Local Mental Health Initiative Looks to Scale With New Card Deck

A Bow Valley-based mental health initiative that began as a series of donut-fuelled conversations is expanding its reach with the launch of a new card deck designed to help people talk more openly about how they are feeling.

Frankie D’s Donuts, led by executive director Makaylah Rogers, has spent the past several years hosting “Donuts and Conversations” events across the region, bringing people together in workplaces and community settings for guided discussions around mental health and related topics. The organization has now translated that in-person experience into a physical product, with a conversation card deck available for pre-order as it looks to scale its impact beyond the Bow Valley.

“Frankie D’s Donuts was intentionally created as a social enterprise built on the belief that human connection saves lives,” Rogers said.

The events began around 2021, as communities were emerging from COVID-19 restrictions and many people were returning to workplaces and social settings after prolonged periods of isolation.

“People had experienced isolation, grief, illness, burnout, mental health struggles, and a lot of silent suffering,” Rogers said. “Many workplaces were returning to normal operations, but people weren’t returning as the same people.”

Rather than simply bringing donuts into workplaces, Rogers said the organization began asking “what if donuts could be the invitation into something deeper?”

Early sessions with groups including the Town of Canmore’s family and community support services department helped shape the model, with participants using structured prompts and shared agreements to guide conversations.

“Their feedback was incredible,” Rogers said. “They shared that even with backgrounds in social work and counselling, the structure led to deeper conversations than they were used to having as a team.”

The approach expanded into workplaces, community gatherings and public events, and responded to broader community needs, including efforts to create space for dialogue following incidents of transphobia and hate speech in the Bow Valley in 2021.

Rogers said the goal was to address a gap that became increasingly visible during that period.

“The gap we were trying to fill was clear: loneliness, stigma, division, and a lack of spaces where people could be honest about how they were really feeling,” they said.

The events combine donuts with guided conversations, using prompts, storytelling and small-group discussions to encourage participation.

“Donuts are an ingredient to bring people together,” Rogers said, adding that sharing something familiar and informal can help people feel more comfortable opening up.

As the program grew, Rogers said people began asking how they could continue those conversations outside of facilitated events.

“For years, people have asked how they could keep having these conversations at home, with friends, in workplaces, or in their communities,” they said.

That demand led to the development of a card deck based on several years of testing and iteration, including prototypes tested in focus groups, pop-up conversations and early versions distributed with donut orders.

“Over time, we kept learning what worked: what questions opened people up, what helped people feel safe enough to share, and what supported people in listening better,” Rogers said.

The resulting product organizes prompts into three tiers, Checking In, Reflecting and Going Deeper, designed to suit different settings and levels of comfort, from casual conversations to more personal discussions.

“We noticed that not every setting needs the same depth of conversation,” Rogers said.

The deck also includes support cards intended to guide how conversations are held, including prompts that allow participants to pass, take breaks or ask for clarification. It is designed for a range of uses, including individual reflection, conversations between partners or friends, and group settings such as workplaces, classrooms and community gatherings.

“Our hope is that it becomes a tool people return to whenever they want more meaningful connection and to make mental health conversations a more regular part of our daily conversations, rather than something we only talk about in a crisis,” Rogers said.

The first edition of the deck is now available for pre-order on the organization’s website, with a goal of roughly 100 early sales ahead of an initial production run. Orders are expected to ship in early June.

The longer-term goal is to extend the model beyond the Bow Valley while continuing to invest locally.

“The bigger vision is for this deck to be in homes across Canada, used in workplaces, schools, youth spaces, and communities, while helping fund more peer support groups and community mental health initiatives,” Rogers said.

The launch comes as the region prepares for Bow Valley Mental Health & Addiction Week, a community-led initiative focused on increasing awareness, reducing stigma and encouraging more open conversations around mental health.

“At the heart of all of it is the same belief we started with,” Rogers said. “Human connection saves lives.”