People First Media program archive
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people first radio archives

_DSC0071This page displays a comprehensive list of all “People First Radio” segments archived on the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society website. Specific PFR interviews can also be located using the search box at the top of the page or by selecting one of the topics to the right.

(Image of the People First Radio team 2015: Kevin Midbo, Nancy McInnes, Ashta Cormier, and Nicholas Holt; by http://www.iconoco.cc/)
  • Mar 2018“... ...”
  • Nanaimo Brain Injury Society helps answer the question, "Now what?"

    People with acquired brain injuries face significant transitions, from hospital to home or from who they were to who they are now. These transitions have a huge impact on the everyday lives of survivors, as well as their as well as thei ...

  • Shave for mental health event April 14th, 2018 at Studio 10 Salon in Campbell River

    In support of Mental Health, Tina and Craig Herman will be at Studio 10 Salon, in Campbell River, shaving all their head hair off on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 11:00am. Mental illness has affected family and relatives of Tina and Craig ...

  • Feb 2018“... ...”
  • Moms, families: End the failed war on drugs, which is a war on the people we love

    A network of Canadian mothers and families whose loved ones have died due to substance use, or hope for recovery, envision a new approach based on reducing harm, where people who use drugs are treated with respect, compassion and support ...

  • Land-based service delivery models can enhance hope, belonging, meaning, purpose

    The Thunderbird Partnership Foundation is educating Canadians about the importance of land-based service delivery models and the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum in providing mental health services--and preparing for and responding t ...

  • Nanaimo Women March On 2018 emphasized intersectionality, grassroots action

    The second annual Nanaimo Women March On demonstration was held Saturday January 20, 2018, with an emphasis on intersectionality and the prevention of violence against women Focus on local efforts to prevent gender-based violence A ...

  • Jan 2018“... ...”
  • Annual Eating Disorders Awareness campaigns launch February 1st

    Annual Eating Disorders Awareness campaigns are launched across Canada during the first week of February. British Columbia's campaign will focus on orthorexia -- an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating Eating Disorders awareness c ...

  • 12 step recovery programs can help some, but not all, recover from addictions

    Although the 12-step approach to recovery from alcoholism and addiction can be beneficial for some people, not everyone is comfortable with some of the more spiritual aspects of the programs The famous 12-step approach to recover ...

  • Mike Pond on harm reduction in the treatment of alcohol addiction

    Thirty years of professional practice, combined with his own life-threatening battle with alcohol, convinced Michael Pond that harm reduction, “any positive change,” offers clients the best chance at beating addictions After two deca ...

  • "I'm proud to say I'm a woman in long-term recovery"

    Ann Dowsett-Johnston, journalist and author of Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, says that there are three main factors that influence how people drink: marketing, pricing and accessibility Ann Dowsett-Johns ...

  • Gender-based analysis of drinking behaviours among university students

    Social expectations of what male and female students should or should not do with respect to their own gender identities and gender relations directly affects their drinking patterns and health seeking behaviours Social expectations ...

  • Is it time to winter-proof your mental health?

    Some people say mid-winter is the most depressing time of year—when cold and dark days, holiday bills, and already-lapsed new year’s resolutions catch up with us Whether you believe that or not, it’s never a bad time to reflect o ...

  • A hopeful moment in the fight against mental illness

    The $100-million donation to Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) from an anonymous benefactor is an extraordinary gift to the people of this city and beyond. It is also a symbol of a welcome cultural shift in how we appr ...

  • Dec 2017“... ...”
  • For better mental-health care in Canada, look to Britain

    David Gratzer is a psychiatrist at CAMH. David Goldbloom is a psychiatrist, senior medical adviser at CAMH, and past chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. It may be the biggest change to mental-health-care services in five dec ...

  • Anxiety, depression and the mental health continuum

    VIMHS acting executive director Taryn O'Flanagan presents a talk titled The Mental Health Continuum, Depression and Anxiety: Effective ways of coping and supporting one another Image: Taryn O'Flanagan speaking at Brentwood College School o ...

  • Brentwood College students spend a day focused on mental health and wellness

    Brentwood College student leaders and counseling staff hold an annual mental health and wellness day to help decrease stigma, increase awareness and promote resiliency image: Vancouver Island Mental Health Society acting executive direct ...

  • Not enough services for mentally ill kids, says family of struggling boy

    “Would we not avoid self medicating and future issues of homelessness and joblessness, plus families being broken and children thrown into foster care, if we took child and teen mental illness more seriously?” A Mission family with a men ...

  • Nov 2017“... ...”
  • Venerable Sik Yin Kit on end of life care: Our #1 most-listened-to PFR podcast in 2017

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/935995580383420417

  • Carlyn Zwarenstein on pain and opioids: Our #2 most-listened-to PFR podcast in 2017

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/928997312168382464

  • Looking for action to change British Columbia's child poverty story

    “Poverty negatively affects children’s physical, emotional and social development. We need to look after our most vulnerable: no child in BC should be limited because of poverty.” Data in the 2017 BC Child Poverty Report Card , relea ...

  • https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/932752644514467840

  • Police chief: "I want you to do whatever it takes so that you are well"

    Mental-health advocates are praising a British Columbia police chief for his leadership after he made an impassioned plea for first responders to take care of their mental well-being Abbotsford Police Chief Bob Rich made his comments tow ...

  • 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence begins November 25th

    The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women November 25th and ends on International Human Rights Day December 10th The 16 Days of Activi ...

  • B.C. government announces new mental-health and addiction centre at Riverview lands

    The B.C. government will reopen the Riverview psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam as a 105-bed, mental-health and addiction-wellness centre, but the B.C. Schizophrenia Society believes losing the beds at the Burnaby Centre for Mental Heal ...

  • Oct 2017“... ...”
  • Currents newsletter for October 2017

    In this month's Currents...Community good will goes a long way to help VIMHS residents...Anne Turner’s journey with art therapy gets public viewing...VIMHS opens 9-bed sobering centre in Campbell River...VIMHS joined the 2017 suicide pr ...

  • Invisible angels

    Most kids their age would be involved in after-school activities or hanging out at the mall. These adolescents, however, go home to look after a family member with a physical or mental disability. Their contributions are largely unheralded, ...

  • Survey of Alberta’s trans youth finds safety, violence, discrimination are major issues

    Trans youth report significant stress and mental health challenges, a profound lack of safety in navigating their daily lives, barriers to supportive health care, and worrying rates of poverty. Yet, there is immense hope. The Canadian ...

  • https://twitter.com/CMHACalgary/status/919959969268629510

  • Junior hockey player Myles Mattila is a widely-recognized mental health ambassador

    18-year-old hockey player Myles Mattila has been recognized by the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association for promoting education and awareness about mental health issues among young athletes The death of Rick Rypien inspires ment ...

  • Opinion: During Homelessness Action Week, it’s time to take action

    Programs which address homelessness first, then provide supports, are more effective and economical than those requiring people to meet milestones (such as sobriety) prior to being housed Lethargy is an easy pitfall when considering the ...

  • Mental Illness Awareness Week October 1-7 -- Days 6 & 7

    MIAW 2017_day 6_7

  • Mental Illness Awareness Week October 1-7 -- Days 4 & 5

    MIAW 2017_day 4_5

  • Mental Illness Awareness Week October 1-7 -- Day 3

    MIAW 2017_day 3

  • Mental Illness Awareness Week October 1-7 -- Day 2

    MIAW 2017_day 2

  • Natasha Box speaks about growing up as her mother struggled with mental illness

    “I could go on about my struggles as a child…but I am the person that I am today because of those different struggles and I think my mom was just trying to be a mom and it was hard for her…living with mental illness” Children of parent ...

  • Mental Illness Awareness Week October 1-7 -- Day 1

    MIAW 2017_day 1

  • Sep 2017“... ...”
  • Award-winning filmmaker brings compelling harm reduction stories to Nanaimo

    Harm reduction remains unknown to most North Americans, despite affecting millions. Like the film’s subjects, its non-judgmental approach to health care has often been ignored, or hidden in plain sight The Stairs The Stairs follows ...

  • Graphic novelist Von Allan revisits childhood challenges for documentary film

    "As a small child, Von Allan had to cope with poverty, bullying, loneliness and his mother's severe mental health problems" but he found a way to cope; now his creativity speaks volumes Von Allan was born in Arnprior, Ontario in 1974 ...

  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 7

    suicide prevention day 7

  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 6

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  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 5

    suicide prevention day 5

  • Young adults with autism more likely to have psychiatric problems: study

    Researcher suggests findings highlight a need to focus on mental health care for individuals with autism spectrum disorder Kyle Echakowitz says his transition from high school to college was not just stressful, it was downright "scary." ...

  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 4

    suicide prevention day 4

  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 3

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  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 2

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  • Community steps up to donate, install much-needed new beds at VIMHS houses

    Members of the Rotary Club of Nanaimo, along with Sleep Country Canada and individual donors, have made a tremendous difference in the lives of Vancouver Island Mental Health residents Sponsor-a-Bed fundraising campaign VIMHS manager ...

  • Suicide Prevention Week -- Day 1

    suicide prevention day 1

  • Why making art is the new meditation

    “Art is a guarantee to sanity,” said Louise Bourgeois, a French-American artist who died in 2010 at the age of 98. She even went on to add, “…This is the most important thing I have said.” For Bourgeois, art — making art — was a tool for co ...

  • Return to school doesn't have to mean a return to bullying

    The definitive guide to bullying prevention and intervention, by best-selling author Barbara Coloroso, provides real solutions for a problem that affects young people all over the world Barbara Coloroso is a bestselling author and an ...

  • https://twitter.com/CMHAOntario/status/906155435945852928

  • https://twitter.com/CMHAOntario/status/905068166564515844

  • Mom observes son's birthday in grief on International Overdose Awareness Day

    Brett Colton Mercer was born in Nanaimo on Aug. 31, 1987, to loving parents who eventually had five children. He died Aug. 19, 2017, of an accidental drug overdose, alone in a motel room in Hope, where he had recently landed a job with ...

  • Aug 2017“... ...”
  • Anne Turner's recovery-based exploration of art draws community recognition

    Anne Turner credits art therapy with helping her move through various mental health challenges. One of her paintings has taken a prime spot in Nanaimo's 'gallery row' Gallery Row in Nanaimo Nanaimo's Gallery Row unveiled the 2017 sele ...

  • VIMHS Campbell River centre helps people struggling with substance use & addiction

    Vancouver Island Mental Health Society's sobering and assessment centre provides front line help 24/7 for people struggling with substance abuse and addiction VIMHS now provides services in Campbell River Vancouver Island Mental Heal ...

  • Dr. Diane McIntosh: Fentanyl crisis is largely a mental-health problem

    Whether due to stigma, poor insight, hopelessness or lack of access to care, many people who are mentally ill suffer in silence, sometimes for years We’re in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis, with fentanyl-related overdoses ...

  • Staggering cost of homelessness symptom of 'inadequate services' for mentally ill

    The cost of providing services for homeless people with mental illness is so high that Canadian researchers are calling on policy-makers to seek alternatives ...

  • Jul 2017“... ...”
  • BC's new minister of mental health and addictions to "pour heart and soul" into job

    "We don’t have a co-ordinated, seamless system and that’s what we need. Addiction issues often stem from mental health issues, from poverty and homelessness. I have a background that takes a broad view of these things." Last week, B.C. p ...

  • Vancouver Island Mental Health Society announces departure of executive director

    July 28, 2017 -- To our community partners: After three and a half years, our executive director, Barnabas Walther will be leaving Vancouver Island Mental Health Society.  On behalf of the board of directors we would like to thank Barnabas ...

  • Sensitivity grows for workplace mental illness

    The idea is to create acceptance and to normalize the care of mental health in the workplace, the place where many people spend the majority of their waking hours Every week, half a million workers in Canada call in sick because of menta ...

  • Jun 2017“... ...”
  • Local Ontario mental health campaign earns international award

    A Windsor marketing firm has captured international recognition for its work in developing the Sole Focus Project for the local Canadian Mental Health Association Douglas Marketing Group has been honoured with an Aster Award and received ...

  • Vancouver Island Mental Health Society marks 40 years of service at AGM

    Vancouver Island Mental Health Society (VIMHS) held its 2017 annual general meeting (AGM) on June 26th. Barnabas Walther, executive director, spoke about the Society's 40-year history and its expanding continuum of care. Board chairperson V ...

  • ...

  • Butting out is good for mental health patients, too

    Some studies have shown that nicotine has antidepressant and antipsychotic properties, and some psychiatrists say it's best to let people admitted to the psychiatric ward continue to smoke during their stay People with a mental health di ...

  • Expressing the individual's right to die: Bill C-14 and Taylor's "modern moral order"

    The importance of the rights and obligations individuals have to one another is now accompanied by an emphasis on the right of individuals to live authentically The acceptance of physician-assisted death by the Supreme Court of Canad ...

  • Post-secondary schools see surge in demand for mental health services

    "Unprecedented demand for mental health services among young people today is raising alarm among medical experts and transforming the financial plans of universities, businesses and governments" Stories emerge about the mental health o ...

  • World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

    https://twitter.com/WHO/status/875227896016769024

  • National group releases first-ever report highlighting substance use recovery in Canada

    "It is now up to all of us to take this information and translate it into action to ensure that those positive outcomes are available to all who are in active addiction" The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) (formerly ...

  • Being John Keats

    "For Keats, it is only our acceptance of the suffering that is an inevitable part of life, and death, that can really open our eyes to the beauty that surrounds us, thereby enabling us to grow" Despite his death at the age of 25, Joh ...

  • We can't ignore this silent crisis in men's mental health

    June 13th is Men's Mental Health Awareness Day, lying in the middle of Canadian Men's Health Week. This is a chance to discuss what many see as a silent crisis in men's mental health. Both the federal and provincial government have offic ...

  • Grade 9 student asks, "When did good mental health become a luxury?"

    Quinn, a grade 9 student in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, concludes that mental health care is not very easily accessible for everyone, "even though when it comes down to it, it’s simply health care" Grade 9 students in the Collective Voi ...

  • Study asks people using drugs to shape their primary care

    Primary health care delivered with understanding and compassion for people who use drugs is the focus of a new Greater Victoria patient-oriented research study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Building on a prev ...

  • Intimations of mortality: Previews of the end

      If the human obsession with achievement is a subconscious attempt to deny--and transcend--mortality, what impact does it have on our beliefs, philosophies and societies? "In his 1973 book, The Denial of Death, the American ...

  • May 2017“... ...”
  • It’s time to recognize mental health as essential to physical health

    The treatment of mental illness has long been held back by the sense that disorders of emotion, thinking, and behavior somehow lack legitimacy and instead reflect individual weakness or poor life choices The human brain is a wonder. Thro ...

