Jennifer's Blog

Jennifer Asawasegai is one of this year's Faces of Mental Illness.

She has just started her own blog and would like to invite you to visit it and learn about her personal experiences with mental illness.

Visit Jennifer's blog!

Michael Wilson among Order of Canada appointments

Lauded as a strong advocate for mental-health issues, former Canadian ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson is being invested in the Order of Canada as a companion.

Following a long career in politics and the financial sector, Mr. Wilson became a mental-health crusader after losing a son to depression and suicide. He started the Cameron Parker Holcombe Wilson Chair in Depression Studies at the University of Toronto and has worked with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. He was first appointed as officer of the Order of Canada in 2003.

- Sarah Boesveld
Globe and Mail (excerpt)
Thursday, July 1, 2010.

Social media helping erase stigma of mental illnesses

Web-based forums talk openly about 'the elephant in the corner'

In an article by Gillian Shaw, the Vancouver Sun discusses the many ways social media is helping to reduce the stigma of mental illness by making it easier for those living with mental illness to share their stories in a comfortable environment.

"Once you start clueing people in, you find everybody has been touched by these things but it is the elephant in the corner and we are still not talking about it." Says Steffani Cameron, a blogger and a speaker at Mental Health Camp, on why it is easier to open-up about personal experiences online.

Read full article

Mike's Story: Part 4

When I was well enough to be transferred to Toronto Rehab’s Spinal Cord Program for six months of therapy I was fitted with a wheelchair – and for the first time in two months I was able to sit upright. The very first time I got up in my wheelchair I went outside for some fresh air and saw a man smoking a cigarette. Even though I had been tobacco-free for two months, I craved a smoke so strongly that I went up to this man and asked him if he would give me a cigarette. I was soon smoking almost as much as ever. Soon I became friends with another patient who always had marijuana and quickly resumed that habit as well. Any time I wanted to get high I would just approach him and we would go for a joint.

My life as a patient was very difficult emotionally. Some of the staff tried to talk to me to help me sort out my problems but I refused to talk to anybody about my feelings or the events leading up to my injury. I was living with depression and sometimes suicidal thoughts, thinking I was in hell and being punished for my sins. It was really scary.

I was finally discharged from rehab in October 2002. I spent the winter in a very bad depression. I didn’t want to talk to anybody or go anywhere. I just wanted to stay in my room by myself.

In March 2003 I developed a pressure sore on my tail bone. I don’t know how I got it, whether it was the chair or bed. It just appeared one day and it was really, really bad. I wasn’t allowed to get back into my wheelchair so I had to stay in bed 24/7. All I wanted to do was smoke weed and cigarettes. I ended up staying in bed for two years.

Mike's Story: Part 3

A few days later I was getting ready for bed around 1:30 a.m. Like I always did before going to bed, I smoked a water bong, which would usually put me to sleep right away. However, this time was different. After finishing the bong a strange feeling came over me. The next thing I knew I was I was in my dad’s room shaking his shoulder to wake him up. I said to him, “Let’s go to Israel.” I remember seeing fear in his face so I took my hands off him and left his room. Still dressed only in my underwear, I left our apartment and walked down the hallway, down the staircase and outside the building into the cold winter’s night. I walked across the street to the school yard and kept walking – straight into the school’s brick wall head first. I staggered backwards a couple of feet and then walked again into the wall, head first. A third time, I bowed my head and rammed into the wall. This time all I could do was fall onto the ground, unable to move. I remember lying there on the ground for a couple of minutes looking up into the black sky and thinking to myself, “Am I dead?” and yelling, “Oh God – no, no!” Everything went dark after that as I fell into a coma.

I don’t know how much longer I lay on the ground alone. Shortly after I had left my father’s room, my dad had gone looking for me around our building. He couldn’t find me so he went upstairs to wake my mom and call the police. The police checked around the building for about 45 minutes. They went up to the roof to check there and then headed back sown the stairs when they found I wasn’t up there. On the way down, my dad looked out a window of the stairwell and saw a light shining on the ground across the street, lighting up the top half of my body. Where that light came from was a mystery since there was no streetlight in the area and that part of the schoolyard is usually totally dark at night. The source of that light continues to
be a mystery to me and my family to this day.

I was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where they found I had a broken neck, which left me quadriplegic (paralyzed in all four limbs). I came out of my coma three days later, which happened to be my 27th birthday. I couldn’t move a muscle. One of my lungs had collapsed and my other lung was on the verge of collapsing. A team of doctors ordered everyone out of the room. They thought I was going to die and called in a priest to give me my last rights. They hooked me up to a ventilator to keep me breathing. The doctors told my mom I would never again be able to move a muscle below my neck. So I lay in bed motionless with tubes down my throat for a month. One day I started getting twitches in my arms. I kept getting more and more movement until one day I was actually able to touch my nose to scratch it. That was like a dream come true!

They then took the breathing tubes out and gave me a forty-eight hour trial to see if I could keep breathing on my own. They put a hole in my throat – called a tracheotomy – which gives them access to my airways to suction out fluids to prevent me from getting pneumonia again. I passed the breathing test and was able to speak for the first time. When I was able to speak, a psychiatrist came into my room. He asked me what had happened to me. The only answer I could come up with was to say that God had done this to me as punishment for my sins. When he shook his head in disbelief, I felt angry and closed my eyes until he left the room. The psychiatrist diagnosed me as having a bipolar disorder and called my incident an “unexplained psychotic event.”

Mike's Story: Part 2

By the time I was 20 years old all my friends had either graduated or dropped out of school. My ability to play hockey was going down the drain so I dropped out too. I got fired from the gas station when they caught me stealing and then found a job at a moving company with one of my friends. But I soon lost that job too for not showing up for work after a night of partying. The times in between jobs were really tough since I didn’t have enough money to feed my cravings for marijuana and cigarettes. I found another job driving a truck. It was a good paying job. But I was spending $50 a week on cigarettes and $180 on marijuana. On Sundays I was also gambling on hockey and football and I was drinking a lot. My whole paycheque was going to feed my addictions. A few years later I lost that job as well because of too much partying.

In 2001 I took a job with a courier company delivering goods to dollar stores. My parents only wanted $50 a week from me for room and board; the rest went to my addictions. One day I got pulled over by the police and got a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. It was only a $100 fine but I never managed to spare the money to pay it. Shortly before Christmas that year I got a notice in the mail telling me my license had been suspended. I lost my job as a result. The first thing I did after collecting my last paycheque was buy a carton of cigarettes. Then I gave my mom $50 and I took another $140 to buy marijuana. All I had left was $80 to buy Christmas gifts for my entire family. It wasn’t enough so I used the money to gamble on football – which of course I lost. That New Year of 2002 I found myself penniless. The feeling inside of me was just one big hunger for marijuana and cigarettes. The cravings were so bad I started selling my things – my computer games, my golf clubs; I even tried selling my hockey skates for a measly $10. I was really skinny, not taking good care of my health or my hygiene – all I cared about was getting high.

