to be in that space to discover who it was who was sitting across from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father\u2019s legacy, and the death of a best friend from suicide,\u00a0 inspired Trevor to champion fundraising efforts for the University of Calgary\u2019s Mental Health Initiative for Stress and Trauma (MIST), which is helping to develop new approaches and treatments to support people with brain injury and mental health challenges \u2014 changing the way head trauma recovery is studied, focusing on impacts beyond the physical.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are not aware that this is something that is quite common in the aftermath of a head trauma is they have long lasting and protracted changes in their mental health,\u201d said Dr. Matthew Hill.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tResearchers at the University of Calgary\u2019s Mental Health Initiative for Stress and Trauma (MIST) are helping to change the way head trauma recovery is studied, focusing on the mental health impacts, as well as physical.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSource: Global Calgary\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The research being championed by MIST includes the first-ever clinical trials using psychedelics as a treatment for people who have persistent effects following a concussion.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we provide the right support through the psychotherapy we can help people shift into more adaptive and beneficial thought and behavioural patterns and hopefully provide long-lasting symptom relief,\u201d said MIST researcher Leah Mayo.<\/p>\n

And hopefully providing struggling people like Norm with some relief they might not otherwise have.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI think he just created his own dramatic moments in life by \u2014 let\u2019s call it \u2014 some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[182808,103,61,60,410,411,182809,182810,31331],"class_list":["post-416965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-cafe-beano","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-norm-johnson","tag-trevor-johnson","tag-university-of-calgary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}