  • Lack of mental health services for youth leaves serious problems undetected for years

    An unprecedented demand by young Canadians for mental health services is forcing universities, businesses and governments to quickly respond. Data collected from across the country and interviews with experts shows the extent of the problem ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 7

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 7

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 6

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 6

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 5

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 5

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 4

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 4

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 3

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 3

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 2

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 2

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 1

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • #GetLoud for #MentalHealth -- Day 1

    This May 1-7, turn up the volume. It’s the 66th Annual CMHA Mental Health Week and we’re getting loud for mental health. During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. ...

  • Children’s mental health needs increased funding, program changes, groups urge

    From funding to front-line services, programs are lacking for youth, advocates say. Youth suicide in Canada is the third highest among industrialized nations. Beth Nowosad started feeling anxious and suffering panic attacks in Grade 8. ...

  • Apr 2017“... ...”
  • This May 1-7, turn up the volume. #GetLoud for #MentalHealth

    During Mental Health Week, Canadians take the time to reflect on their mental health. But we do more than just reflect. We get loud about it. This year during the Canadian Mental Health Association's Mental Health Week, Canadians are spe ...

  • Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, a song written for jazz singer Nina Simone, perhaps sums up how a lot of people living with bipolar disorder feel Dr. Barry Rich, for one, thinks the time has come for understanding. Rich, a retired physici ...

  • Are universities doing enough to support mental health?

    As the taboo around talking about mental health crumbles, students are demanding more resources on campus, and many post-secondary education institutions are struggling to keep up University isn’t meant to be easy, but it isn’t supposed ...

  • April 23 to 29 is National Volunteer Week in Canada

    However you recognize volunteering in 2017, one thing remains timeless…and that is volunteer efforts create positive impact in communities across Canada Thank you Canadian volunteers, for 150 glorious years! In 2017, volunteering comes i ...

  • $11 billion can end homelessness in Canada

    "Funds must not only build affordable housing, they must align with poverty reduction strategies and mental health and recovery initiatives currently underway if we are to truly reduce long-term homelessness" In North American cities lik ...

  • Mar 2017“... ...”
  • #MyBipolarFuelsMyPassion4 is the theme for this year's bipolar awareness day

    The vision of World Bipolar Day is to bring awareness to bipolar conditions and to eliminate social stigma. This year's theme is having #bipolar gives me strength to follow my passions World Bipolar Day The vision of World Bipolar ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Making connections with others who have experienced bipolar

    Steven Barnes on World Bipolar Day: "Making those connections with other people who have had lived experience with mental illness has been very important for my recovery" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awareness ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Finding support from others with similar experiences

    Amir on World Bipolar Day: "I think finding support from people with similar experiences is the best thing for somebody who is newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awareness to b ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Getting research findings into the hands of those who need them

    Dr. Erin Michalak on World Bipolar Day: "Canada is a world leader in generating good science on bipolar disorder, and in getting these scientific findings into the hands of people who need them" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Not someone "with bipolar" but a person first

    Natasha Kolida on World Bipolar Day: "You're not getting to know someone with bipolar, you're getting to know someone. Just think about that" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awareness to bipolar disorders and eli ...

  • World Bipolar Day - It's absolutely possible to live well with bipolar disorder

    Carolyn Ziegler on World Bipolar Day: "The first time I heard people saying 'I'm living well with bipolar disorder' that changed everything for me" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awareness to bipolar disorders a ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Righting the public misunderstandings about bipolar disorder

    Victoria Maxwell on World Bipolar Day: "I feel I can make my mark by righting some of the misunderstandings people have about bipolar disorder, and I do that a lot with humour" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awa ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Lots of positive changes in treatment of bipolar disorder

    Dr. Greg Murray on World Bipolar Day: "Over the last 10 years there's been lots of changes on lots of fronts when it comes to bipolar disorder, all of them very, very positive" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awa ...

  • World Bipolar Day - Making human stories about bipolar disorder readily accessible

    Dr. Stephen Hinshaw on World Bipolar Day: "My passion is for communication, science, treatment, and making human stories about bipolar disorder readily accessible" World Bipolar Day The vision of WBD is to bring world awareness to bip ...

  • Do schizophrenia and autism share the same root?

    New research suggests the two conditions may be the different outcomes of one genetic syndrome Some researchers have suggested that the relatively high autism prevalence in this population is the result of misdiagnoses of early signs of ...

  • Teens draw on experience to create mental health program for high schools

    Students use storytelling and art to engage peers in discussing stress, anxiety and resilience The girl with the ponytail and hightop sneakers looks like any other teenager as she grabs a book from her locker and trudges down the corrido ...

  • Dignity, end-of-Life, and concerns in the LGBTQ community

    The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community is a group in society with a unique set of end-of-life concerns, but their needs remain largely unmet End-of-life concerns -- including everything from retirement t ...

  • Health Canada aims to release secret drug records

    “Today, Health Canada is in the habit of keeping this information secret when pharmaceutical companies ask them to. That is what has to change.” Health Canada plans to release reams of confidential documents that detail the clinical tria ...

  • Basic income and child benefits are the best bet to reduce poverty

    In Canada, a strong social safety net plus growth have been the factors in poverty reduction. Despite this progress, we hear repeated calls for continued poverty reduction Growing up poor does more than deprive a billion children and ...

  • Investing in homes for homeless women pays off

    Providing shelter to homeless women isn’t a solution. It’s only part of the solution. We must support them in permanently escaping the hellish downward spiral of homelessness and reclaiming their rightful place in our community The strug ...

  • Hearing others' stories, sharing experiences, can build resilience for youth in treatment

    "Our study provides a window into what young people think about the mental health services they receive and what they feel helps and hinders their well-being...feedback will lead to...services that they will find engaging, meaningful and ef ...

  • Ketamine offers new hope for patients with severe depression

    Inspired by promising research into ketamine’s therapeutic effects, people are swapping strategies online on how to use the drug to ease their despair. Could ‘Special K’ be a panacea for depression? John woke up one morning feeling a ...

  • 16-hour video game binges almost ruined Calgary teen’s life

    After an addiction to gaming brought on depression, family problems and a wish to end his life, Cam Adair finally broke free Cam Adair is one of a growing number of young people in North America and beyond, particularly boys, who are add ...

  • Facebook adds suicide prevention tools, including live chat and AI for reporting

    "Today we’re updating the tools and resources we offer to people who may be thinking of suicide, as well as the support we offer to their concerned friends and family members: Integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time ...

  • Feb 2017“... ...”
  • BC's lower mainland mayors say homelessness is in a ‘state of crisis’

    "What we need is an actual plan": Lower Mainland mayors say homelessness has reached a “state of crisis,” with more than 4,000 people in need of housing and more than 70 homeless camps in operation Metro Vancouver’s homelessness task for ...

  • People who use drugs demand a say in fentanyl overdose responses

    “There’s a common public misconception that we are unable to make decisions for ourselves. Truth being we are excluded from even participating in policy decisions that determine our fates” National Day of Action on the Overdose Crisis ...

  • UBC study on what works (and doesn't) for young-adult mental health treatment

    A participant known as Nelson said he had hopes of going into acting, but was disappointed when a counsellor set him up with a theatre company dedicated to “people affected by mental illness” A recently published UBC study reveals some m ...

  • Nanaimo demonstration and march part of National Day of Action on overdose crisis

    Concerned citizens march in Nanaimo on February 21, 2017, in solidarity with cities across Canada struggling with effective responses to the growing opioid overdose crisis National Day of Action on the Overdose Crisis Canada is in the ...

  • Pink Shirt Day brings awareness to bullying

    Nanaimo-based hip hop artist Matt Dunae (Sirreal) and Jona Kristinsson re-release "Words Like Weapons" ...

  • Drug users, advocates demand faster action on overdose crisis

    Day of Action follows many recent steps taken by drug user communities and harm reduction advocates to share knowledge, increase frontline supports and cope with the grief of losing loved ones as fentanyl helps fuel an overdose crisis Dr ...

  • Ontario politicians are opening up about their own mental health

    The Ontario legislature is becoming a place where MPPs are comfortable with acknowledging they are coping with depression or other forms of mental illness. This is a pretty remarkable thing, and is worth pausing to consider. The example ...

  • Buddhist nun Yin Kit teaches mindfulness meditation to prisoners in the Fraser Valley

    "If you constantly think of it as a prison cell it’s always duhkha—suffering. But if you turn it into a meditation cell, then at least for a moment you will have a glimpse of freedom and joy, because you let go of that negativity." Tea ...

  • Exploring resilience in the practice of informal caregiving

    Despite the risk for the onset of burden, some informal caregivers manage challenges quite well and demonstrate a certain degree of resilience. What does resilience look like among those providing care to dying individuals? Friends a ...

  • Beyond harm reduction

    Sixteen years after Vancouver formally adopted a ‘four pillars’ approach to drug strategy, the city – and the province – finds itself in the grip of an overdose crisis, reports Andrea Woo More than 900 people died of illicit drug overdos ...

  • Disability rates far too low for ‘dignified standard of living,’ report finds

    Keeping Premier Christy Clark’s promise to make British Columbia the most progressive province in Canada for people with disabilities by the year 2024 will require steady raises to disability assistance payments followed by ongoing cost of ...

  • Carfentanil found in Nanaimo drugs, Mounties say

    "Carfentanil is an extremely toxic and lethal drug and there is currently no way for people to know whether it is contained in illegal drugs," Dr. Charmaine Enns, Island Health medical health officer said in a release A deadly drug 100 t ...

  • Quebec mental health groups join forces to help youth

    “Young people who are struggling are not always visible. We wanted to boost our efforts to help them.” Television and radio show host Stéphane Bellavance says he’s lucky his family is doing well, but should something go amiss, he would l ...

  • A veterinarian's perspective on end-of-life care and humane euthanasia

    The modern strengthening of the human-animal bond has supported the development of a comprehensive veterinary practice that provides care for all life stages, including the end-of-life Doctors of veterinary medicine swear the "Veteri ...

  • Organizing body of Alcoholics Anonymous in GTA opens doors to secular groups

    “We learned we don’t need to put up with the dogmatic approach,” said Mr. Knight, a member of the Unitarian church. “It’s unnecessary and unhelpful.” TORONTO -- In 1934, Bill Wilson guzzled four beers on his way to a hospital where he sa ...

  • Turning responsibly towards death: A Jewish pastoral perspective

    Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan says that while we don't know what happens on the 'other side' of death, we can prepare for it 'on this side' by letting go of attachments and grievances, and respond to death by learning to support the bereaved ...

  • Inuk artist Susan Aglukark says sex abuse is at the root of indigenous suicide crisis

      Sexual abuse is a “dehumanizing and demoralizing” root cause of the youth suicide crisis that has been ravaging remote northern outposts in recent years Some nights, Susan Aglukark still wakes up drenched in sweat. It’s been 42 ...

  • Jan 2017“... ...”
  • How to help when someone you know may have an eating disorder

    You may find it difficult and stressful to approach someone you care about who has an eating disorder. You may wonder what to say, or be worried about what will happen as a result Every day, we are surrounded by different messages fr ...

  • 'It's hard to look at her kids,' sister says of Vancouver fentanyl victim

    Mary Purdy died Jan. 17 of a fentanyl overdose at home. Her two boys sat beside her lifeless body for hours until they were discovered by an ex-boyfriend, who had come to check on her Mary Purdy baked homemade cupcakes, played the piano ...

  • Drastic cuts to business association funding will impact Nanaimo’s downtown

    Store owner predicts that, without action to change what is happening in downtown Nanaimo, the area will become similar to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside On a sunny Saturday Nanaimo’s downtown is shining. But many business owners say it’s ...

  • Irving family’s fortunate son fell into a dark depression, and rose again

    “If someone is reading this story, and they’re in an unhealthy relationship, and they are feeling, ‘Maybe I am going through the same thing,’ I really want them to understand that getting out on your own and being independent is the very fi ...

  • Body image issues haunt men and boys, as well as women and girls

    Eating disorders are much more common in men than were previously thought. While men may describe their situations differently from women, their triggers for eating disorders are pretty much the same Body image, self esteem and disorde ...

  • New 'point-in-time' count brings homelessness in Canada into sharper focus

    Indigenous people, long over-represented among the homeless, were nine times more likely to be homeless than non-indigenous Canadians, the report found. Veterans comprised about five per cent, twice their proportion of the general populatio ...

  • When trauma takes its toll, a very private CBC reporter goes public with his pain

    For three decades, his radio and television reports have brought the country and the world into Canadian homes. But “Curt Petrovich, CBC News” has been silent for two years now, on medical leave while he struggles with debilitating PTSD ...

  • It's Bell Let's Talk Day

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/824267069906681857

  • It's eating disorders awareness week in BC and across Canada Feb 1-7

    Are you a passionate, eager individual who wants to help others improve body image, reduce stigma of eating disorders, and spread awareness? Then the love our bodies, love ourselves movement is right for you British Columbia's Provin ...

  • What it’s like to treat high school students for opioid addiction

    "If they can’t label it and they can’t ask for help, it will come out as a physical symptom. They will say, 'I have a headache. My stomach’s really sore.'" I’ve been working as a nurse practitioner in a Thunder Bay high school for about ...

  • Young mom confronts risks and taboos of synthetic opioid in new memoir

    Amid headlines of overdoses and galloping addiction rates, Carlyn Zwarenstein's memoir is an outspoken and provocative dispatch from the New Age of Opium North Americans are the world’s most compulsive and prolific users of legal o ...

  • Why is everyone talking about painkillers, but not about pain?

    Brock University professor Dan Malleck says that while concern about addictive painkillers is strong, concern about the broader social causes of pain should be even stronger "Prescription painkiller abuse, addiction and death are hot ...

  • How has media coverage of mental health issues evolved in recent years?

    The media coverage of mental illness is improving by leaps and bounds thanks to those individuals who are brave enough to speak out despite any stigma Suicide – it’s a word loaded with emotion, tragedy and questions. Until recent years ...

  • Is it time to winter-proof your mental health?

    Some people say mid-winter is the most depressing time of year—when cold and dark days, holiday bills, and already-lapsed new year’s resolutions catch up with us Whether you believe that or not, it’s never a bad time to reflect o ...

  • Lunch and learn in #Nanaimo supports smokers’ quest to quit

    Dr. Derek Poteryko offers workshop to Quit Smoking for Good on Wednesday January 18th in Nanaimo NANAIMO — Dr. Derek Poteryko wants to help you kick the need for nicotine in 2017.  Dr. Poteryko is Island Health’s Medical Director of Comm ...

  • The role of mindfulness in end of life care

    Mindfulness assists people with their end of life process by giving them and their caregivers a tool they can use in order to be fully aware of the present moment and their own physical and mental states The Venerable Yin Kit (pictur ...

  • Using art to express and heal yourself

    Mehdi Naïmi says that good art therapy empowers people, strengthens relationships, brings peace of heart, and joy to life Long before there was "art therapy," artists explained themselves with their inner images as references to real ...