I looked in a newspaper and saw an ad for a moving company that offered to pay cash daily. The owner was badly in need of workers, so he called me the next day to offer me a job. My dad bought me a pack of smokes, gave me bus fare and off I went. Late into the shift I was craving so strongly I could barely function, so I faked an injury, collected my pay, and left the poor guy and his customers hanging while I went to my drug dealer to buy some weed and then hustled off home to smoke it.

Mike's Story: Part 1

Mike Parent sustained a spinal cord injury a number of years ago during a psychotic episode.

Mike has presented his story on many occasions to an injury prevention program in Toronto called PARTY; now he wants to share his story with you.

Because Mike has so much to share, his story will be presented in 5 parts. Check back over the next few days to read the rest of Mike's inspirational story.

Part 1

I grew up in Toronto with two loving parents and pretty much everything a kid could ask for. I attended a Catholic grade school. I had three older brothers and a sister and lots of friends. I loved playing organized sports – hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer. I really excelled at hockey and was always at the top of my team in goals and points. At the age of nine, I was breaking scoring records in my hockey league.

But in Grade 7 my troubles started. That is the year I discovered beer and cigarettes. My friends around the neighbourhood were all older than me. We all played hockey together. After one of the games the guys somehow managed to get beer. I tried one and loved the taste and smell of it and instantly became a fan. That’s when I also started smoking cigarettes. Every weekend my friends and I would hang out together smoking cigarettes and drinking.

It wasn’t until Grade 9 that I first tried marijuana. I had known the smell of it for a long time since I shared a room with my older brother, who used it quite regularly. He sometimes would lock me out of the room and stay in there with his friends or my other older brothers. When I was allowed back in the room there would always be a strange smell – like a skunk I thought – and the air would be really cloudy. My friend, who was a year older than me, said that when his brother smokes marijuana it smells the same way. We promised each other that we were going to try it one day. When years later some of the older guys asked me if I wanted to smoke up with them, I was more than eager to try it. I remember taking drags off that first joint and almost coughing my lungs out. But the way it made me feel was amazing – like I was in another world with no problems and a feeling of perfect bliss.

I remember going home that night and telling my brother that I had smoked a joint. He just laughed at me. The next day my mom gave me five dollars for lunch. But I really wanted to get high again, so I took the money and combined it with my friend’s money and we skipped class and smoked up behind the school.

In Grade 11 I joined the senior hockey team. Because I was a really good player all the Grade 13’s took a liking to me and invited me to their parties, which were all about beer and girls. I had my own close group of friends though and we all liked marijuana the best, but I was developing an alcohol problem as well. I started to get cravings for weed and alcohol every day.

I took a job at a gas station after school. It didn’t pay enough to pay for my bad habits so I started stealing from customers. If the customer wanted $20 worth of gas I would pump $15 worth and put the remaining five in my own pocket. I would keep doing this until I had $20, which was the minimum my dealer would sell me.

Bipolar Babe!

Part 2

Upon arriving in Ottawa, I connected with my political colleagues, made new friends and began to establish myself in a place I then called home. I loved Ottawa but suddenly things changed.

The story of ‘what happened to Andrea’ is long and personal but I have begun writing it in a book and sharing my story on my blog because it is so captivating and unreal. At times it is difficult to decipher what was ‘real’ and what was simply caused by my now diagnosed bipolar disorder. In Ottawa, things began to change and transform in such a way that I cannot even explain to this day. I plunged into a ‘psychosis’ and my reality became my own but still lapsed with this world. I saw things, heard things and the entire time believing that all that was happening around me was truly taking place. I started to have delusions and believe things that were not true and my mood was erratic ranging from hyper, talkative and extremely happy to pouring out with tears and fear. I willingly attended the psychiatric ward still not thinking anything was ‘wrong’, but my peaceful demeanour accepted my friends’ concern as genuine. I was admitted to the hospital and spent nearly one month, and as I complied with my medication regime I began to return to reality.

My story has heartbreak, fear, hope and even a point where I even gave up on life. I only truly had myself to rely on at that time in Ottawa, and with great survival skills and perseverance I crawled out of the gutter. To this day, I understand why a lot of people with a mental illness end up on the streets, and it can happen to anyone one of us.

I never felt completely ‘normal’ since that time. It was almost as if something had broken in me. I left to Korea for two years and returned to Canada, hopeful with two suitcases by my side. I left Canada angry and resentful, feeling everyone had turned their back on me. It was not until I decided to have a healthy lifestyle and seize responsibility for my health that I really began to feel at my best. In late 2007, I decided it was time to really live.

People are often shocked that I have a mental illness, like it is possible to pick us out in a crowd. I used to feel shameful and devastated, but with creating BIPOLAR BABE I have learned that there may be negative attitudes in the world, but the only one that I can control is my own. I share my personal story openly and freely to inspire the broken ones who feel there is nothing left for them after being hospitalized. I also want to share with the curious ones and create a world of acceptance and freedom where we can all just be ourselves.

In sharing my story I shed the stigma within myself and that will then translate into the rest of the world. I am blessed. I have my health, an excellent job, a funded education, amazing relationships with friends and family, a blossoming relationship and so much more…but after all of it I just have a story to tell. I am no different than anybody else for we all have a contribution. This is why I have created a BLOG , to keep the conversation going as I am interested in what you have to say and so is the rest of the world.

Much Love, Andrea AKA Bipolar Babe

Meet Bipolar Babe!

Part 1

"Hello, my name is Andrea. I am originally from a place called Sudbury, Ontario. Like all teenagers I was faced with some tough decisions-school, parents, alcohol and drugs, friends, and my future. My father did his very best but I was rebellious; however, I took it upon myself to call my mother and ask for a plane ticket to live with her in British Columbia. She graciously embraced me and my new life began to unfold in a small town called Campbell River. That is where I found my first love, then my second, made many amazing friends and enjoyed spending a lot of time on Quadra Island. I graduated from CARIHI Secondary in 1996, but unfortunately, my mother could not be there on that day as she was quite sick suffering from bipolar disorder. My whole life I did not understand my mother’s disorder. I only knew that under great times of stress she would often have to be hospitalized, which led to me leaving our home in grade 11 and I soon was on my own.

