Sound Therapy Radio recently had the opportunity to speak with Gillian Mulvale, of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The Commission was established in March 2007 and is to provide an ongoing national focus for mental health issues. Gillian, a mental health survivor herself is one of the first two members of the strategy team. She speaks about the mandate of the Commission and the initiatives that are being rolled out over the next few years.
Part 1 (5 mins)
Part 2 (5 mins)
The above are excerpts from the full broadcast on Jan 4th, Episode 104: Why should Canadians mind about the MIND?
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January 21, 2010 at 5:14 am
Carol Crocker
I’ve been dealing with mental health issues on and off since 1972. That’s 37 years! Wow! PTSD, Major Depression, Anxiety Disorder, Depression with Psychosis have been my diagnosis. I’ve been hospitalized twice and had excellent treatment and support with psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, self-help/mutual aid support groups. I still wonder why so many people have negative experiences with mental health providers. These days it’s even worse because of wait lists. I also wonder why so many of us must live in poverty and be expected to get better. Why in this day and age with all this new found knowledge that so many people fall through the cracks. So many end up in prison and get treated so horribly. Ashley Smith who has recently been in the news due to her terrible treatment and ended up taking her life because she could not get emotional pain relief. Professionals watched and waited! How could they be so cruel? How many others like Ashley are in this predicament today? As a survivor of child sexual abuse I also know the impact this has had on my mental, emotional, physical, social and financial health. How many others are not getting the help and support they need? It’ll be another few years before the Mental Health Commission work gets fully implemented and I wonder how many people will fall through the cracks in the meantime.
I truly hope that this commission will be able to reset the healthier helping model and make access available to all who need it in a timely fashion. Helpers who are non-judgmental and unconditionally accepting of all persons and promote the dignity of humanity regardless of social and financial status, gender, race, citizenship, immigration, refugee status. Policies must not be punitive!
Thank you for this informative article.
Carol
January 24, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Sound Therapy Radio
Hi Carol,
Thank you for the post, sharing your story and your perseverance. The poverty line gets higher, especially in Vancouver where the housing and cost of living here is skyrocketing. People who already have a disability and are on low income are worse off merely because of inflation. Are social service benefits increasing at the rate of inflation, the government can tax more but do they re-distribute?
The case of Ashley Smith is a black eye on Canada and our corrections system. CBC must be credited for bringing this to the forefront. We don’t have capital punishment here however if you have a mental illness and get into the prison system, it is essentially death row. As in Ashley’s case it just seemed to escalate, driven by the ignorance within the corrections system. I would also surmise there is an abuse of power, within the hidden walls of the prison. If RCMP and VPD can’t control themselves in plain pubic view, what can we imagine within the jail system.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada says it is focusing its Anti-Stigma towards health care professions, purely for the reason to mitigate ignorance. There have been instances where emergency room nurses berate suicidal individuals; one was quoted saying “there are so many people that come here wanting to live why should I waste my time helping someone who wants to kill themselves!” I would hope that this program be available to the corrections system.
It starts with one thing, compassion and the ability for people to be humanistic vs judgmental.
January 11, 2011 at 3:53 pm
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