  • Canada 150: A year of celebration, a year for mental health

    Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will invite Canadians to nominate people who devote their lives to those experiencing mental illness because they believe the status quo isn’t good enough.  More than seven million Canadi ...

  • It’s past time to invest in mental health: Editorial

    Despite the ubiquity of mental illness and the steady erosion of the social stigma once attached to such struggles, the health-care system has not kept up. By the age of 40, half of all Canadians will have suffered from some form of ment ...

  • Dec 2016“... ...”
  • Evidence-based algorithm a tool for early, effective psychosis treatment

    When a person first experiences symptoms of psychosis, the treatment they receive can be critical in their long-term recovery. Psychosis, which is an inability to determine what is real or not, usually emerges in early adulthood. Current ...

  • Vancouver Island Crisis Line: 1-888-494-3888

    vicrisis_reach-out_02

  • Poverty Is The Expensive Root Of Many Illnesses In Canada

    A colleague of mine was teaching a group of medical students recently and they asked a patient why he was in hospital with an injured leg. He answered, "Because I have no money." As a family doctor who works largely with people living on ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 16

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Volunteering 101: Nine tips to help you get started

    “What can I do?” Amid what seems like a rising international tide of anger and bigotry, this question is on many minds. But it’s also just a handful of words, one so small you could tuck it in a coat pocket and forget about until next ye ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 15

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Zander Sherman on schizophrenia, family, and searching for the brother he knew

    "Mom sat at the computer as I dictated words for her to Google: paranoia, delusions, rambling. The Internet returned schizophrenia, and we both scoffed" #top10 #mostlistenedto #peoplefirstradio #podcasts in #2016 #listenagain 'We ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 14

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 13

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 12

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Harm reduction workers struggle to deal with emotional toll of fentanyl crisis

    "Mondays are a little bit terrifying for us at this point because we come into the office and everybody has a sense of dread. Are we going to come back to the news that we lost somebody over the weekend?" Harm reduction workers in the B. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 11

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 10

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 9

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Gritty love story treats mental illness with tact

    "Emily’s illness isn’t reduced to a quirk or idiosyncrasy, neither does it unduly define her, governing every dimension of the role. Klein adopts the radical position that bipolar disorder is a problem this woman sometimes has under control ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 8

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Girl who recently aged out of government care dies in Surrey tent

    "Kids who are in the care of the minister shouldn’t age out at 19. They should be supported through this difficult transition period. If they’re not supported, we know what happens all too often. To be cut off completely is not acceptable." ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 7

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Nov 2016“... ...”
  • Drug dependence: Chronic pain can ruin the life of any Canadian

    Meet one of the pushers behind the ongoing overdose-death crisis — Frank Smith, a 59-year-old aboriginal man injured in a 1989 skiing accident and recently a Downtown Eastside habitué This isn’t another sad First Nations story — it’s a c ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 6

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 5

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • A growing group of psychologists are interested in studying “toxic masculinity”

    Psychologists looking at 10 years of data from nearly 20,000 men found that those who value having power over women and endorse playboy behavior and other traditional notions of masculinity are more likely to suffer from psychological probl ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 4

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Margaret Trudeau Calls Indigenous Mental Health Crisis 'Our Shame Forever'

    Margaret Trudeau seen on stage at WE Day on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, in Toronto. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP) Margaret Trudeau, the former wife of one prime minister and mother of another, has spent the past decade building her own ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 3

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 2

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Keynote by Dr. Eike-Henner Kluge: Reflections on Dying

    "This talk is about death and dying. Not about dying unexpectedly or by accident, but about dying as an event that in principle is within our control" Questions regarding the end of life -- about dying, suicide, and death -- have bee ...

  • #16DaysOfActivism against gender violence -- Day 1

    Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline Project to coincide with the International 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence. Read more about the international campaign here. ...

  • Haven Society launches annual #ClotheslineProject & #16DaysOfActivism

    https://youtu.be/wWDLIEpmJn4?t=7m55s Domestic violence still remains hidden behind closed doors – and it’s time to air our “dirty laundry.” Haven Society and other community organizations have joined together to launch the Clothesline P ...

  • Report on Canada’s national housing strategy released

    Canadians are calling for a collaborative, strong and innovative national housing strategy to eliminate homelessness across the country. They want a plan that boosts the country’s affordable housing stock and employs new financial soluti ...

  • Mental illness in a test tube and the future of psychiatry

    As psychiatric disorders become attributable to specific, testable causes, will psychiatry become obsolete? The lack of objective medical tests in psychiatry is a common criticism of the field. According to some, being a doctor means usi ...

  • British Columbia couple’s deaths show fentanyl’s tragic reach

    Hardy and Amelia Leighton’s deaths served as a wake-up call that fentanyl was threatening even recreational drug users, but the truth is more complicated, reports Andrea Woo It was intended to be a quiet night in, a chance to get ahead o ...

  • Acquired brain injury in children and youth the focus of #Nanaimo seminar

    Nanaimo Brain Injury Society hosted experts in the field of acquired brain injury assessment, diagnosis, symptom management and return to play/academics, at a public seminar The Nanaimo Brain Injury Society held a public seminar on O ...

  • B.C. urges national war on fentanyl

    “People think they’re doing a recreational drug. They’re not what we would consider criminals, they’re high-functioning regular people in many cases, and they’re dying.” OTTAWA — The Trudeau government would be more sensitive to the fent ...

  • Brendan McLeod's OCD journey in Brain is hilarious, heartbreaking and hopeful

    Brain is a hilarious, heartbreaking monologue about consciousness, mental illness and friendship from award-winning novelist and former Canadian SLAM poetry champion, Brendan McLeod The human brain makes 20 million billion calculatio ...

  • "There's simply nowhere for them to go"

    It’s laundry day for someone living in one of Chilliwack’s 15 homeless encampments. Wet clothes steam in the weak November sunlight, which filters through a stand of cottonwood trees growing on the banks of a drainage ditch that campers use ...

  • Brilliant monologue draws on personal experience of mental illness

    "The guy is so smart, his rapid-fire delivery so clean and confident, his wit so casual, copious, and reassuring that he makes the journey feel safe for the audience. He gives himself; he feels less alone and we feel less alone" Author, ...

  • Annual report card on women's rights in BC informs submission to United Nations

    The 2016 report card on women's rights in British Columbia shows the province continues to lag on promises made in the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) The CEDAW convention CEDAW sta ...

  • Family violence increases risk for many diseases while harming mental health

    More than 230 Canadians a day are victims of family violence that are reported to police, Canada's chief public health officer says in releasing a new report on a seldom discussed issue Dr. Gregory Taylor's 2016 report on the state of pu ...

  • ADHD Nation by Alan Schwarz review – investigating a £10bn industry

    An urgently needed study of the diagnosis and medication of ADHD reveals a disease ruthlessly marketed by drug companies, scientists and self-help authors Months before I was diagnosed, I had already fallen into the clutches of what the ...

  • Nanaimo Working Group to host public forum on overdose crisis

    “We need to continue to bring the community together to talk about the seriousness of the overdose crisis and how better to respond,” says Dr. Paul Hasselback, Island Health’s Medical Health Officer for Central Vancouver Island Nanaimo a ...

  • Basic income is not just about work, it’s about health

    The big difference between the current welfare payments and a basic income...would be that basic income would be paid automatically, rather than requiring a whole bunch of paperwork and constant monitoring to prove eligibility André Pica ...

  • Don't delay helping poor: Ontario should test out a plan for 'basic income'

    The idea is to study what the effects would be of providing people in poverty with a basic income, as a step towards designing a permanent system The idea of providing a basic minimum income for everyone – no strings attached – is an all ...

  • Mental illness afflicts about 20% of Canadians, gets 7% of health funding

    “Mental health has been left out of the publicly insured framework not because of evidence but because of historic decisions fueled by misinformation, fear and prejudice and by squabbles over jurisdiction” OTTAWA—The Trudeau government i ...

  • Putting indigenous communities under suicide watch is no answer: Andre Picard

    The solution to the epidemic of suicide (and drug and alcohol abuse, family violence, sexual violence and trauma, which are all interrelated) in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities has to be broad-based and long-term and, ultimately, ...

  • Oct 2016“... ...”
  • Innovation Centre ready to nurture poverty-busting social enterprises

    Social enterprises, says Marco Pagani, are The Answer. The answer to food insecurity, to unaffordable housing, to youth unemployment. The answer to poverty. Pagani, a former high-tech executive who’s now president and CEO of the Communit ...

  • Fifty-two months of psychological torture and the four men responsible

    One thousand five hundred and sixty days in solitary confinement. To put this in perspective, consider that the United Nations has declared this form of segregation should never surpass 15 days. There is a young First Nations man in Thun ...

  • Getting a handle on BC's fentanyl-overdose crisis

    Consumption sites, free naloxone, wider help for addicts and more beds are seen as possible answers Victoria, B.C. -- There’s no shortage of ideas to ease B.C.’s fentanyl-overdose crisis: Supervised-consumption sites, more treatment beds ...

  • Diversity: Tailored and culturally appropriate mental health services are needed

    New research conducted by the Mental Health Commission of Canada makes a powerful case for the social and economic imperative of responding to the unique needs of immigrant, refugee, ethno-cultural and racialized populations, including raci ...

  • Fentanyl front lines: A growing army learns to deal with overdoses

    “They might look blue or grey around their lips, ears and fingernails from the lack of oxygen. People will look dead.” Much of Heather Hobbs’s job as a harm-reduction co-ordinator involves showing people how to inject the opioid inhibito ...

  • ‘I want to speak to you from the heart’

    We Matter uses social media and video to speak directly to young aboriginals struggling with desperation, writes Mark Hume Kelvin Redvers’s work to create a forum for speaking out about suicide among aboriginal youth started last summer ...

  • Family Fun Dayz at McNab’s Corn Maze is cancelled

    Family Fun Dayz at McNab's Corn Maze, originally planned for Saturday October 22nd, has been cancelled due to excessive rain and ongoing storms. The event vendors were not able to access the area to setup. Please accept our apologies for an ...

  • Fentanyl front lines: A trip from ‘euphoria’ to hospital

    "You can’t break down over everyone who dies because there’s a guy going down like every week," says Drake Smith VICTORIA -- Drake Smith knew he was going to overdose. He was in a bathroom downtown. His friends had told him to only do ha ...

  • Collaboration vital in providing mental health care for kids in northern, rural BC

    Child psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Burkey on challenges and opportunities, and lessons learned from interventions in low- and middle-income countries that can make a difference Dr. Matthew Burkey, a child, adolescent and adult psychiatri ...

  • The accessible, informative, entertaining, and educational "story of school"

    Author Zander Sherman says that "the point of institutionalized education has never been to benefit the student for his or her own sake, based on the understanding that the activity of learning is an intrinsically worthwhile endeavour" ...

  • Tailor immigrant and refugee mental health services for culture, language, report urges

    Study from Mental Health Commission of Canada warns that costs for crisis care could spike Canada must match its multicultural, open-door immigration policy with tailored mental health services or face inflated costs for crisis care down ...

  • Are better health benefits a tall order? Not for millennial workers

    Millennials – those employees in their mid-20s and 30s – are contributing to a pro-active conversation on workplace health in general – one more oriented toward preventative medicine, positive mental health and well-being Last summer, wh ...

  • Community open space seeks to help address homelessness, addiction, poor health

    This man has found a wonderful way to help people through their darkest times. It starts with tea. Inside a library in a depressed seaside town in Northern England is a room converted into a cafe designed to look like a grandmother’s hom ...

  • Report outlines grim reality of homelessness in Vancouver

    Shelters are full, more women are homeless and Metro Vancouver’s homeless population is on track for continued growth, according to a new report In “No Vacancy: Affordability & Homelessness in Vancouver,” researchers from Union Gospe ...

  • 8-day royal trip ended with unveiling of statue honouring mental health survivors

    https://twitter.com/TorontoStar/status/782301560344875008

  • VIU psychology students promote #Positivity at new annual event

    First annual Positivity Run on Nanaimo's Vancouver Island University campus created to celebrate all bodies--no matter the color, size, shape, or ability--as beautiful Students at Vancouver Island University were invited to join in a ...

  • Sep 2016“... ...”
  • Teens need to understand differences in worry, anxiety disorder, sadness, depression

    Stress has become the soul-sucking virus of the modern age. So a recent large-scale Ontario study should come as no surprise: Teenagers are also becoming infected in growing numbers In August, the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and M ...

  • Drugs, lack of shelters fuel rise of tent cities

    Lack of shelters and the emergence of fentanyl is “changing the game” in terms of homelessness, leading to more tent cities across the province, B.C.’s housing minister says Rich Coleman said makeshift camps have spread beyond the big ci ...

  • Duncan McCue's frank, funny and evocative 'nonvella' explores identity, Cree culture

    "Months on a trapline in the wilds of James Bay promised deliverance from the self-doubts that nagged me, even if I did worry about not having a clue what I was going to be doing out there," writes Duncan McCue in his new memoir Th ...

  • Winning the battle with #schizophrenia

    Malady of the mind remains mostly misunderstood: "Oftentimes people think that people with schizophrenia are violent, and that’s a gross misperception, largely due to media portrayal" You wouldn’t know it from looking at Eric Fraser, Kat ...

  • Sarah’s story: Living as a ‘psychiatric refugee’ in Ontario

    "I’ve learned how to manage my depression with cognitive behavioural therapy and support from my family. I want to be able to direct my own treatment and recovery" People who are involuntarily detained under BC’s Mental Health Act – ...

  • Charter challenge of forced psychiatric treatment filed in BC Supreme Court

    People who are involuntarily detained under BC’s Mental Health Act – or released from hospital on leave – currently have no right to give or refuse consent to any psychiatric treatment Vancouver, BC – Two individuals and the Council ...

  • "He could have a tremendous impact"

    Indigenous physicist has overcome trauma, poverty, racism and mental illness in his journey to understand the universe. Perimeter officials say he has a unique intelligence and they look forward to working with him. Percy Paul hacks ...

  • Mental Health First Aid brought to VIMHS, now available in Nanaimo and central Island

    Just as physical first aid is administered to an injured person before medical treatment can be obtained, mental health first aid is given until appropriate treatment is found or until the crisis is resolved Mental Health First Aid B ...

  • Overcoming barriers to accessing methamphetamine treatment

    Treatment programs have been effective in reducing and ceasing use. However, there are a range of possible barriers that have prevented these programs being widely adopted by methamphetamine users Methamphetamine use is associate ...

  • Reports of mental health issues rising among postsecondary students: study

    “It could be that there is increased occurrence of mental illness, but it could also be that campuses are creating environments where students feel it’s safe to come forward” A fifth of Canadian postsecondary students are depressed and a ...