I went on to the University of Victoria and graduated in 2002. I loved living in Victoria and began my career in the government, and in my early twenties I began to truly grow and figure out what I wanted in life. I often felt restless, taking on challenge after challenge, never feeling completely satisfied. I involved myself in several things, my favourite being politics, but I won’t get into that as I may put you to sleep. I embraced the belief that my future lie ahead in Ottawa, Ontario and so I sold all my belongings, packed my little car and drove across Canada alone. It was amazing! I stared up at lilac Saskatchewan skies, took in the scenery and saw frozen lakes for the first time since I left Eastern Canada. I listened to hundreds of songs, if not thousands and after 5 days arrived in Sudbury, Ontario. This was my home town, not having been back for nearly 10 years. I visited all of my old schools, churches and homes; it was overwhelming how all the memories flooded over me."

Check back tomorrow for part two, in which Andrea shares her struggles with mental illness and her road to recovery.

Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia

Unlisted is scheduled for release to PBS stations in October 2010, coinciding with Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW).

For many years, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston was estranged from her father, Richard, a poet and novelist who struggled with schizophrenia and at times lived on the streets. Feeling helpless whenever he showed up at her door in psychotic states, she decided to become unlisted in the phone book.

Medical school taught Ruston about the science of mental illness, but not the actual experience of people living with it. She reached a turning point when her son started asking about his grandpa. Reconciliation followed—along with supportive housing and treatment for her father.

But Richard stopped taking his medicine and went missing. Reconciliation became a race for survival ending in tragedy

"My dad was a regular guy who wanted a career and family, but he was constantly stymied by his disordered thought process," Ruston said. "With the film, I want to give viewers background on why getting mental health treatment is so difficult. It doesn't have to be that way."

"America's mental health care system is in crisis, but many courageous people are fighting for hope and recovery," said NAMI Executive Director Michael J Fitzpatrick.

"Unlisted is a powerful film and a vehicle for education. The 2010 NAMI Convention is a platform to heighten public interest."

"We hope television critics and feature editors in the news media will take notice and seek more stories about individuals and families affected by serious mental illness. Beyond tragedy, there are many stories of hope and recovery."

Learn more about the film.

Jody Paterson: Taking aim at those unable to fight

Times Colonist columnist Jody Paterson

This is a really interesting article, written by Jody Patterson, discussing the lack of mental health funding in Vancouver and Canada as a whole.

The article continues to discuss the stigma often attached to mental illness and the misconceptions that arise due to the way mental illness is presented in the media, that those with mental illness are dangerous and out of control.


"Mental illness can't be "cured" in that nice, clean way that we prefer, like a broken leg or an ailing heart. Even diagnosing it can be tricky, and the results of treatment unpredictable.

It's stigmatized and poorly understood. It generates just enough scary media stories of unexpected violence to leave the public with the gross misconception that to be mentally ill is to be dangerous and out of control.

Mental illness knocks the wind out of the best of families in no time flat. Even friends and family members tend to take a step back when the diagnosis is mental illness, instead of stepping up to help the way they would have had the diagnosis been breast cancer or hip surgery.

So when cuts come, they hit a group of people who already feel ashamed, hopeless and unworthy. The axe falls, and nobody has the strength to scream."

Read full article here.


Do you think the media plays a part in attaching stigma to mental illness?

Who do you think is responsible for ensuring sufficient funding for mental health services?

A Selection of David Albert Newman's Prospect Paper Ideas

David Albert Newman, one of this year's Faces of Mental Illness, is currently working on his MBA. David is living with schizophrenia and credits his unique ideas for his Prospect Paper as being a factor product of creativity arising from mental illness, in his case schizophrenia.

David would like to share his Ideas to illustrate this creativity.

David's Ideas:
How do you think Galileo and Newton felt when they were shafted so badly on new ideas? Please review history. THE PURPOSE OF HUMANITY IS NEW IDEAS.

As a side note, I don't care what anyone says, I did find a fifth derivative vector space around a slight alteration of Pythagorean Theorem, and I have not just speculated, but theorized quite successfully that information travels faster than the speed of light. It has to do with light time delay in travel (lighting a dark road doesn't mean that there was no information there before you did it; that is same on Earth as in "outer space"). And light for that matter is present even at night not just by the moon reflection, but by the curvature of light around Earth mass.

True darkness is seeing at the speed of light and then controlling the very precise and delicate frame rate between dark-light. Thus, the light-dark shutter which gives rise to many instances of technology, most notably photography at the microscopic scale.

Here is an additional thought: how do you precisely travel at the speed of light IF you cannot first see at its rate? Would you not be blind and destroyed? Currently, there is no sight at the speed of light since our telescopes are light delayed. Thus, we see the eon past. Now, what happens if we alter our telescopes (or more precisely named, our macroscopes) to see at the speed of light and thus, view vast celestial bodies and space in real time?

And most interesting: why should we think that the outer edge of the Universe of a Universe expanding is "somewhere out there?" If the Universe is all around us while also beyond us, it is oscillating by mass stretching into space AND non-space contingent on the mass substance.

Finally, and most astute I think if not to be pompous: the force of gravity is merely space expanding into non-space. It is what holds space and non-space together. It is not some phantom force of mere attraction of objects to each other.

Mental Illness Attitudes Outdated

In the past, facilities such as the Provincial Lunatic Asylum and the Eastern Hospital for the Insane were built on the outskirts of cities, separate from other hospitals. Today, the Toronto Hospital and Brockville Mental Health Centre have become integrated parts of these two cities, with the Toronto Hospital undergoing a major remodel and the Brockville Mental Health Centre being integrated into Brockville General Hospital.

But this doesn't mean all opinions have changed. There is still little visitation in mental health wards and limited understanding of mental illness amoung the public. Reasons for this lack of understanding include a lack of information, but also a hesitance to accept mental illness.

In this article,Dr. David Goldbloom, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and vice-chairman of the Mental Health Commission of Canada outlines the progress society has made in recognizing and treating mental illness in a matter similar to how one would recognize and treat a physical illness. He also illustrates how far society has left to go.


This article discusses the the need for society to work progressively towards reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness.

"It's the modern way to treat people. It's no different than treating people for a broken leg," says Dr. Brockville General Hospital president and CEO Ray Marshall, when referring to the integration of the Brockville Mental Health Centre into the Brockville General Hospital.

How do you fell about the integration of these two hospitals? Is this something you would like to see done in your own town?

Read full article here

OC87: a filmmaker's journey from mental illness to recovery

Check out this new documentary about a filmmaker's journey of mental illness and recovery called OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger's Movie.

