About Us

Get REAL is a Canadian non-profit whose mission is to combat 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination, racism, and bullying in schools, summer camps, and workplaces. Our merchandise helps fund our work! Every order is shipped with a piece of feedback written by real students across Canada who have participated in one of our workshops.

Get REAL was founded in 2011, inspired by our experiences volunteering in the Welcome Week program at Western University. As older mentors to hundreds of students each year, we began noticing that we were having success talking to our first years about derogatory (homophobic, transphobic, racist, etc) language, and creating a safer space for marginalized students who were looking to express themselves. We were close in age, friendly, non-judgemental, and personal -- we often opened up about our own lives to build a genuine, honest, human connection. Because of this approach, we saw countless students changing their language within days, and countless others coming out to us and feeling more comfortable being themselves. The idea was posed: 'Could we take what we've learned and build a high school workshop program?' and Get REAL was born.