  • Canadian Medical Association journal calls for national suicide prevention strategy

    “Let’s take a preventative approach. Let’s take that long-term developmental approach. Let’s safeguard our children so they don’t have to grow up in such despair that they take their own lives.” A recent spate of suicides across Canada u ...

  • What happens when a diagnosis of schizophrenia puts your marriage to the test?

  • "Be kind to yourself, have patience, go through the bad days"

    https://twitter.com/SchizophreniaCa/status/773166386340253696

  • For many families on Vancouver Island, finding healthy food is a struggle: report

    “For people in B.C. on social assistance, 82 per cent are food insecure. It’s a sentence” One in five Vancouver Island families struggles to pay for healthy food, a new study says. A University of Toronto study looking at food security i ...

  • Aug 2016“... ...”
  • Shelter use by indigenous 10 times higher than general population: Study

    Review of 10 years of shelter data nationwide show no matter where you go in Canada, Indigenous People are over-represented in homeless shelters OTTAWA — Fewer beds remain empty each night in Canada's emergency homeless shelters as users ...

  • Annual day of remembrance also raises suicide awareness

    The 10th annual Soles Remembering Souls Walk will be held in Nanaimo on Saturday, September 10, 2016, with music, personal stories of hope, healing and support for survivors of suicide loss Suicide is one of the leading causes of death ...

  • Life of Bria creator tackles tough issues with comics, graphic art

    'Life of Bria' creator and illustrator Sabrina Symington has published five graphic novels and posts her work online, tackling everyday life, and topics like 'coming out' and 'trans sports' Sabrina Symington is a transgender graphi ...

  • Tears, resignation as people on disability assistance discuss how to make ends meet

    Food or Bus Pass? Clawback Creates Hard Choices for British Columbians with Disabilities When Beth Lowther gives up her transit pass on Sept. 1, she fears a life of social isolation. But she says she has no choice. Lowther is among 35,00 ...

  • Stigma, shame behind ethnic delays in seeking help for mental illness

    A new study found Chinese, South Asians suffer more severe symptoms than other groups by putting off getting treatment for mental illness Chinese and South Asian patients experience more severe mental health problems by the time they see ...

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/766011706329927680

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/765956085165461504

  • Special People First Radio program this week

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/765207867188215808

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/764856581263589376

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/764847916108374017

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/764560197264302080

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/764491894650994688

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/764177665196691456

  • People First Radio at the 2016 Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/764144611182931969

  • An alternative form of mental health care gains a foothold

    Caroline White at the office of the Hearing Voices Network in Holyoke, Mass. The program relies on members supporting one another, does not use the words “patient” or “treatment” HOLYOKE, Mass. — Some of the voices inside Caroline White’ ...

  • Dozens of interviews and meetings with groups at the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users facility uncovered unique phenomena within the city’s notorious open-drug market Dr. Anke Stallwitz, a professor of social and community psychology ...

  • New scripts, comedies and edgy material at 6th annual Nanaimo Fringe Festival

    Pacific Coast Stage Company presents the 6th annual Nanaimo Fringe Festival in the heart of downtown Nanaimo from August 11 – 21, 2016 The annual Nanaimo Fringe Festival kicks off this year in downtown Nanaimo on August 11th, 2016. T ...

  • Gabriola Theatre Festival to include intriguing human library

    'Human Library' is a global phenomenon promoting compassion, dialogue, and understanding. The Gabriola Theatre Festival is presenting its first-ever human library this month The Gabriola Theatre Festival The 8th annual Gabriola Th ...

  • Takes a Dollar profiles and promotes the work of Vancouver Island Mental Health Society

    Takes A Dollar is an annual fundraiser founded on the idea that if every person in Nanaimo gave just one dollar, almost $100,000 could be raised for local charities. These funds could have a tremendous impact in the local community. The ...

  • Sunshine Coast struggles with homeless crunch

    A report to the Sunshine Coast Regional District cites a 2007 survey that identified 240 homeless people, most of them with substance-abuse and mental health problems At the end of each sultry summer evening on the Sunshine Coast, cars a ...

  • Jun 2016“... ...”
  • VIMHS executive director Barnabas Walther focuses on the future at annual meeting

    Vancouver Island Mental Health Society has seen significant change over the past two years, and the organization expects new programming will be added in the near future While acknowledging that significant changes over the last two ...

  • Collaboration vital in providing mental health care for kids in northern, rural BC

    Child psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Burkey on challenges and opportunities, and lessons learned from interventions in low- and middle-income countries that can make a difference Dr. Matthew Burkey, a child, adolescent and adult psychiatri ...

  • Disabled woman faces government threats, nightmarish process over three cents interest

    "This humiliating procedure is repeated monthly, not just for Brown but for all the other people with disabilities, for whom government’s default position seems to be that they must be scammers" Comment by Stephen Hume -- A. J. Brown, th ...

  • Not about us, without us: Creating a program advisory committee for inner city youth

    A Vancouver-based Inner City Youth program, along with its Youth Advisory Committee, provides ways for young people to inform their own mental health care, in a "not about us, without us" approach The Inner City Youth (ICY) program ...

  • United Way Central and Northern Vancouver Island makes generous contribution

    Representatives of United Way Central and Northern Vancouver Island attended the recent Vancouver Island Mental Health Society annual meeting to present a cheque for $9,500 ...

  • New board members elected at VIMHS annual general meeting

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/745454260507140097

  • Today is National Aboriginal Day

    https://twitter.com/NWAC_CA/status/745237588890521600

  • Koori Men's Health Day a service model for community mental health from Australia

    Koori Men’s Health Day is a community based, collaborative, culturally accepted service model for early identification of mental and physical illness among Koori men in rural Australia Health conditions such as depression, anxiety an ...

  • Web of culture: Building online mental health resources for northern youth in BC

    Valerie Ward's research with Indigenous youth living in northern B.C. explores whether existing online mental health resources are age and culturally appropriate Valerie Ward was a presenter at the 17th Canadian Collaborative Mental ...

  • Mental health collaboration with First Nations: Who is steering the canoe?

    Dr. Rod McCormick says current Aboriginal health in Canada is a direct result of previous Canadian government policies -- and that we must help communities reclaim their own healing resources Dr. Rod McCormick was a keynote speaker a ...

  • Life-long focus on Inuit culture, and art in the everyday, drives creative purpose

    A lifetime spent immersed in the art, culture and everyday lives of Canada's Inuit and east coast maritime communities has helped make John Houston into a Canadian renaissance man Born in 1954, John Houston spent his first eight year ...

  • Stigma fuels men's resistance to seek help for mental illness

    The social and self-stigma around mental illness also fuels men’s shame, stoicism and resistance to seek peer or professional help When Jessica’s brother went missing in 2013, she was sure he had been abducted. His car was found aban ...

  • Pot-related psychosis linked to early ‘dangerous’ use

    Researchers trying to understand what triggers psychotic episodes in some users say it’s a myth marijuana is risk-free At first, the voices he heard in his head were pleasant. But then, they turned malevolent. Jean Thibodeau, a 19-year-o ...

  • Homeless people in Vancouver: Numbers are rising, ages are dropping

    The causes of homelessness are many, but at the root of it is poverty, and a lack of affordable and supportive housing That sounds obvious but consider for a moment that social assistance rates in this province haven’t gone up since 2007 ...

  • Suffering, suicides among first responders lead to PTSD support, prevention focus

    Last year, 39 first responders across Canada took their own lives -- and one-third of those deaths by suicide occurred in British Columbia, the highest among all provinces First responders deal with traumatic events repeatedly, and ...

  • PTSD awareness event for Vancouver Island first response personnel, family and friends

    Self-care for first response personnel, Monday June 13...What is the reality of PTSD, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout -- and what can you do about it?  The purpose of this event is to raise awareness for first response p ...

  • June 2nd is World Eating Disorders Action Day

    https://twitter.com/CarolynDower/status/738477497298214912

  • BC's provincial clawbacks relegate disabled citizens to a life of poverty

    Amy Jane Brown is totally deaf; she has cerebral palsy and has metal rods in her spine because of surgery to correct a severe lateral curvature. Yet she graduated from university with a degree in English lit and music and is now an accompli ...

  • May 2016“... ...”
  • Zander Sherman on schizophrenia, family, and searching for the brother he knew

    "Mom sat at the computer as I dictated words for her to Google: paranoia, delusions, rambling. The Internet returned schizophrenia, and we both scoffed" 'We still didn't know what he had' Joshua Sherman It was the fall of 2011. I ...

  • For some, dealing with anxiety can be the work of a lifetime

    "Anxiety is a major psychological problem to which there is no easy solution." "What works for one person may not work for another, may not work for you or me." About anxiety disorders Anxiety disorders seem to be a result of a co ...

  • Retinal imaging could provide window into brain disease

    Simple retinal scans could detect neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease before symptoms surface In a small darkened room, a few minutes’ walk from the colourful sights of Toronto’s Kensington Market, my eyes ...

  • City of Nanaimo core services review recommends social wellness strategy

    Review finds that a high proportion of local RCMP responses are made to non-criminal complaints for which the response is costly and not optimally effective The City of Nanaimo has released the final report of its core services review, ...

  • Don't forget our important and needed volunteers

    https://twitter.com/VolunteerCanada/status/735483166958424064

  • May 24 is Schizophrenia Awareness Day

    https://twitter.com/CAMHnews/status/735120682657386496

  • Local Farmers Markets launch new season, team up to better serve customers

    Island Roots Market Co-operative has partnered with Bowen Road Farmers Market and there are plans for a single indoor year-round market open 5 or 6 days each week in Nanaimo Nanaimo's only indoor winter Farmers Market, Island Roots M ...

  • Pace Anhorn has initiated a conversation about what Christianity is all about

    The founder of Calgary Queer Church, with a vision of creating inclusive safe space for the LGBTQ faith community, says "I didn’t walk away from my faith, I walked away from the church” Interfaith conference and LGBTQ inclusion Last ...

  • PTSD: "Stigma kills first responders. Our guys are still killing themselves."

    https://twitter.com/TheTyee/status/733700247893872643

  • Purina Walk for Dog Guides May 22 organized by the Hub City Lions Club

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/733676450038095872

  • University muzzled student, wouldn't allow him to talk about mental health issue

    19-year-old says he was asked by a residence manager to sign agreement stipulating he not talk to other residence students about personal issues, "namely the student's self-destructive thoughts" HALIFAX -- A Nova Scotia student who faced ...

  • BC's auditor general says mental health system not doing enough

    “Different approaches and philosophies of care are necessary because patient needs vary across the province. There should be fair and equitable access for everyone.” VICTORIA - Auditor General of British Columbia Carol Bellringer issued ...

  • How poetry helps us understand mental illness

    People who have mental illness challenge society’s typical narrative about what is “natural” or healthy, poet Shira Erlichman says At the bottom of the sea, just off the coast of Maryland, New York City subway cars have become a new habi ...

  • Friends Empowerment Society aims to address stigma, alternate therapies, human rights

    After two years of planning, a Nanaimo-based nonprofit society, managed by persons who have had or currently have mental health or addictions issues, held its public launch About Friends Empowerment The Friends Empowerment Society is ...

  • Proper housing is a crucial health issue

    Safe, secure and affordable housing is crucial to maintaining and improving health and well-being When you’re feeling unwell, whether from a minor cold or a devastating terminal illness, the feeling of home, the desire for a safe and com ...

  • #MHW16 #GETLOUD #WorkplaceMH

    https://twitter.com/CMHA_NTL/status/727854379391438848

  • Get Loud for Mental Health Week and Join our Campaign!

    Vancouver Island Mental Health Society (VIMHS) is passionate about mental health. We provide supportive housing and psychosocial rehabilitation for adults who are actively experiencing serious mental illness right here at home. VIMHS is ...

  • It's mental health week in Canada, May 2-8, 2016

    We all have mental health, just as we all have physical health. Mental health is more than the absence of mental illness. It’s a state of well-being.  Read more about Mental Health Week here... ...

  • Mike Pond's story and search for answers led to new book, riveting documentary

    Wasted, a book and documentary, is a harrowing, wry, and riveting account of a therapist's struggle with alcohol and his quest to find a better way of treating addiction WASTED -- the book Psychotherapist Mike Pond built a life he ...

  • Apr 2016“... ...”
  • Canadian shelters forced to turn away majority of women and children in need

    April 28, 2016--On one typical day late last year, 416 women and children across Canada sought shelter to escape violence. Of that total, however, shelters were forced to turn away 73 per cent of those in need due to a lack of resources ...

  • Nanaimo's inaugural people's poet is raising the profile of literature and poetry

    Naomi Wakan, a former psychotherapist turned author, artist and poet, has been laying the groundwork for a new generation of poets during her tenure as Nanaimo's first poet laureate On October 21, 2013, Nanaimo's city council approv ...

  • "The hardest working man in poetry" explores father's mental illness in Ignite

    "Sit-com sonnets, soundscapes of noise, videogame goombas, an Old-Testament God, teenage longing within the power chords of heavy metal, and the complicated loss of a father to schizophrenia" Ignite A finalist for the Alfred G. Bail ...

  • New figures show use of overdose-reversal medication on the rise in B.C.

    As drug overdose deaths continue to climb in British Columbia, new figures on the use of naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose within minutes, show there has also been a significant increase in drug users being p ...

  • Mental health week kicks off in Nanaimo with radio personality Shelagh Rogers

    The Canadian Mental Health Association is asking Canadians to ‘get loud’ and encouraging them to talk more openly and honestly about mental health. Mental Health Week is May 2-6. Events celebrating mental health are using the social med ...

  • British Columbia health officials call for drug decriminalization

    Treating addicts as if they are criminals doesn’t help them, nor does it stem public appetite for illicit substances, health experts say Top health officials in British Columbia are calling for a significant change in drug policy that wo ...

  • Governments “only beginning” to realize scope of mental-health struggles: Trudeau

    In the wake of Attawapiskat’s youth suicide crisis, prime minister said his government would work with the provinces and territories to build the ranks of counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists OTTAWA—Canada has yet to feel the ful ...

  • Tokens for meals: A simple idea that is generating business and community support

    "We can't just look at look at people who are homeless and say that is not my problem...we have a lot of homelessness here in Nanaimo and a lot of people that are hungry." Cheryl Prince and Liz Kawahara are the organizers of an initi ...

  • Supreme Court strikes down mandatory minimum sentencing for certain drug offences

    In a ground-breaking judgment, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that mandatory minimum sentencing for certain drug offences violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms Viewing sentencing through the lens of equality Fairness and ...

  • Mental health issues take a toll on workers — and employers, too

    For 10 years Adrian Lawford kept a secret from everyone at work. The TD Bank employee has battled anxiety and depression for most of his life, but never told a soul at the office until one day when he sat his manager down to come out “f ...