Go to the film's website to view the trailer


The documentary is being screened at Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers' Association state conference today. Read more about the film and the PMHCA's actitivies here.

Let's Shout About Mental Illness

By Scott McKeen, Edmonton Journal June 14, 2010

This is for the man who claims a mild flu again today, to explain away his hangover.

This is for the woman who applies a smile in the morning mirror, to hide her depression.

This is for the children who shrink into themselves at school, to hide their constant anxiety.

Forever seeking normal is their daily, plodding ambition. If not to be normal, to at least look normal.


No surprise, given that even kindly Canadian culture doesn't broach the topic of mental illness. We hide it away in language and in euphemisms and talk about "mental health."

We tiptoe around mental illness. We certainly can't laugh about it. Words like "crazy" in a newspaper column are guaranteed to upset advocates of, uh, mental health.

I'm here today with a confession: I'm nuts. Well, that's not completely true. These days, I'm just a tad crazy.

I suffered for years with profound bouts of depression and anxiety. During above those years, I also did some, uh, self-prescribing to calm the storm.

I also married, helped raise three great children and rose in my career to the point where I now mock Harley 50 riders and politicians for a living. The point? I'm crazy, but not exactly weaving baskets.

But no, I don't want to be pitied or praised for my pain or recovery. What I've learned over the years is our greatest cultural secret: Abnormal is the real normal.

Read full article here.

Marie's vlog: Why eliminating stigma is important

2010 Face Marie Asuncion talks about the stigma surrounding mental illness, how it affects her life and recovery, and why it's important to break down the barriers of stigmatization. Enjoy!

New Faces of MIAW 2010: Marie Asuncion

Meet Marie, one of the Faces of Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Marie is a musician and English as a second language teacher from Toronto, Ontario.

Read Marie's story

Iron ring for ‘the girl with the cool dog’

Staring at the iron ring on her pinkie finger, Jennifer Francis sees much more than a piece of metal – it symbolizes a journey of struggle and triumph.

Francis will be walking across the stage in Alumni Hall on Wednesday, June 16 for her convocation from the Civil Engineering program. She will be accompanied by her companion and service dog, Spirit, who has a similar twinkling ‘iron paw’ on her collar.

Getting the ring has been challenging for Francis, who was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type II, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Panic Disorder. Her symptoms manifested during first year of university.

“The odds were stacked against me, but it just proves that when you put your mind to something, you can do it. I’ve learned how strong I am because of that,” she says.

“Even though it took me six years to get through this program, I really don’t care. I still did it. I still wrote the same tests as everyone. I am still as well prepared for the workforce as everyone else; I just have to learn to live differently.”

Read full article

New Faces of MIAW 2010: David Albert Newman

Meet David, one of the Faces of Mental Illness Awareness Week.

David Albert Newman is an internal auditor from Winnipeg, Manitoba

Read David's story

IIMHL Conference in Killarney, Ireland

Last month, three of our 2009 Faces of Mental Illness had the exciting opportunity to visit Killarney, Ireland to participate in the 2010 International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership’s (IIMHL) annual Exchange and Network meeting.

This exciting event brought together leaders and consumers from around the world to discuss steps to recovery from mental illness and promote strategies for mental health.

Arlene Mayes, Brian Nootchtai and Raija Begall attended this conference.

Arlene has shared her thoughts on this wonderful experience:

I recently got to travel Ireland for the 2010 IIMHL Conference. It took place in Killarney Ireland. What a wonderful experience! The Conference was amazing from start to finish. There were so many people from around the world and we were all gathered there for a common reason, to bring about a better way for the future of mental health and wellness. The theme of the Conference was: "Citizens in Partnership, Inclusion or Illusion"

Many wonderful speakers, many wonderful workshops. A quote was said by one of the speakers that really touched my heart "every duck gets the chance at being the leader"
I look forward to incorporating the tools, shared ideas and wisdom that this Conference brought to me not only with my work life, but with my everyday life. Compassion is such a beautiful gift that we all can spare and share.

What can I say about the Conference and beautiful Ireland and the many kind and generous people I met? I would say I would do it all again.

- Arlene Mayes, 2009 Face of Mental Illness

New Faces of MIAW 2010: Christine Dubois

Meet Chrisine, one of the Faces of Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Christine Dubois is a support worker, author, and volunteer from Asbestos, Québec.

Read Christine's story.

A message to sufferers of anxiety disorders: you are not alone

When they struck hardest, Maria Connell says she feared she was about to die.

A racing heart. Shortness of breath. The shakes, the sweats. And this overpowering, suffocating feeling of fear, so strong it overwhelms any sense of reason.

"It just brings you to your knees."

Connell, 46, suffers from anxiety disorder, the subject of a talk at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre on Thursday. You can only admire her courage.

We spoke for a couple of hours this week. One story from many:

She was flying from Vancouver to Ottawa when, somewhere over Winnipeg, it hit her. She had to get off the plane.

She reached over and grabbed the arm of a stewardess. She asked if the pilot could land immediately.

The crew member, to her credit, took Connell to the rear of the aircraft. She soothed her, told her it would be just as quick to land in Ottawa than to divert, gave her yogurt, stayed by her side, kept talking.

She survived.

Read full article

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, June 9, 2010

Secondhand smoke linked to psychiatric illness

It's well-known that smoking and secondhand smoke are dangerous to our health, but are they also harmful to our mental health? A new study suggests they might be.

The study in the Archives of General Psychiatry has drawn a link between secondhand smoke and psychological distress, as well as the risk of future hospitalization for psychiatric illness.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate a prospective association between objectively assessed secondhand smoke exposure and mental health in a representative sample of a general population," write the authors, who were led by Mark Hamer, of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.

Read full article

New Faces of MIAW 2010: Dr. Ted Jablonski

Meet Ted, one of the Faces of Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Dr. Ted Jablonski is a family physician in Calgary, Alberta.

Read Ted's story.

Ted is also a singer-songwriter.Listen to Dr.J's music.

Marie Asuncion's video blog

Our 2010 Face, Marie Asuncion, introduces herself and discusses how she manages stress.



Marie will be sending us video blogs over the course of the Face Mental Illness campaign leading up to Mental Illness Awareness Week Oct 3-9. Check back often!

New Faces of MIAW 2010: Jennifer Ashawasegai

Meet Jennifer, one of the Faces of Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Jennifer Ashawasegai is a journalist and a member of the Anishinabek Nation in Ontario.

Read Jennifer's Story.

New Faces for MIAW 2010!

The MIAW team is proud to introduce the new Faces for the 2010 Face Mental Illness campaign!

We’ve selected five Canadians from across Canada who are living successfully with mental illness.

This year's Faces are:

- David Albert Newman is an internal auditor from Winnipeg, Manitoba;

- Marie Asuncion is a musician and ESL teacher from Toronto, Ontario;

- Dr. Ted Jablonski is a family physician from Calgary, Alberta;

- Jennifer Ashawasegai is a journalist and a member of the Anishinabek Nation, in Ontario;

- Christine Dubois, a support worker, volunteer and author from Asbestos, Quebec.

Our five Faces, selected from across Canada, are real-life role models and truly embody the “Approximately one in five Canadians will be affected by mental illness at some point during their lifetime,” says MIAW Chair, Dr. Pamela Forsythe. “The Faces of Mental Illness are real people with real stories of recovery.”

Every day next week, we will be featuring each Face’s story in more detail. First up: Jennifer Ashawasegai. Check back Monday to read more!

Marie Asuncion's Video Blog

Our 2010 Face, Marie Asuncion, will be sending us video blog posts throughout the campaign.

This first video explains her journey from diagnosis to recovery. Enjoy!

I am David Albert Newman.

I am David Albert Newman. I was born in 1976 and I am now 34 years old. I have Schizophrenia. It is only a small part of me now. But at one time it was a large part since I was suicidal, depressed, anxious, hallucinating and delusional.
I recovered with medication and effective psychological-social rehabilitation counselling with a skilled, empathetic, and tireless mental health community worker at CMHA-Winnipeg Region. I recovered so well, by resilience and empowerment that I volunteer as the CMHA – Winnipeg Region Board Treasurer. I was also a volunteer with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) – Winnipeg Chapter as a Board Member and Education Committee Member.

After recovery, I pursued higher education to receive my Certified Internal Auditor designation and my Association of Chartered Certified Accountant designation, to accompany my CGA designation and my Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) – with Distinction. During the fall of 2009 I commenced my MBA, and subsequently I want to study for my Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA). I want my MBA and DBA studies and research to focus upon mental illness, housing, and poverty relative to organizational analysis and the economy. My research will be both descriptive and prescriptive. My focus will be Occupational Health Psychology and Organizational Theory. The reason is that I had persistent troubles with work and I was fired from four jobs, but I was the only one to be found at fault. Employers must share responsibility for the health and safety of employees.

Studies show, such as the Schizophrenia in Canada: A National Report by the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, that there is extended wait time from GP to psychiatric treatment for individuals with a mental illness. Numerous other studies have outlined the high costs of both productivity losses for the economy and mental illness hospitalization.

Given this knowledge, we need to first minimize medical professional and other societal citizens' stigmas and biases towards mental illness patients. Second, more importantly, but following the first point, we need to minimize wait times by hiring more psychiatrists (doctors and nurses), along with psychologists, and community mental health workers, while ensuring they are highly trained and adept at diagnostic medicine (and treatment if so needed). Finally, and most importantly, we MUST encourage PREVENTATIVE ANNUAL MENTAL HEALTH CHECK UPS, BEFORE CRISIS STRIKES i.e. severe depression and anxiety, psychosis, suicide attempted and completed, etc.
This move to Annual Mental Health Check Ups, integrated across the medical professionals, community mental health workers, and patient mentioned could, 1) Save the health care system millions by moving the service wait time bottleneck to the forefront of care where it is less costly compared to the back end hospitalization, 2) Improve the quality of life drastically for the family and the individual with the mental illness before a crisis occurs requiring more significant recovery, and 3) Minimize mental illness stigma by creating a preventative and proactive medicine mindset for medical professionals, community mental health workers, patients, and other citizens.

The Annual Mental Health Check Up for the specific young patient (early age identification is critical to more effective treatment than later illness onset) could consist of risk and mitigation factor analysis including:
• A genetic familial history of mental illness;
• The positive and negative social experiences and stressors;
• The coping behaviours, including substance abuse;
• A symptom delineation of mental illness and whether matching thoughts and behaviours have occurred;
• The social support network;
• The financial support network and financial debt status (in general terms); and
• A preliminary diagnosis, treatment (both medication and psychological-social rehabilitation counselling, if needed), and mental illness acceptance counselling for the patient, family members, and close friends
To achieve this drastic change in thinking, proactive Government promotion of mental health maximization and mental illness minimization are needed considering socially acceptable Annual Mental Health Check Ups. Mental illness stigmatization minimization marketing should also occur, in tandem, for best effects.
Furthermore, we need to re-conceptualize the mental health care system communication, consult, and thus cross competencies. I see a conceptual problem with mental health care to be tested and it is that it may be perceived and enacted as a "continuum of care" rather than a "Venn Diagram of care". The continuum of mental health care places medicating psychiatrists at one end, and community-based counselling services at the other end. In the middle are psychologists. This is a linear representation of care.

This creates a mutual exclusivity and exhaustive presentation of reality that is sub-optimal to integrated mental health care. This arises due to deep specialization.

Instead, we need to keep specialization, but we need coordinated overlap of mental health services. Medication AND counselling are key to mental illness recovery and leveraging of human creative knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Thus, the best depiction of this integrated but specialized model of mental health care is the Venn Diagram. In the centre is the overlap of the service care provided to the patient/client/consumer of mental health services who is also at the centre. This is a multiple circular representation of care.

With this re-conceptualization of the continuum of mental health care, we will move to strengthen coordinated and integrated mental health services to empower mental health service consumers' recovery and to become the best that they can be.

All that is left is to break down the silos that exist between the end points of the continuum of care.

My psychiatrist and psychiatric nurse said three things to my parents when I was completely out of it:
1. David will never work again and will have to be institutionalized for the rest of his life
2. There is no counselling help in Manitoba
3. CMHA Winnipeg cannot help David

I found number two and three to beat the odds of number one. To which I say, it is hard enough to recover from a severe mental illness such as Schizophrenia, Depression, AND Anxiety, but it is made even more difficult when the psychiatric care does not counsel you and provides no solutions beyond heavy medication.

That is where CMHA Winnipeg came in to empower me with a highly skilled and empathetic counsellor in the Rehabilitation and Recovery Service for Psychological-social rehabilitation (PSR).

Thus, the medications were a basis start, but I needed CMHA Winnipeg to re-build skill and confidence to obtain and to hold a job and to learn how to live day-to-day caring for myself. After that, everything else fell into place (especially since I kept my house). Some may say, and to some degree I concur, it's like teaching a baby to walk again. Mental illness can be that bad, but growth afterwards can be that good. As such, I pose to the Minister of Health, please consider my story and know that the continuum of care needs to change to what I propose for greater recovery rates as efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of the mental health care system but in combinational terms of moderate medications from "professionals" and counselling from "grass roots" human beings as human beings for human beings.
Medications matter. But so do people.