  • Activist Michael Redhead Champagne on Indigenous youth, the suicide crisis, and hope

    The community activist and internationally recognized youth leader says "we can take this crappy word oppression...throw it away...and we can replace it with this idea of opportunity" Michael Redhead Champagne has spent the last 19 y ...

  • In Attawapiskat, failed mental-health project a tale of waste

    The People’s Strength project was funded through Health Canada’s now-defunct Health Services Integration Fund, which was aimed at improving health-care delivery to First Nation and Inuit peoples Three years before Attawapiskat First Nati ...

  • Indigenous suicide is no longer a mystery. So why the continued political apathy?

    Natan Obed is the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national voice of Canada’s 60,000 Inuit Contrary to popular belief, the high rates of suicide faced by Inuit are not an unexplainable phenomenon that warrants a way of thinking ...

  • Mar 2016“... ...”
  • Not an easy journey: Living in the aftermath of suicide

    Matt Dunae credits his friends – and particularly his now-wife – for sticking with him through the darkest times no matter how hard he tried to alienate them It’s not hard to compare suicide to a bomb. Like a bomb, suicide happens wi ...

  • 26 messages for guys who think they’re ‘too manly’ for mental health treatment

    What makes a man, “a man?” Strength? Independence? Invulnerability? That question itself might be outdated and irrelevant, but its implications still have an affect on some men today. Only 4 in 10 men with daily feelings of anxiety o ...

  • Dr. Paul Hasselback's presentation on drug overdoses and deaths in Nanaimo

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/710214995015913473 RELATED | Overdose deaths surge in Nanaimo (Nanaimo News Bulletin, March 17, 2016)

  • World Bipolar Day is March 30, 2016

    https://twitter.com/eglidd/status/707755870940061696

  • A breakthrough on affordable housing

    An overdue reform called inclusionary zoning stands to transform affordable housing by giving cities power to force developers to build low-income units It’s being called a “transformational” change, and for once that’s no exaggerati ...

  • Federal homeless census hopes to illustrate depth of disparity in Canada

    Nanaimo’s mild weather makes it easier for people to sleep outside, and the local jail adds to the homeless population because inmates have “nowhere to go when they finish their sentence.” The hope is that the national data can help ...

  • Demand ‘through the roof’ at Vancouver’s homeless shelters

    Jeremy Hunka, a spokesman for Union Gospel Mission, says their shelter has seen an influx of people from Alberta and more people who have been squeezed out of housing in Vancouver’s increasingly tight market After doing a two-hour st ...

  • COCO Cafe wins provincial award for "best community impact"

    The top small businesses in BC were announced February 25, 2016 as the winners of the 13th Annual Small Business BC Awards, hosted by Small Business BC at the Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver As you may have heard, COCO Café received the ...

  • Judgment of peoples’ moral behaviour varies with their wealth, social status: study

    “People on welfare tend to be seen as undeserving of more expensive options and wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned cash” People on social assistance are judged as frivolous and immoral for making ethical purchases such as organic food, w ...

  • Here's the most-listened-to People First Radio podcast in February 2016

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/706868614146760705

  • International Women's Day is March 8, 2016

    Worldwide, women continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement. And we have much to celebrate today. But progress towards gender parity has slowed in many places.  Read more about International Women's Day h ...

  • Does forced drug treatment actually work?

    Why can’t we just make people go to addiction treatment? This is a question some may be asking in light of recent overdose deaths and other drug-related problems Why can’t we just make people go to addiction treatment? This is a ...

  • Social media data could be goldmine for predicting mental illness, researchers say

    A team of researchers from France and Canada will explore the use of social media data to help detect and monitor individuals potentially at risk of mental health issues A team of researchers from France and Canada led by Diana I ...

  • Feb 2016“... ...”
  • Kim Goldberg's "poem of a lifetime" charts path through victory over Hepatitis C

    Award-winning poet Kim Goldberg never thought she would live to see a cure for Hepatitis C. When the cure arrived and Goldberg reaped the victory, it gave her the poem of a lifetime That poem has now become her seventh book: Unde ...

  • Point-in-Time homeless counts have been coordinated, for the first time, across Canada

    The Government of Canada, in partnership with 30 communities across Canada, is leading the first broadly coordinated Point-in-Time (PiT) Count of homelessness This year, the Government of Canada, in partnership with 30 communit ...

  • Students benefit from school-based access to health care at new John Barsby Wellness Centre

    Wide range of on-site low-barrier and integrated wellness services to include mental health and substance use services as well as education about nutrition, sexual health and community programs Youth who attend John Barsby Community ...

  • Stand up to bullying on Pink Shirt Day

    https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/702497488662458368

  • Homeless survey used to target services

    Nanaimo now has a better understanding of the homeless situation within its borders Earlier this month, the City of Nanaimo participated in the inaugural Cross-Canada Coordinated Point-in-Time Homeless Count, conducted during a 24-ho ...

  • David Goldbloom talks the risks and rewards of psychiatry

      Dr. David Goldbloom, senior medical adviser at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, is among the nearly 4,800 licensed psychiatrists in Canada In a new book written with a fellow psychiatrist, Dr. Pier Bryden, ...

  • “You never really understand a person… until you climb into his skin"

    https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/700716013114015744

  • Daphne Bramham: Sad story of homeless senior may help galvanize change

    There are more bad guys than good ones in the tragic story of Fran Flann who was discharged from hospital and landed in a homeless shelter. The fact that the 82-year-old ended up in such dire straits is both a systemic and a societal ...

  • North Vancouver senior forced to check into homeless shelter after hospital discharge

    Homelessness among seniors, particularly women, a little-known and largely invisible issue in Metro Vancouver In Surrey, police came across a woman in her mid-80s living in a car and taking care of her adult son, who is mentally ill ...

  • Let's Make a Real Difference for an Entire Generation of Young Children

    "With mental health problems still being such a taboo, many adults are often too afraid to ask for help for the children in their care" It is such a privilege to have this opportunity to be Guest Editor of the Huffington Post today, ...

  • Patrick Aleck, from Stz’uminus and Penelakut First Nations, is a rising community builder

    Patrick Aleck says "I'm not supposed to be here right now," referring to cerebral palsy and life challenges, "but I am" -- and he's making a difference in the community Patrick Aleck's Vancouver Island University "about student ...

  • Coco Cafe's big impact recognized, now a finalist for Small Business B.C. Awards

    Coco Cafe has around 33 full and part-time employees, with roughly 50 per cent having some form of a developmental disability. It's "a place where everyone is welcome" COCO Cafe is owned by Cedar Opportunities Co-operative and ...

  • Family homelessness is on the rise in Canada

    A landmark report obtained exclusively by the Toronto Star reveals the devastating extent of child and family homelessness in Canada Child and family homelessness is a hidden but growing crisis in Canada that requires a multi-pronged ...

  • It doesn't 'get better' for some bullied LGBT youths

    Discrimination, harassment and assault of LGBT youths is often very severe, ongoing and leads to lasting mental health problems such as major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, new study says CHICAGO, Ill. --- Since ...

  • Extent of Nanaimo homelessness to become clearer after participation in nationwide survey

    “We want to know if the number of homeless individuals has gotten larger than it used to be. Has it gotten smaller or has it stayed the same and what does that mean?” Image by Nicholas Pescod, Nanaimo News Bulletin The extent of the ...

  • "We need more men to stand with women and speak up about this issue": JR LaRose

    Former BC Lions football player JR LaRose is a leader in the “Be More Than a Bystander” initiative aimed at increasing awareness and understanding about the impact of men’s violence against women About JR LaRose JR LaRose is a ...

  • Photo gallery: The faces of Victoria, B.C.'s "tent city"

    Times Colonist photographer Bruce Stotesbury visited the tent city near the Victoria courthouse and spoke with some of the campers about why they were there. Here is what he found.  See this at the Times Colonist... ...

  • Coco Cafe named a finalist for Small Business B.C. Awards (Best Community Impact)

    Coco Cafe has around 33 full and part-time employees, with roughly 50 per cent having some form of a developmental disability Snuggled in the heart of Cedar lies a little cafe that's making a big impact. It is a place where everyone ...

  • Elderly woman calmed down distressed man on SkyTrain when nobody else would

    An elderly woman’s simple act of compassion for a distressed man on the Vancouver SkyTrain has touched thousands of people Ehab Taha wrote about what he witnessed on his Facebook page. Taha said he was on the SkyTrain when a large man st ...

  • The secret struggle of a lifetime

    Like many Canadians, Philippe Hudon has been playing hockey since the moment he learned to walk. Unlike most children, however, Hudon was very neat and organized “His room was always impeccable. I was never complaining that actually ...

  • Call to action concludes powerful JR LaRose anti-violence presentation

    Patrick Aleck, from Stz’uminus First Nation, shared a powerful call to action at the conclusion of former B.C. Lions' JR LaRose's "Be More Than a Bystander" event February 1st in Nanaimo 674_patrick aleck_be more than a bystand ...

  • Jan 2016“... ...”
  • Our most-listened-to PFR podcast online in January

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/690319106210467840

  • Ending the stigma around mental illness one T-shirt at a time

    Co-founder says the stigma surrounding mental illness prevents people from talking about it, and he hopes Wear Your Label clothing can help start a dialogue about the topic Two young Canadian entrepreneurs are attempting to take ment ...

  • Love Our Bodies campaign to raise awareness of eating disorders

    The love our bodies, love ourselves! movement, brought to you by the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness campaign, is launched in February with activities and events taking place throughout the year Eating disorders are a group ...

  • Scientists open the ‘black box’ of schizophrenia with dramatic genetic discovery

    Study marks watershed moment, with the potential for early detection and new treatments that were unthinkable just a year ago For the first time, scientists have pinned down a molecular process in the brain that helps to trigger schi ...

  • Our most re-tweeted #BellLetsTalk day tweet

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/692448328378904577

  • On Jan 27, join @Bell_LetsTalk & support #MentalHealth!

    https://twitter.com/MoodDisordersCa/status/689834776375603202

  • Dr. Gabor Mate: Health-care system poorly understands our addicts and mentally ill

    "None of them chose to be addicted or mentally ill, any more than someone chooses to develop cancer or rheumatoid arthritis" A recent Simon Fraser University study showed that expensive services in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside do not re ...

  • Language could diagnose Parkinson's, ALS and schizophrenia before lab tests: studies

    Several recent studies reveal what you say—and how you say it—provide clues about disease Future doctors may ask us to say more than “Ahhh.” Several groups of neuroscientists, psychiatrists and computer scientists are now investigati ...

  • B.C. jails have become ‘default mental health facilities’: union

    Dean Purdy, of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union, says about one-third of the inmates in pre-trial custody have mental health problems METRO VANCOUVER -- Earlier this month, accused killer Matthew Kalin Brenner threw hi ...

  • Health ministers agree to tackle drug prices, home care and mental health

    No dollar figure was set for more federal health funding, but ministers agreed 'new resources' are needed Health Minister Jane Philpott has wrapped up two days of meetings with provincial and territorial counterparts in Vancouver, wi ...

  • Program will train front line personnel to protect themselves from impact of workplace trauma

    https://twitter.com/CKNW/status/689270737836847104

  • Is it time to winter-proof your mental health?

    Some people say mid-winter is the most depressing time of year—when cold and dark days, holiday bills, and already-lapsed new year’s resolutions catch up with us Whether you believe that or not, it’s never a bad time to reflect o ...

  • JR LaRose to speak in Nanaimo about preventing violence against women

    “Be More Than a Bystander” is an initiative between the Ending Violence Association of BC and the BC Lions aimed at increasing awareness and understanding about the impact of men’s violence against women About JR LaRose JR LaR ...

  • Take-home Naloxone offered at Nanaimo hospital amid increase in opioid overdoses

    Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s emergency department is the third emergency department in the province to offer Take Home Naloxone as a life-saving antidote for clients at risk of opioid overdose The take home Naloxone kits hav ...

  • 16-year-old Okanagan Rockets right wing Myles Mattila is a mental health advocate

    “When my friend told me that he was suffering from depression, it was very hard for him, but it was also hard for me because I didn’t have the resources and the know-how to help him get the help he needed” You wouldn’t think that hockey ...

  • Treating mental illness in young athletes begins with explaining what it is

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/688773065224892416

  • Schools tend to the student soul

    Colleges and universities now see nurturing learners’ mental health as a critical part of their job Seneca College offers noise-blocking headphones — like the ones construction workers wear — to students with test anxiety while they ...

  • Unveiling a safe haven for LGBTQ homeless youth

    On Feb. 1, thanks to Alex Abramovich’s research and leadership, Canada’s first transitional housing for LGBTQ youth is opening its doors at the YMCA’s Sprott House in Toronto The postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Addiction and Me ...

  • York University student wins mental-health fight

    University won’t require diagnosis before accommodating disabilities, after two-year fight involving the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Student says her peers ‘across Canada’ should not have to disclose their diagnoses. Navi Dhanot ...

  • Personal Therapy: New ideas about addictions

    CBC airs in-depth documentary about the search for effective treatments After such a devastating trip to rock bottom, the thought of drinking again was beyond my comprehension. Mike Pond, “five and-a-half-years sober,” became an inna ...

  • The real deal: Honouring lived experience

    A panel of individuals and family members with lived experience of mental illness and/or addiction share their experiences with collaborative mental health care. The 16th annual Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Care Conferenc ...

  • Wearing a silver ribbon helps raise awareness for schizophrenia and other disorders

    Why, despite irrefutable evidence of their biochemical cause, are mental illnesses so frequently misunderstood? "And why can’t you work full-time? You don’t look disabled to me. Aren’t people like you scamming welfare and disability?" If ...

  • Increase in overdoses occurring in Nanaimo

    Jan. 7, 2016 -- Nanaimo RCMP and Island Health are collaborating following reports of an increase in non-fatal overdoses in Nanaimo. The Greater Victoria area had seen a significant increase in overdoses and cases under coroner investigatio ...

  • VIEX invites community to annual meeting

    ...

  • Our most-listened-to radio interview last month

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/684789147911995393

  • The high cost of misery in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

    The revolving door of the DTES experience: Despite enormous investment of public monies, there was “no evidence of improvement” It is not news that treatment of the addicted and mentally ill in the Downtown Eastside is expensive. In a se ...

  • 2015 moments: The end of homelessness becomes possible

    “We had a federal election where housing was actually something talked about and we have a new government committing to take a new leadership role on housing”  There are few struggles more Sisyphean than the push to end homelessness. But ...

  • Matthew Krastel and his autistic life

    Matthew Krastel, a self-described "autism teacher", speaks about his autistic life and shares advice with others about creating a health plan and succeeding in the school system Matthew Krastel has been providing comments, support ...

  • 3 New Year's resolutions: ecological sanity, social justice, and governance for health

    Dr. Trevor Hancock takes a look at the determinants of health in the context of Canadian life in 2016, focusing on sustainability, equity and governance for health Dr. Trevor Hancock is a public health physician and a professor at ...