Children wait for N.S. mental health services

Children and families are waiting up to a year for a routine referral for mental health services at the IWK Health Centre, a group of Nova Scotia MLAs were told Tuesday.

Senior mental health officials told the community services committee that the health system is struggling to keep up with an ever-growing demand for services.

"We have between 700 and 1,000 children and families waiting. It's a moving target so it changes daily," said Susan Mercer, senior director of mental health and addiction services at the IWK, the children's hospital for the Maritimes.

Mercer said it should take no more than three months to get a regular appointment, but people are now waiting anywhere from six months to a year.

Linda Courey, director of mental health and addictions for the Cape Breton District Health Authority, said early diagnosis and treatment can be key.

"If you can identify these symptoms before the first psychotic episode the major decrease in functioning that these kids will experience over the course of their lives and the subsequent demand on the health-care system, you can prevent that. You can have a massive impact," she said.

But in Cape Breton, as in Halifax, only the sickest get help quickly, Courey added.

Read full article

CBC News
Wednesday, June 2, 2010

My name is Marie Asuncion

My name is Marie Asuncion, and I am a consumer survivor of first episode psychosis also known as schizophrenia. A long time ago, I pictured my life as being a girl walking into her high school for the first time, popular, pretty, and together. But, unfortunately, that all changed after my first year in Grade 9. I lost all faith in myself, my friends disowned me, and high school seemed like a prison, rather than a place to learn. My mind was constantly torturing me for the whole 8 hour days in and out of classes. Teachers began to worry, but I knew worrying about people worrying about me wasn’t going to make my situation any better. I knew I had no way out. If I had to do it all by myself, (the recovery process), I knew I would fail, and probably would never end up in any of the places my dreams had told me I would end up. Do I give up? Is this what my life is going to be like now? A life with misery, torture, insomnia, voices, paranoia, crying fits and frustration? Would it ever end?

10 years later, I’m here. I’m here and I’m flourishing. I yearn to help others now with mental health, because to me, recovery is possible and we are slowly getting there. Stigma is a thing of the past for me, it may not be for others, but that’s the main reason I think the way I do- “Recovery is Possible”, says Marie, on and on in her head. So, after those pivotal 10 years later, could I say now that it has ended? Yes, I can, and, it has.

I’m a woman with dreams. A woman with a passion to love others and teach. I love my job, my family, and of coarse, the people in my life that make life so worth it to keep going. Prayer, for me, has saved my butt. But without God, nothing is ever possible.

And so now, I realize that I am not alone in this world, with this mental health problem. It’s more in the dark now, but in a good way. We shed light on mental illness, but not on how it belittles our minds to believe we have no purpose in this life. I’m proud to be where I am today. And I can say that I have met some pretty amazing individuals that I can also be proud of. Like me, they fight, and we are now living normal lives, like normal people. Because, we are normal.

We fight for our rights, and this is the whole thing behind Mental Illness Awareness week. People have to be AWARE. And so, being chosen to be a face for MIAW, is not only a blessing, but one more of an opportunity that can help not one, but many people see that in the faces of those healed, hope, change, endurance, and peace can be theirs too. Thank you MIAW for choosing me as the face for mental illness awareness week! And let’s continue working together to strive for change, and one day see the face of adversity as something of a distant past.


Marie Asuncion

Humour the best medicine for mental health patients

Dave Nelson (left), executive director of the province's division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, watches comedian Ian Morrison go through his routine in Regina on Monday.
Photograph by: Don Healy, Leader-Post, The Leader-Post

"If the audience doesn't laugh, that's their fault" -- that was a humorous lesson a young Ian Morrison learned from watching standup comedy legend George Carlin.

Now, as a teacher of standup comedy, Morrison has created his own musings on comedy.

"What you need to focus on is having fun -- do this because you want to do it and have fun," said the 16-year veteran of standup comedy and former student of the Humber School of Comedy Writing and Performance in Toronto.

Morrison has teamed up with the Saskatchewan Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association and created a program to help mental health patients perform standup comedy and learn valuable life lessons.

Read full article



By Doyle Fox, The Leader-Post

Schools lack access to mental-health professionals, report says

While more and more children are being diagnosed with mental-health problems and learning disabilities, schools are struggling to gain access to mental-health professionals with the expertise to address their students’ learning needs, according to a report released Monday by a parent advocacy group.

The report, which was compiled by People for Education and based on a survey of Ontario principals, found that less than half of the province’s secondary schools have regular access to psychologists and youth workers.

“Maybe it’s not necessarily your kid, but if we want our schools to be thriving happy places where kids can work and learn, it’s really important that we deal with mental health,” said Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education and an author of the report. “If you have a school where some kids can function and others can’t, nobody can learn easily.”

Do you think schools are doing enough to raise awareness and provide support for mental health in schools?

Read full article

Stigma-free alternate world beckons

Even when the tickets were sold out, people kept phoning, hoping a spot would open up. Clearly, Toronto's first mental health camp met a need.

The day-long “unconference” — as organizers described it — was an opportunity for people with mental illness, those who care for them, and those who care about them, to explore the benefits and dangers of social networking.

It's a new frontier for those trapped and stigmatized by their diagnosis.

“People have found a place where they are able to be themselves,” said organizer Anne Ptasznik, who has worked in the mental health field for 15 years. “You're a Facebook friend first, who happens to have a mental illness.”

Do you feel there is less stigma of mental illness in the online community?

Read full article

Immune System Troubles Could Spark Behavior Woes

Fixing gene connected to immune system cured 'hair-pulling' disorder in mice, study found

In the first scientific illustration of exactly how some psychiatric illnesses might be linked to an immune system gone awry, researchers report they cured mice of an obsessive-compulsive condition known as "hair-pulling disorder" by tweaking the rodents' immune systems.

Although scientists have noticed a link between the immune system and psychiatric illnesses, this is the first evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship, said the authors of a study appearing in the May 28 issue of the journal Cell. The "cure" in this case was a bone marrow transplant, which replaced a defective gene with a normal one.

The excitement lies in the fact that this could open the way to new treatments for different mental disorders, although bone marrow transplants, which can be life-threatening in themselves, are not a likely candidate, at least not at this point.

Read full article

HealthDay News
By Amanda Gardner
May 27, 2010

Whitby students strive to stop the stigma of mental illness

Catholic school donates more than $2,000 to Ontario Shores foundation

How are you working to reduce the stigma?

Students at All Saints Catholic Secondary School are spreading the word about the need to reduce social stigma with the launch of the school's first Mental Health Awareness Week.

After recently attending a Stomp out Stigma Summit on mental health, a group of senior students at the Whitby school united to come up with ways to help the cause and raise money for Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health. "Not a lot of students are comfortable getting help or know that help is available," said Zachary Leveque-Wilson, member of the Stomp out Stigma group.

Read full article

durhamregion.com
Parvaneh Pessian
May 28, 2010

May is mental health month

Mental health services are not restricted to adults in North and South Delta.

A Canadian Psychiatric Association study found youth were not only facing enormous amounts of stress in their lives, they were also more likely to talk to a peer or not access any support at all than to turn to teachers, parents or professionals.

"Research indicates that the occurrence and severity of mental illness can be reduced through early intervention,"Turner said. "Young people and their families do suffer needlessly because of reluctance to access treatment and support. Increasing awareness of mental health issues among youth will result in a healthier community." Says Lynn Turner, executive director and operations manager, YouthNet Delta

Read full article

BCLocalNews.com
By Philip Raphael - South Delta Leader
May 27, 2010

Award comes as a surprise to Riverside resident

Dexter Roberts' struggles with mental illness an inspiration to many

Riverside resident Dexter Roberts didn't intend to be an inspiration to others, it just happened.

A resident of the Queen Street and Broadview Avenue area, the 39 year old was diagnosed with depression several years ago and has fought a tough battle to learn to cope with the ups and downs brought on by his illness.

Read full article

InsideToronto.com
Joanina Lavoie
May 26, 2010

For mental-health patients, bank accounts are small assets with big payoffs

A bank account is a critical first step to independence for those suffering everything from depression to schizophrenia.


Banks were the last place Eliza felt comfortable.

People stared. There were lineups. The whole process was confusing, intimidating. When she first went with her social worker to get a bank account three years ago, she was so agitated that she verged on the hostile.

As months went by, though, and tellers greeted her by name, banking got easier. Eliza (not her real name) started to make eye contact with staff and chat about the weather. Nowadays, she goes every week on her own, and greets other customers in line.


Read full article

Tavia Grant
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published on Tuesday, May. 25, 2010 4:17PM EDT

Modern lifestyles leave us feeling lonely

The fast pace of modern life is leaving people feeling increasingly isolated and lonely, a mental health charity claims.
The rise in individualism and family breakdown – and changes in relationships and the workplace – make it more difficult for us to connect with others, according to the Mental Health Foundation (MHF).

Read full article

How do you make time for face-to-face contact with friends and family?

Senior depression often overrlooked: Study

The high number of seniors who live in residential care homes and experience depression is a health concern that demands greater attention, according to a new report.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information gathered information about 50,000 seniors in nursing homes and similar residences and found that almost 45 per cent had symptoms of depression or were diagnosed with it.

Read full article

Welcome to Mental Illness Awareness Week 2010!

As Chair of the MIAW Committee, and a member of the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH), I would like to welcome you to this year’s campaign.

This year, Mental Illness Awareness Week will run from October 3 – 9.
Please visit our blog regularly during the year to get updates on the campaign, and news on the state and progress of mental health advocacy in Canada.
We are also launching a new element to the campaign this year. Supporters can follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook!

Follow us on Twitter
Join us on Facebook

Our past and present Faces of Mental Illness will share their personal experiences and insights through this blog, on Twitter and Facebook. We encourage you to share your own stories by getting in touch with us through these social networks and through our website.

By sharing these stories we can reduce stigma, provide hope for others, and show that Recovery is Possible.
Sincerely,

Dr. Pamela Forsythe

Chair, MIAW Committee
Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health

Embracing Diversity by Wallace Malay

In this article, written for Vancouver Island University's the Nav, Wallace Malay shares his experience as a post-secondary student with bipolar disorder (manic depressive).

“Suddenly I came to the realization that I am not ashamed of who I am, and that others were accepting of who I was also.”

Read Article Here

Wallace Malay is one of this year's Online Faces of Mental Illness.

Trudeau speaks on struggle with bipolar disorder

Former prime minister’s wife Margaret Trudeau shed some light on the difficulty of living with mental illness at the seventh annual Ladies Night Out, at the Listowel Agricultural Hall on May 7.

Read full article

Margaret Trudeau discusses the importance of having someone serve as an advocate and be there for you.

Do you have a person you'd like to thank for being your advocate?

New Lt.-Gov. plans to meet as many Albertans as he can

Alberta's new lieutenant governor, retired Col. Donald Ethell, plans to reach out to people with mental illness, families of fallen soldiers, and Aboriginal communities.

"He has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and said it's healthy the stigma is being lifted from other soldiers and emergency personnel who live with it."

[Disponible en anglais seulement]


Click here to read the complete article.

Faces of Mental IllnessAndy Sibbald

Throughout my life I have had some very good jobs in the addiction’s field. These jobs have ranged from coordinating community based alcohol and drug programs to managing a Territorial alcohol and drug program. I have worked with some wonderful people who I have very fond memories of. Knowing what I know now it is surprising that I was able to function in such good jobs.

The first community I moved to in the N.W.T (now Nunavut) was Coppermine (now Kugluktuk). I was to serve as Coordinator of the local alcohol and drug program there. The community was 97% Inuit so culture shock should have come as no surprise. Many things I had learned in the south had no relevancy in the north and it took time to replace what didn’t work with what did work in my new setting. My whole psyche changed to accommodate my new reality. I felt lost at times because I had gone from being highly competent in the south to knowing very little of what mattered in my new northern environment.

Traumatized

Within the first week of my moving to Coppermine the local Anglican Minister knocked on my door and asked if I would help him. He was a thin little man with glasses who had a British accent and seemed highly energetic. I wanted to fit into the community so said I would be happy to help him. He said we would just need to go next door to a white trailer identical to mine and deal with a problem there. I had no idea what he was talking about and wondered what the problem could possibly be-did he think I was a plumber or something?
When we entered the trailer we walked into a totally unfurnished living room that had dark wooden paneling on the walls and some depressing brown carpet on the floor. It was quite dingy but I immediately noticed a young man about twenty lying on the floor besides a very large plywood box. I looked at the Minister and he said, “He killed himself yesterday and I need you to help me put him in the box”. He then said, “I hope he hasn’t stiffened up or we may have to break his legs to get him into the box.” I was quite surprised by the whole episode and certainly would have never experienced something like this in southern Canada. I liked to think experiences like this had no effect on me. I now realize they had a profound impact on me.