  • Dec 2015“... ...”
  • People First Radio's greeting card broadcast

    Join us for an on-air get-together with some of our People First Radio guests from over the past year, catch up with them, and listen to their music requests Andrea Paquette aka Bipolar Babe is the executive director of the Bipolar S ...

  • Life-saving Take Home Naloxone program is now at #Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

    Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s emergency department is the third emergency department in the province to offer Take Home Naloxone as a life-saving antidote for clients at risk of opioid overdose. December 10, 2015 -- The kits ar ...

  • How college students are resisting the mental-illness stigma

    Student-led organizations are bringing mental illness into the light to lower the suicide rates of young people Kelly Davis arrived at college carrying heavy baggage—bipolar disorder and an eating disorder. Dragged down by severe d ...

  • A recipe for doing good from Food Banks Canada

    https://twitter.com/foodbankscanada/status/674600710655340545

  • Dealing with holiday Grinches like stress, loneliness, and other challenges

    "Tis the season that provokes difficult emotions. This can be the maddest, saddest, most stressful time of the year," says family physician Dr. Davidicus Wong. The holiday season can be a particularly stressful time of year. Financ ...

  • The most-listened-to People First Radio podcast in 2015

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/674060890904268800

  • Life in Victoria's growing homeless encampment

    https://twitter.com/GlobeBC/status/674039205841018882

  • Inside the Hearing Voices movement

    Support groups are are encouraging members to learn strategies to cope with voices in their head. From CBC's The National. ...

  • What can men do to prevent, respond to gender violence?

    Gender violence is also a men's issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. Men can be empowered bystanders who confront abusive peers. #16DaysCampaign “Orange the world: End violence against wome ...

  • Give the Gift of Stability, Healing, and Hope this Giving Tuesday.

    GivingTuesday is a global day of giving. After the sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, GivingTuesday is a time to celebrate and encourage activities that support charities and non profits. Whether it’s making a donation, volunteering t ...

  • Nov 2015“... ...”
  • Why are so many dying unnoticed in BC supportive housing?

    On July 16, 2012, Lindsey Longe died alone in a squalid Vancouver room littered with the evidence of his battles with addiction, poor health and hoarding. He was 30. Days before, he had checked out of a hospital and returned to his tiny ...

  • Treating mental illness in New York, from all angles

    As too many people know only too well, mental health is a world of unmet needs and untold suffering. Society’s ability to identify and treat emotional ailments and addiction is painfully inadequate. Families, left to themselves, struggle ...

  • People living with disability throughout life are now aging, with emerging needs and issues

    Nanaimo access activist Terry Wiens has grown up with disability, lived through his adult years with that disability, and is now aging into senior years. Will his needs be met? "I am one of those who retire early due to advanced decr ...

  • One in five children in B.C. lives in poverty, exceeding national average

    Coalition calls for B.C. to adopt comprehensive poverty reduction plan, legislated targets and timelines and a cabinet minister with authority and responsibility to ensure targets are achieved on time The 2015 BC Child Poverty Report ...

  • NFL players talk openly about mental illness

    Arian Foster was in a bad place, drinking heavily to self-medicate and deal with the problems in his life. The Houston Texans running back knew he needed help but was reluctant to seek it because of the stigma surrounding mental-health i ...

  • #NanaimoSpeaksOut during 16 days of activism against gender violence

    Haven Society, with key community partners, is creating awareness about gender violence with a goal to moving the community to take action on violence against women Violence silences!  Nanaimo Speaks Out! Being in a relationship d ...

  • Food bank use in B.C., across Canada remains stubbornly high

    The need for food banks spiked drastically in 2009 and has hovered at record levels ever since. Food Banks Canada says that's unacceptable Over 100,000 British Columbians were assisted by food banks last March 2015, an increase of ...

  • The need for food banks spiked drastically in 2009 and has hovered at record levels ever since

    Food bank use has increased for the second consecutive year, and continues to hover at record levels, according to a national study released November 17, 2015 by Food Banks Canada. The HungerCount 2015 report shows that 852,137 people – ...

  • People First Radio marks 8 years on the air

    Vancouver Island Mental Health Society's weekly radio program is an educational partnership with Nanaimo's CHLY 101.7 FM community and campus radio station On November 22, 2007, Kevin Midbo and Jan Coleman sat in the CHLY studio in ...

  • Change of Pace brings men's mental health into a fitness gym

    Zac McHugh, founder of Change of Pace, brings his personal recovery experience to a fitness gym in Squamish, aiming to provide support and mentorship Zac McHugh, a frontline support worker at Squamish Helping Hands Society -- and an ...

  • Survivors of suicide loss the focus of international day, local event

    Every 40 seconds someone in the world dies by suicide. Every 41 seconds someone is left to make sense of it. Vancouver Island Crisis Society offers a workshop November 25, 2015 It’s astounding how many people’s lives have been touch ...

  • Report card finds that B.C. fails to make the grade in women’s equality

    While the situation for women in BC has seen minor improvements this year, unfortunately for many women, BC continues to fail to deliver on its responsibilities, West Coast LEAF says On November 2, 2015, West Coast LEAF released its ...

  • All the way home: From homelessness to healthy professional helping others

    Derek Book spent the first 20 years of his life in substantial crisis, but went on to become university-educated, and has been working in the field of social work for over 12 years Derek Book is a consultant living in Victoria, Brit ...

  • Coastal Health ups its game in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

    “I know a lot of people who have anxiety and it is hard for them to keep appointments and stuff. There is a lot of mental health problems on the street and that is something that needs to be addressed.”  Read this story at the Vancouver Sun ...

  • Inclusion B.C. says families supporting children with disabilities need advocates

    B.C. families who have children with special needs do not have access to information and advocacy to help connect them to vital community support systems Tragic deaths of Angie and Robert Robinson highlight needs Inclusion BC (former ...

  • Mental health education program set for B.C. Hockey League players, supporters

    Talk Today is designed for BCHL players and their supporters to learn about mental health and increase their skills in order to help support players who may be struggling or at risk of suicide On October 6, 2015, the Canadian Mental ...

  • Oct 2015“... ...”
  • Public attitudes toward mental illness can be more damaging than the condition itself

    Attempts to raise awareness are vitally important, as people with mental illness still suffer numerous social inequities. This is especially so for people with the most severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia.  Read the article at Mo ...

  • Dr. Jean Martin Beaulieu receives national prize for mental health research

    OTTAWA, ONTARIO (October 28, 2015)—The Royal has named Dr. Jean Martin Beaulieu the inaugural recipient of The Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research which supports Canadian early-career researchers in mental health and e ...

  • The Nanaimo Women's Centre responds to a range of issues affecting families

    The Women's Centre in Nanaimo designs its core work around strengthening women and families to create healthier communities in the mid-Island region. The Nanaimo Women's Resources Society, known as the Nanaimo Women's Centre, offers ...

  • Listening to families affected by parental mental illness, addictions

    What would make a difference to parenting and family wellness when mental illness and/or addiction is present? Health organizations in Richmond asked -- and found out. In 2008, families in Richmond, B.C. with either parents with a m ...

  • To serve and protect includes the mentally ill

    Police need to rethink training and procedures to make them more effective, Vancouver Sun editorial says Last week’s report in The Vancouver Sun that the number of persons killed in police shootings in British Columbia has now reached se ...

  • Art project invites Montrealers to talk about homelessness

    The project is called Le temps d’une soupe, and it aims to bring Montrealers into greater sympathy with those who sleep on the street or in shelters. The central part of the work is a platform where pairs of strangers are seated in matc ...

  • Nanaimo Women's Centre reflects on busy year with big accomplishments

    The Nanaimo Women's Centre has been using a creative community model -- building pathways of social inclusion and engagement for families marginalized by trauma, poor mental health, or addictions. The Nanaimo Women's Centre mar ...

  • "We heard that Joshua was living in a tent in Nelson"

    "Five years ago, my brother had a drug-induced psychotic break. He went from being a happy and healthy 27-year-old...to someone who couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t." Zander Sherman (picture above, left) is a young freelan ...

  • Support Vancouver Island Mental Health education with your daily votes at AVIVA community fund

    We want to share our stigma-busting, awareness-enhancing messages about mental health issues in audio (radio, podcasts, online streaming), video (online video segments, local community TV broadcasts), and social media (tweets, links, im ...

  • VIU Elders celebrated in signing of new faculty agreement

    Aboriginal Elders-in-Residence at Vancouver Island University (VIU) have been recognized for the knowledge they share and the important role they play at the institution, with the signing of a new agreement that accords them a special f ...

  • Community media in focus as Nanaimo's CHLY radio hosts its annual fall fund drive

    Community media--including community radio--is about volunteerism, social engagement, independent music, learning by doing, community capacity building, citizen journalism and more Community radio volunteers are the cultural pion ...

  • Calgary Police Service mental health program drawing international attention

    The Calgary Police Service says its mental health program is making a difference in reducing stigma and building resiliency within the force, and has now attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies from around the world. Read th ...

  • There's a solution for mental health homelessness in Canada -- but it needs help

    Supportive housing is not a particularly well-known concept in Canada Samantha Bowens is a 37-year-old single mother. She moved to Toronto from the island of St. Vincent when she was 17, and other than a sojourn to Saskatoon with her hus ...

  • Sep 2015“... ...”
  • Canada's Mental Health Commission offers toolkit to help mobilize caregivers

    The caregivers toolkit provides resources and guidance to help people to plan and execute education and advocacy efforts with decision makers who are in a position to enact change The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) rel ...

  • Six years ago, Lionel Sanders was a drug addict. Now he’s a top Ironman athlete

    Lionel Sanders is coated in sweat. It’s a hot morning in early August, and he has set up his bike in the backyard of his modest bungalow in Windsor, Ont. He’s been riding the bicycle – a lime-green carbon road bike connected to a statio ...

  • Working to bring hope to Canadian Indigenous people

    Michael Redhead Champagne in Winnipeg Read the story at Time.com... ...

  • For seven years, parks and sidewalks were home for Curtis

    How he got back inside, in his own words I come from a small town in Newfoundland. I was there until my mid-30s, when I moved to B.C., and then ended up in Toronto in the late '90s. On the street. So when did it go wrong? I don't know if i ...

  • Mental-health experts bring innovative ideas to Vancouver

    The Vancouver meeting, titled Community Crisis Response and the Crisis Pathway, was one of many being held in the city this week as part of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership and International Initiative for Disabilit ...

  • This part never gets easier, university psychiatrist says

    'Dear parent, your child has had a psychotic break' by Marcia Morris I sit in my small office at the university counseling center, sighing as I pick up the phone to make the call that I always dread. I have worked as a psychiatrist w ...

  • Nanaimo-based firm will offer world's first fully private social network

    "Most Internet companies don't treat users as customers, they treat them as the product," Michael Reid says, and Red Scotch Software aims to change that with Kube. It's called Kube, and its developers describe it as the world's perfe ...

  • Accessibility challenges can be found throughout Nanaimo, advocate says

    #AccessActivist Terry Wiens, a polio survivor who has maintained independence throughout his life, says Nanaimo's urban planning needs a lot of work When was the last time you tried to wheel yourself down to Tim Hortons for a ...

  • September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day

    https://twitter.com/CAMHnews/status/641976986680860672

  • Aug 2015“... ...”
  • Aboriginal framework sees mental wellness as balance of mental, physical, spiritual, emotional

    Canada's First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework presents a shared vision for the future of First Nations mental wellness programs and services and practical steps towards achieving that vision The Assembly of First Nations ...

  • Research study finds that severe poverty affects brain size

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/638407241188667392 ...

  • UBC educates future teachers in mental health literacy

    https://twitter.com/ubcnews/status/636625576762150912

  • Why not make health an issue in the federal election?

    "A real federal health policy would begin by acknowledging that the health and well-being of the population is a central concern of government" Dr. Trevor Hancock is a public health physician and health promotion consultant and is ...

  • Jul 2015“... ...”
  • 5th Annual Colliers International Charity Golf Tournament & Dinner

    The Vancouver Island Mental Health Society and Colliers International Mid-Island Office are pleased to announce the 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament. Funds raised at the tournament will be presented to the Vancouver Island Mental Health S ...

  • Jun 2015“... ...”
  • Local farmers work to improve, deepen connections with customers, community

    The demand on Vancouver Island for locally-grown food continues to rise -- but the challenge now is getting that food to the people who want it A new web-based farmers market has launched in Waterloo and Guelph (Ontario), hoping to c ...

  • For African, Caribbean and black Canadians, the struggle for mental health is often a silent one

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/615587027149553664

  • Si’em’ nu Ts’ lhhwulmuhw marks first year on radio with award

    Si’em’ nu Ts’ lhhwulmuhw (My Honoured Fellow Native People) honoured as "a show for the communities and very important for connecting and continuing traditions in villages" (Image by Kenny Brault) The CHLY radio program Si’em’ nu T ...

  • "My name is Jean-Paul, and I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and rape"

    Jean-Paul Bedard will run a Triple Toronto Marathon to "show the resilience of sexual assault survivors." He wants to raise awareness about sexual abuse -- and recovery. Jean-Paul Bedard will be running the Toronto Waterfront Maratho ...

  • "I'm not sick, I'm transgender!"

    Marni Panas, a transgender woman from Edmonton, has discovered that by being authentic and true to herself, she has found the strength to move forward in life Marni Panas transitioned to a woman and legally adopted a female name in t ...

  • Ride Don't Hide on June 21st

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/608650183434342400

  • Youth with bipolar invited to work together in community research

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/606579843409379329 635_bipolar youth action_andrea paquette_may_28_2015_40 Left-click to listen; right-click to save. ...

  • May 2015“... ...”
  • Mental illness is tangled up in poverty, unemployment, and family circumstances

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/603934424170942464

  • The case for publicly funded therapy

    https://twitter.com/globeandmail/status/603179117891190784

  • BC Seniors Advocate calls for more help for low-income renters, homeowners

    Seniors in every corner of the province of British Columbia are frustrated and concerned about the availability, appropriateness and affordability of housing British Columbia's seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie released a report on M ...

  • yes2scs group is building community support for safer consumption services in Victoria

    Harm reduction programs, including safer consumption sites (SCS) like Vancouver's Insite program, are proven to save lives. A Victoria-based coalition is working to build community support for a SCS in their city. In the last 20 year ...

  • Better mental health care: The case for publicly funded therapy

    Mental illness affects one in five Canadians and costs us nearly $50-billion a year. So why aren’t we treating it like any other health-care crisis? It’s 4:30 on a Friday afternoon at her Sherbrooke, Que., clinic and Marie Hayes takes a ...

  • Antipsychotic medication use varies by home among elderly Ontario long-term care residents

    A report called Looking for Balance has provided a snapshot of the current state of antipsychotic medication use in Ontario long-term care homes and reveals there is wide variation across homes in the percentage of residents being prescribe ...

  • Jonathan Holiff speaks about his award-winning documentary

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/599323460146307072

  • For one night, turn your back on comfort and not on our youth

    Over 20% of homeless youth in Canada identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer or Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S). Egale is organizing an OUT at Night "spend a night outdoors" fundraiser on May 30th to help get kids shelter. In recent ye ...

  • Being Safe, Being Me: Results of the Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey

    A new national study shows that Canada’s transgender youth face significant challenges, but are helped by strong family, school and community connections The study was funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research and complete ...

  • The 'father of Cascadia' has mapped the woven depth and breadth of the bioregion

    Every place, as with every person, has its own story to tell. For “A place is a story that happens many times,” as the Oregon writer Kim Stafford reminds us. David McCloskey is a long-time bioregionalist and the founder of the ...

  • Get Loud for Mental Health

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/595594339314597888

  • Mental illness often goes undetected or untreated in men due to pressures of stigma

    Canada's national Mental Health Week (May 4-10, 2015) focuses this year on men's mental health -- and the correlation between physical and mental illnesses. One in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem each year, o ...

  • Victoria's poet laureate to mark mental health & substance use wellness day

    The City of Victoria's poet laureate Yvonne Blomer will lead an event on May 7, 2015, sponsored by Island Health, marking the first annual Mental Health and Substance Use Awareness Day Island Health’s Mental Health and Substance Use ...

  • Apr 2015“... ...”
  • The land of the free?

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/593831483934019584

  • See "My Father and the Man in Black" on Friday May 29th

    Come join us to see this Oscar qualifying and award winning documentary on Friday, May 29, 2015 @ 7:00 p.m. in Vancouver Island University Theatre (Building 310)! Free parking in lots G & H. This is the untold story of 'bad-b ...

  • Island Health’s first annual Mental Health and Substance Use Wellness Day Thursday May 7

    In any given year, one in five people in Canada will experience a mental health or substance use challenge. Many of these people say that the stigma they encounter is worse than the problem itself. Island Health’s Mental Health and S ...

  • Mark Blackell, grateful and back from Boston Marathon

    Mark (above, left) did a personal best of 3:07:13, and you can still contribute to his fundraising on behalf of VanIsle Mental Health Society! Tens of thousands of runners, including some of the world's best, crowded into Boston on a ...

  • Domestic violence unit formed in Nanaimo

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/591620262010834944

  • Social enterprise leader in Nanaimo to coach nonprofits

    Lee Herrin, executive director of the Fernwood NRG neighbourhood social enterprise in Victoria, was in Nanaimo recently to speak with representatives from local nonprofit organizations On March 29, 2015, representatives from some o ...

  • Mark Blackell runs the Boston Marathon today!

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/590178797862801408

  • Grief, and dying, and the great love of life

    Stephen Jenkinson's new book is not a seven step coping strategy and not an out-clause for trauma or sorrow -- it's a manifesto for sanity and soul Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul does not offer seven steps for coping with ...

  • ‘We like to defy stereotypes on all levels,’ says bipolar music director

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/589459489092341761

  • The bully, the bullied, and the not-so-innocent bystander

    The definitive guide to bullying prevention and intervention, by best-selling author Barbara Coloroso, provides real solutions for a problem that affects young people all over the world. Barbara Coloroso is a bestselling author and a ...

  • Running more than just a way to stay fit

  • Our own Mark Blackell is raising much-needed funds on his marathon

    Vancouver Island University professor Mark Blackell hasn't been running long, but he has qualified for the most prestigious race in the world - the Boston Marathon.  Read the rest of this story at Nanaimo Daily News... ...

  • Parents, politicos rally in Nanaimo, across B.C. against further cuts to public education

    Rallies were held in Nanaimo and in other cities across British Columbia on Sunday April 12th to protest against plans by the B.C. government to further cut public education funding. Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May and oth ...

  • ‘Bipolar Babe’ Andrea Paquette has come a long way from depths of her illness

    Courage to Come Back award for Andrea Paquette Andrea Paquette’s untreated bipolar disorder had her imagining herself as Canada’s prime minister before plunging her to the depths of being unable to even take a shower and then swallowing ...

  • Minister Ambrose welcomes new Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada

    April 8, 2015 - Ottawa - Health Canada It is with pleasure that I announce the Honourable Michael H. Wilson as the new Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Board of Directors. His appointment to this important role is a test ...

  • Cascadia festival will celebrate deep connections, draw hundreds to Nanaimo

    The Cascadia Poetry Festival is an international event which seeks to bioregionally animate and culturally construct Cascadia by gathering writers, artists, scientists and activists to collaborate, discover and foster deeper connection be ...

  • Best-selling author brings bullying awareness to Nanaimo April 14, 2015

    Barbara Coloroso is an international bestselling author and for the past 38 years an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent confl ...

  • Jiu-jitsu athlete wins big while helping out local men's centre

    Jimmy Lapointe achieved a big win  at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation's Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship in March 2015. His efforts were accompanied by fundraising for Nanaimo's Men's Centre -- and the programs Jimmy says have ...

  • Mar 2015“... ...”
  • Psychiatry residents taught by people who have experienced mental illness

    https://twitter.com/CAMHnews/status/582584414045081600

  • "We think that a policeman with a gun will solve everything"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/582527678382649346

  • CREST.BD launches new online tool for people living with bipolar disorder

    VANCOUVER – CREST.BD, the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in Bipolar Disorder, will launch its new online ‘Bipolar Wellness Centre’ on World Bipolar Day, March 30th 2015. The ground-breaking Bipolar Wellness Cen ...

  • All six people fatally shot by B.C. police last year had mental illness or mental crisis

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/581460915393982464

  • Report from Downtown Eastside group explains housing crisis

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/581097101716754432

  • Nanaimo homeless population in flux as shelter prepares to close down

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/580368464335880192

  • Hundreds still homeless in Vancouver

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/580010831292690432

  • Augie Merasty has been a lot of things: Father. Son. Outdoorsman. Homeless.

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/579664839275995136

  • More supportive housing coming to Nanaimo

    NANAIMO – 41 new units of supportive housing are currently under construction for men and women who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness in Nanaimo. Once complete, the four-storey building on 1597 Boundary Crescent will be the fou ...

  • Wide range of services for troubled young people at Granville Youth Health Centre

    The Granville Youth Health Centre offers a wide range of support, including primary care, mental health care, psychiatric assessment, counselling, independent living skills programs, and housing support for people 24 years old and under ...

  • Dialogue promotes recovery-oriented mental health care

    The World Health Organization, along with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, has endorsed the transformation of mental health care based on a recovery model that promotes consumer empowerment and involvement in service delivery ...

  • Low-barrier housing project creates some hope

    After battling addictions for more than four decades, Debra Rowe now feels she is on the correct path, thanks in large part to her new home (image by Aaron Hinks/Nanaimo Daily News) After 43 years of addiction, Debra Rowe now feels as th ...

  • Every year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental health or addiction problem

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/576408856420483072

  • Nanaimo Fringe is prepping for another great summer festival

    This year's Nanaimo Fringe Festival runs from August 13-23, 2015 -- and guess what? The performing groups were selected by lottery earlier this month. We speak with festival producer Chelsee Damen. Nanaimo's annual Fringe theatre f ...

  • Social enterprise could be your nonprofit funding solution

    As government funding for nonprofits is reduced and competition for limited funding increases, organizations are being pushed to become more self-sufficient and sustainable According to the B.C. Centre for Social Enterprise, "social ...

  • Coalitions call for local control of Nanaimo's regional watershed

    The Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition and the mid-Island chapter of The Council of Canadians are calling on the City of Nanaimo, and the Nanaimo Regional District, to take greater steps to protect local drinking water A rare " ...

  • More mental health treatment needed, experts say, but not in psych wards

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/573877898601349120

  • Columbian Centre renamed as Vancouver Island Mental Health Society

    Dr. Barnabas Walther, executive director of Vancouver Island Mental Health Society (formerly Columbian Centre) and Peter Giovando, chair of the board of directors, at a special meeting of the society in February 2015 A message from ...

  • #Nanaimo marathoner to raise funds for mental health programs

    Vancouver Island Mental Health Society (formerly Columbian Centre Society) board member (and Vancouver Island University professor) Mark Blackell will head to this year's Boston Marathon and he hopes to raise some much-needed funds for ment ...

  • Terrorist groups are using cult tactics to recruit, expert says

    "In psychology we call this 'cognitive openings,' when you peel away your old ideas and you’re in a fragile frame of mind; you’re looking for some guidance and leadership." Lorne Dawson (pictured left) is co-director of the Canadian ...

  • #Nanaimo Townsite Road shelter needs more funding

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/572781031444504577

  • Feb 2015“... ...”
  • Companies discover advantages of hiring people with physical and mental disabilities

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/571737943129235457

  • "The thing about shame is that it can stigmatize you to yourself"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/571729746859438080

  • How about a little decrease in consumerism to go with your spring cleaning?

    A former professional organizer, Alison Roberts has helped thousands of people discover a new way of living (hint...less is more) What lies buried beneath your stuff? When people take the time to systematically sort through their stu ...

  • Vancouver Island communities are working to address the risks associated with hoarding

    Hoarding is increasingly recognized as a significant problem within the Island Health region. An estimated 1 in 25 people have some level of hoarding behaviour, and about 11,000 homes may have a hoarding problem in the Greater Victoria area ...

  • Stand up against bullying on Wednesday February 25, 2015

    #PinkItForward hashtag leads to donations from Coast Capital Savings, as CKNW radio sponsors awareness campaign It’s easy to show your support for Pink Shirt Day. You can wear your official Pink Shirt on event day, donate to help support a ...

  • New Manitoba program to help with child mental health

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/569171499682115585

  • Suicide a silent epidemic among men

    It’s the leading cause of death for men aged 25-29 and 40-44, Statistics Canada reports It’s a hidden danger in divorce. Karen and Dieter Holman tried to support their son as he underwent what he experienced as the sadness, shame and isola ...

  • “It was important for me to go because I wanted to see how I would feel”

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/568444831925538816

  • Volunteers rock! It's National Volunteer Week from April 12 -- 18, 2015

    A volunteer action is like a stone thrown in a lake: its effect has a direct impact. At the same time, like ripples, volunteer efforts reach out far and wide to improve communities. Undeniably, volunteers rock. National Volunteer Wee ...

  • #Nanaimo anti-poverty coalition prepares action plans

    Local coalitions are taking on advocacy and planning work to help decrease poverty in Nanaimo, while also promoting the concept of a living wage Joanne Bevis and Lynn Burrows are members of a Nanaimo coalition called Ending Poverty T ...

  • Workers earning minimum wage cannot make ends meet in B.C.

    The B.C. Federation of Labour is calling on British Columbia's government to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour In British Columbia, 6.4 per cent of workers -- 120,400 working people -- earn only the minimum wage. B.C.’s minim ...

  • Andrea Paquette @Bipolar_Babe about bipolar youth action project @CREST_BD

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/566259387623174144

  • "My mother was agoraphobic, which means she was often housebound"

    All parents are cowards by Michael Christie GALIANO ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA — I have broken my wrists, fingers, a tibia, a fibula, chipped a handful of teeth, cracked a vertebra and snapped a collarbone. I have concussed myself in Talla ...

  • What The Bacteria In Your Stomach Have To Do With Your Physical And Mental Health

    Of particular concern among scientists and the public is the effect that gut flora may have on mental health Strange but true fact: Our bodies are made of more bacteria than human cells and contains trillions of microbes (bacteria and fu ...

  • Bipolar Youth Action is a research project run for youth, by youth

    Youth will consult with other youth with bipolar disorder from across the region about their personal strategies for wellness and engage in mutual learning and knowledge exchange The Bipolar Youth Action Project (BYAP) is a research ...

  • How to walk away from civilization

    Miles Olson built a ‘feral homestead’ as a squatter, foraging, hunting, gardening and scavenging among a group of like-minded individuals dedicated to living close to the land, in alignment with their values What separates us from th ...

  • Social housing project is a 'symbol of a community that is inclusive' says Nanaimo mayor McKay

    "Uplands Walk is a symbol of community that is inclusive," said McKay. He listed economic benefits of social housing: "When people are in Uplands Walk, they will spend less time in the emergency department of our hospital." Nanaimo has a ...

  • New supportive housing project celebrates official opening in Nanaimo

    by Hilary Eastmure Nanaimo’s Uplands Walk supportive housing project officially opened its doors today. The $7 million development was made possible thanks to a partnership between the City of Nanaimo, BC Housing and Pacifica Housing. ...

  • Columbian Centre membership votes to begin name change process

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/563547205647081472

  • Asian youth and men to become mental health ambassadors in research project

    Strength in Unity is the first comprehensive anti-stigma intervention project among Asian communities in Canada Strength in Unity is a community-based research project that will build capacity among youth and men from Asian Communiti ...

  • Mental illness costs the Canadian economy $52-billion a year in lost productivity

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/562294173559050240

  • Will has never been outside, at least not since he can remember.

    Michael Christie's first novel explores the new worlds created when a son grows out of his agoraphobic mother's safety net And Will has certainly never gotten to know anyone other than his mother, a fiercely loving yet wildly eccentr ...

  • What exactly IS "agoraphobia" and is there a "cure"?

    Agoraphobia is the most common phobic disorder, and is also the most disabling What Is Agoraphobia? Agoraphobia means “fear of open spaces” but it is often a behavioural response to panic attacks. Agoraphobia is the most common ph ...

  • Rigorously organized, all-hands-on-deck approach to homelessness in Arlington

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/561914556813832193

  • Jan 2015“... ...”
  • Young woman uses her experience of life on the streets to help others

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/561552992638226433

  • Sometimes even victims of the worst crimes can find solace in letting go

    https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/561540392118927362

  • #BellLetsTalk Day leads to $6.1M donation for mental health in Canada

    Thank you! #BellLetsTalk Day: 122M+ interactions = a @Bell donation of $6,107,538.60 for #mentalhealth in Canada. http://t.co/FJbUvFG74t — Media Relations (@Bell_News) January 29, 2015 ...

  • Intergenerational health and how our parents & grandparents can affect us

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/560832001666596865

  • Text, call, or tweet on #BellLetsTalk day

    https://twitter.com/EndTheStigma/status/560510144195596289

  • It's #BellLetsTalk Day today: Join the national conversation about mental health!

    Today -- Wednesday January 28, 2015 -- is the 5th annual Bell Let's Talk Day, with Clara Hughes leading the campaign inviting all Canadians to talk, text and tweet about mental health and help build a Canada free of the stigma of mental ill ...