The north required I either make major changes psychologically or leave. I made the changes necessary to stay. After twenty years of working in northern alcohol and drug programs I moved to Nanaimo, BC. My new job would require me to develop an educational system for a number of addiction’s clinicians on Vancouver Island. It seemed like a good job and I was quite excited about working with my new boss and colleagues

The Meltdown

When I got to Nanaimo I could sense something was wrong. So many people knew so much more than me about living in the south. Much of what I had learned in the north simply did not matter in this new environment. Within three months of moving to Nanaimo a doctor determined that I was unable to work, a psychologist said my anxiety level was so high my test results could not be accurately interpreted and I felt vulnerable and alone. I had no idea what was wrong and was confused by my rapidly declining health. Within three months I had moved from an excellent job and contented lifestyle to someone on disability pension who was questioning their own sanity. I remain on disability three years later and for some reasons have not been able to get to a place where I am able to work in any type of job.

Changing Sides of the Desk

I found out about, and was referred into, a dialectical behavioral therapy group run by local mental health and addiction’s clinicians. Ironically, I was previously employed to design an educational system for the same clinicians from whom I now received service. The psychologist and psychiatrist I was seeing also worked for the same agency I had worked for. Now I had changed sides of the desk and was a client rather than an employee. I felt shame, guilt and embarrassment when I went to receive services from my colleagues. My memory was not very good and I found myself functioning at a comparatively low level. In spite of my feelings I continued to attend my appointments and group sessions and found the process very helpful! The clinicians with whom I had worked were both supportive and highly professional. They treated me very kindly which was important because my life as I had known it was shattered.

It was a humbling experience to require services from people I had worked with in the addictions and mental health field. I do not know if I have always been mentally ill but in my new southern environment have been unable to compensate for my illness. I know my life has forever changed. I believe my experience with the Anglican Minister and the dead young man, coupled with seeing hundreds of other comparable events first hand, traumatized me. In order to survive in the north I was required to make psychological and emotional shifts to adapt. These changes are now so well entrenched and specific to the north that I have been unable to adapt to the south. I still wonder what happened and probably will for the remainder of my life.

In spite of being on a disability pension I have developed a life worth living one day at a time. I am extremely grateful for the support of medical professionals, family and friends. I have become a writer and public speaker and am enjoying life very much.

Faces of Mental IllnessBeth Lyster

Beth was one of the 54 people nominated to become a national Face of Mental Illness as part of MIAW.


She writes:

Since January 2006 I have been employed as a Mental Health promoter with CMHA-WECB. It is only since working at CMHA that I have aggressively begun to seek out adequate treatment and diagnosis of my nearly lifelong emotional and psychological distresses.

Now, finally, 30 years after first experiencing hallmark symptoms, I am about to begin treatment for the first time for what is a most likely diagnosis: hypomanic bipolar disorder. Illness and identity are complicated issues. Being properly diagnosed has been both a relief and a challenge – a challenge to integrate the information inherent in this label without being limited by it.

Alan Cohen warns, “Take care what words you speak that follow “I am”. In so speaking, you create your life.” I am not my mental illness. But I must not neglect it either - I must claim it to become healthier.

Educating the public about mental health and mental illness is something I am compelled to do: for those who love someone who is ill, for those who are beginning to notice symptoms; and, certainly for others who are living successfully in recovery. But, most of all I speak aloud for those who struggle to get through each day, hoping that no one notices how very hard won that success may be, who may have lived a lifetime in secret pain. Because of the stigma.

A big part of recovery is challenging stigma: shedding the shame which acts as tacit acceptance of the negative impression and prejudices of others. It’s time to find the stigma surrounding mental illnesses unacceptable.


Beth A. Lyster
Mental Health Promoter, CMHA Windsor-Essex County Branch
Windsor, Ontario

Faces of Mental IllnessJean François Samson

Jean François was one of the 54 people nominated to become a national Face of Mental Illness as part of MIAW.

He writes:

My Story

My experience with mental illness came to light with a suicidal attempt in April of 1996. At the time, I felt depressed since I did not have a companion. I searched for companionship but remained unsuccessful finding that special someone. With the help of the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario, I later realized that 40% of those affected with schizophrenia attempt suicide. So I came to understand my past action and all feelings of guilt disappeared. Depression turned into paranoia and paranoia turned into schizophrenia. Basically, the situation evolved towards hearing voices. In December of 1998, I heard my first voice which was the voice of an Iroquois girl. I suddenly believed that I was hearing my daughter and that I was telepathic. That was the only way to explain being able to hear this voice and other voices later on. Her voice could be heard in my mind and not with my ears. It was clear and I celebrated the fact that I was a father. Communication was made easy and I could listen and share thoughts with other people without using my voice but my mind. When alone, I would speak out loud to make sure that I would be heard but I could maintain a conversation speaking with my mind.

More delusions developed and I sensed that a lot of people were in danger. So I attempted to report incidents to police forces which included the names of my parents. I would see assailants around me and because I did not have the power to arrest, I had to rely on the police to do this job. All I could do was to report the facts. I had piles of reports in my apartment and I would continuously write down incidents which involved rape, murder and assault. This experience was the most troublesome since most of the time, I laughed with friends of my imagination. I speak more in detail about the actions taken and the things believed during my presentations as a public speaker.

It is known that mental illness is not a top priority in the governments’ agenda in Canada. Drug coverage is an example where the governments have neglected to notice the hardships suffered by those affected by a mental illness and by their families. There are organizations which work towards public awareness and they do a fabulous job. But at times, the assistance of governmental agencies is needed and there is an evident lack of participation. I believe that if politicians live the experience of knowing someone close to them who has suffered from a mental illness that they would work much harder to look after our needs. There has been progress but very little. Just recently, Risperdal Consta has been funded by the Ontario government but it took three years to see this result. Government bodies in Canada must notice that it is less expensive to cover the cost of all psychiatric medications than to cover hospital expenses. Drug coverage in all provinces should definitely be a top priority.

I have been involved with the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario. I have worked closely with Sheila Deighton and Cynthia Clark. They have invited me to speak in front of various audiences in order to educate curious minds about the experience of living with schizophrenia. Fortunately, I am able to speak before a group, small or large, and clearly explain the attributes of delusions and relate the hardships suffered by me and by my family.

To conclude, I would like to say that successful medical treatment is the only way to recover from schizophrenia. There are other factors which prove to be useful such as family and community support. However, only medication can make a real difference. It would be great for everyone affected by a mental illness to have access to these medications, as a process which requires government assistance.