  • Heightened attention now being given to mental illnesses

    https://twitter.com/picardonhealth/status/560062627381268480

  • Fight to end excessive forms of prisoner isolation in Canada goes to court

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/559779395104030720

  • Your weight is not your worth: Love our bodies, love ourselves

    British Columbia's annual provincial eating disorders awareness campaign begins February 1, 2015 -- on Facebook here -- on Twitter here Recovery from eating disorders is possible -- but it's a journey Amy Pezzente's (pictured above) ...

  • Mounting stress about the economy, environmental breakdown and terrorism fuelling fears

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/559374085747011584

  • Utah has become a U.S. leader in progressive policies meant to help the homeless

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/559043980898213889

  • First-ever national-level set of indicators reports on the mental health of Canadians

    The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) released the first phase of Informing the Future: Mental Health Indicators for Canada - the first-ever national-level set of indicators that identifies and reports on the mental health of Canad ...

  • Attention: A Muscle to Strengthen

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/558314502752837632

  • Theatre for Living is bringing one of its latest hard-hitting productions to Nanaimo

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/558290140334792705

  • On best intentions, quitting quitting, and how-tos for quitting smoking

    Quitting smoking is among the top ten in most lists of new year’s resolutions, but nicotine, the drug in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, is one of the most addictive substances known. It is considered to be as addictive as cocaine or hero ...

  • Breakfast programs help Nanaimo children focus on school

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/557929295520092161

  • Minority Media breaks new ground with empathic video games

    With Papo & Yo and Spirits of Spring, Montreal's Minority Media is riding the wave of a new trend -- producing video games that focus on empathy The New York Times singled out an unlikely video game created by Montreal's Minority ...

  • Bev Sellars, chief of Xat’sull First Nation in Williams Lake, and her remarkable memoir

    Chief Bev Sellars is winner of the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness for her book "They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School" At age five, Bev Sellars was isolated for two years at the ...

  • Nanaimo DVU to be introduced early this year

    Haven Society and key team members introduced plans for a dedicated Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) in Nanaimo at the society’s annual general meeting in September 2014 ...

  • Justice, not torture: challenging solitary confinement in Canadian prisons

    The BC Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada have launched a constitutional challenge to the use of solitary confinement in Canadian federal prisons  On Monday January 19, 2015, the BC Civil Liberties A ...

  • A promising new theory suggests a misbehaving immune system can cause mental illness

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/557200353121140736

  • An often marginalized and misunderstood mental health disorder

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/557192568878800896

  • "A person shouldn’t suffer alone, in silence, for fear of being ostracized"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/556839497434800130

  • On Redefining Mental Illness

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/556558356253396993

  • Oilers goalie artfully unmasks mental illness, raising funds and awareness

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/556488731008319489

  • Renewed urgency for shelters in Toronto after third homeless death

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/555384910706257921

  • Men, mental health, and moving discussion out of the shadows

    "We have inculcated a culture in our society that men have to be tough, men have to be strong. Our society is very good at punishing gender deviation in men. Weakness is not considered to be masculine.” -- Dr. Don McCreary (Toronto Men's He ...

  • International human rights group issues report on missing, murdered Aboriginal women

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/554733058025209859

  • Managing anxiety involves tools, strategies, practical supports

    EFT (emotional freedom techniques) practitioner Helena Green specializes in anxiety treatment and says you have the ability to take back control of your life Everyone feels anxiety from time to time. Few people get through a week wit ...

  • While caring for her ailing mother, author decided to look for the poetry of the aging brain

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/553595447554502656

  • Kady Morrison has been grappling with depression since she was a teenager

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/553300834163765249

  • Patients, service providers describe B.C.'s mental-health care system as byzantine bureaucracy

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/553267825318440961

  • Aging Out Series: Why 19 is too young to age out of care

    Imagine telling your children on their 19th birthdays that they must leave the family home, will receive no more financial or emotional support, and are on their own to figure out how to make money or go to school. That is the reality for 7 ...

  • Mom fights to raise awareness about mental illness after police cleared in shooting death of her son

    “I was actively trying to figure out how to help him,” said Heather Thompson of her son’s tragic battle with schizophrenia, a day after the SIU cleared Toronto police in his death.” His name was Ian Pryce. Before schizophrenia took hold ...

  • Professor uses 'Seinfeld' characters to teach Rutgers medical students about psychiatry

    It’s 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and 10 medical students sit around a conference table covered by coffee cups and clipboards. Preparing to start their morning rounds, the students chat about what t ...

  • Yoga program dedicated to supporting people living with mental illness

    TORONTO -- As a yoga devotee and founder of her own studio, Linda Malone is sharing her passion for the practice through a special program dedicated to helping people living with mental illness. Malone is the director of the Blu Matter Proj ...

  • Slight drop in demand for food hampers at Christmas

    There was an approximately 10 per cent drop in the demand for food hampers in the Nanaimo Christmas Hamper Program this year. The program, also called Hamperville, is run jointly by the Loaves Fishes food bank and the Salvation Army and has ...

  • Dec 2014“... ...”
  • Nanaimo shelters ready to bring homeless in from cold

    Nanaimo social workers are bracing for an anticipated surge of demand from the homeless and hard-to-house with the arrival of winter in coastal B.C. The thermometer plunged to -3 C overnight Monday, with a low of -6 C forecast overnight thi ...

  • Season's greetings from People First Radio

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/545723862269190145

  • The holiday season is a time for giving back

    The holiday spirit is catching on. In this video, hear how Canadians have embraced giving back during this season. How will you make charitable giving part of your holiday tradition? ...

  • End solitary confinement for teenagers

    Ian M. Kysel in The New York Times -- Solitary confinement can be psychologically damaging for any inmate, but it is especially perverse when it is used to discipline children and teenagers. At juvenile detention centers and adult prisons a ...

  • The first tenants have moved into a 33-unit supportive housing building in north Nanaimo

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/544959151542386688

  • What it's like to lose a daughter to an eating disorder

    "The most uncomfortable aspect of eating disorders is death,” Laia Abril told me over the phone recently. The Spanish photographer was discussing her new book, The Epilogue—a photobook that chronicles a family’s grief over the death the ...

  • RCMP battles stigma of PTSD in effort to encourage members to seek mental health support

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7sub82RNM On the RCMP’s YouTube channel, amid the public safety announcements and career ads, is a video titled “Peter’s story.” Added last week, the video tells the tale of Peter Neily, a constable who ...

  • Some tips on coping with #holiday #stress

    https://twitter.com/CAMHnews/status/544601473171345408

  • Almost half of Ontario children and youth in care aged 5 to 17 are on drugs

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/543433816681885696

  • Canadian government rejects solitary confinement limits

    The government has faced widespread calls to limit its use of solitary confinement. The government rejected those calls.  The Canadian government has rejected widespread calls to place limits on solitary confinement in federal prisons, d ...

  • Retired Supreme Court justice Arbour slams practice of solitary confinement

    Canada needs to end its “addiction” to solitary confinement in its prisons, and have judges review any use of segregation beyond short-term “timeouts” of three days or so, retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour says. Anything less ...

  • Preparing for a lower-stress holiday season

    It’s not about the kitsch, it is about the connection Christmas is traditionally a season of joy, family reunions, friendship and generosity. So why do so many people get so tied up in knots about it all? For some, Christmastime ...

  • Some mental health services to return to Riverview hospital, minister says

    Rich Coleman says province will finalize a plan in the spring New mental health services will be part of a re-imagined government plan for the old Riverview mental hospital next year, says B.C.’s housing minister. While the full scope of ...

  • Veterans Affairs' Disability Branch Saw Major Cuts From 2009 To 2013: Report

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/541750503864930304

  • Hamperville Nanaimo: How to help and how to receive help

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/540684952912687104

  • Ontario court says housing is not a right, applicants vow to appeal

    Housing for all not a right, Ontario Court of Appeal rules in rejecting Charter challenge Ontario’s Court of Appeal has quashed a landmark Charter challenge on the right of homeless Canadians to affordable housing. But the divided decisi ...

  • Hamperville Nanaimo draws attention to ongoing need for food security

    Hamperville Nanaimo project is launched for Christmas 2014, and asks for much-needed volunteer assistance and food donations as it continues to make a difference in the community Christmas Hampers Nanaimo -- known as Hamperville Na ...

  • Canada World Youth exchangers engaged in Nanaimo projects, will soon leave for Indonesia

    Youth Leaders in Action spend half of their program in a Canadian community and the other half in one of 13 international partner countries 18 youth between the ages of 18 and 25 are in Nanaimo from October 11 to January 2 as part of the ...

  • Nov 2014“... ...”
  • 10 easy art therapy techniques to help you de-stress

    Art therapy is a form of therapy that encourages creativity and self-expression as vehicles to reduce stress, improve self-esteem, increase awareness and help remedy trauma. While many other forms of therapy depend on verbal language to exp ...

  • Joshua Smith packs lunches for the homeless

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/539110634193817600

  • People First Radio marks 7 years on-air

    https://twitter.com/iconoco/status/538077067372679168 598_pfr 7 years on air_november_27_2014_40 Left-click to listen; right-click to save. Kevin Midbo, Ashta Cormier, Nancy McInnes, and Nic Holt talk about community, radio, and Peop ...

  • CCS Online fundraising sale of a Marcy® Pro Circuit Trainer PM-4510

    MARCY® PRO CIRCUIT TRAINER PM-4510 (Still in the box) This item is for sale by the Columbian Centre Society to raise funds to help provide transitional housing and community-based support services adults who have psychiatric disabilitie ...

  • Think of Columbian Centre on #GivingTuesdayca

    Calling all Canadians: Join the GivingTuesday Movement! Support the Columbian Centre Society on Dec. 2, 2014.  Donate here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd75dRxYuOE&feature=youtube_gdata_player Canada’s second annual GivingTuesda ...

  • Hamperville Nanaimo project launched, with volunteers and food donations needed

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/537735330850279424

  • Prescribing more than medicine

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/536906551580041216

  • The ‘ Tootoo Train’ appears back on track after player dealt with his inner demons

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/536897951088394241

  • 'Soles remembering souls' Sunday November 23 at 2 p.m.

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/535571280158683136

  • Thousands in B.C. prescribed drug that can have ‘serious, toxic effects,’ doctor says

    VANCOUVER - Use of a popular smoking cessation and depression medication led to 64 hospitalizations — including 22 cases admitted to critical care — last year in B.C., according to the province’s Drug and Poison Information Centre. T ...

  • Remembering loved ones lost to suicide

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/534414580995223552

  • 'Black Diamond Dust' a personal journey for curator Jesse Birch

    "I grew up in what was originally a miner's house on Jingle Pot Road, across the street from the Miners Park subdivision where, in the 1980's, I delivered newspapers on Coal Tyee Trail and Black Diamond Drive" Black Diamond Dust is a ...

  • Soles remembering souls helps survivors remember, heal

    Soles Remembering Souls ‐ Connecting Survivors will be held at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo on Sunday November 23, 2014 to support those left behind after deaths by suicide Every year, many people lose their lives to suicide, leaving ...

  • UBC and Tilray partner for Canada’s first PTSD cannabis study

    Research into medicinal cannabis use will examine the potential medical benefits for veterans, first responders and sexual assault survivors with PTSD The University of British Columbia Okanagan and Nanaimo-based Tilray, a Health C ...

  • A photo project, a changed life

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/533655078045876224

  • Depression could finally get as much biomedical attention as cancer

    Research into depression has struggled whereas studies of cancer have thrived. The balance could be shifting If the extent of human suffering were used to decide which diseases deserve the most medical attention, then depression would b ...

  • Street artist makes her mark in Nanaimo's Wisteria Lane

    A street artist from Saskatchewan is creating murals for Nanaimo's Wisteria Lane as locals work to improve the neighbourhood Alyssa Glassford, aka Humanity, has been doing street art for the past twelve years. She has traveled around ...

  • Journey of self-awareness takes TJ Dawe deep into the Enneagram

    The Enneagram system suggests that there are nine basic personality types of human nature, and subtypes and variations within the fundamental categories In a thousand ways, writes author/performer T.J. Dawe, our culture directs us to be ...

  • Canadian government urged to address soldiers' mental health

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/531820227362062336

  • How many youth will be living on the streets in Canada this winter?

    Family conflict often underlies youth homelessness, and many homeless youth are fleeing abuse or leaving the care of child welfare services Many different terms are used to describe young people who are homeless, including including ...

  • Times Colonist: Proper housing can save lives

    When you consider the circumstances of many homeless people, it is not surprising that their lives are shorter than the median It’s no secret that life is hard for the homeless. Now a report indicates that life for the homeless is also s ...

  • Dying on the streets: Homeless deaths in B.C.

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/530739717932056576 The Globe and Mail: Hundreds of homeless die on B.C. streets, report finds (Nov. 6, 2014) ...

  • Success stories at N.S. mental health court but no plans to expand

    “They all believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself so that gave me the chance to be positive and to start looking forward" DARTMOUTH – It doesn’t look like your typical courtroom: there’s artwork on the wall and an inspirational me ...

  • New team set to improve response to domestic violence in Nanaimo

    Haven Society and key team members introduced plans for a dedicated Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) in Nanaimo at the society’s annual general meeting in September Local community partners, working with the RCMP, will make herstory ...

  • Nanaimo's extreme weather shelter is now open

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/529329331064303618

  • "There is only one thing for it then — to learn"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/529325966867587072

  • Wisteria Lane mural project calls for artists

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/529012265740423169

  • This is one couple's story of what happens when the mind betrays you

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/528960693291474945

  • Oct 2014“... ...”
  • Stephane Grenier transformed himself from a suicidal soldier to a champion for mental health

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/527824976972615681

  • What women really want: West Coast LEAF releases report card on women's rights

    Annual report card grades the B.C. government on its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ratified by Canada in December 1981 VANCOUVER -- On October 16, 2014, West Coast ...

  • Amanda Bynes and the double standard of mental illness

    When Robin Williams died, we promised to tackle the stigma of mental illness. So why do we mock Amanda Bynes? https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/527209278567112705

  • Memoir aims to help people understand mental illness without judging or stereotyping

    “What had happened to our beautiful happy life? Could it really be over for us? I just wasn’t sure if our love was strong enough to keep us together. I probably believed it wasn’t.” It was an idyllic marriage. John and Marion were high s ...

  • Outrunning depression: Exploring the link between body and mind

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/526867369277530113

  • This is what developing acute schizophrenia feels like

    Daniel Smith gives a searingly brutal, honest account of his experience with schizophrenia to Vice News A year ago this winter, I began to not recognize myself. Sleep was the first thing to change. Progressively, over the course of ...

  • University of Victoria launches student mental health strategy

    “We are strengthening programs and supports to assist undergraduate and graduate students build resilience and healthy coping strategies, thereby fostering personal and academic success” The University of Victoria is launching a comp ...

  • Nfld celebs release video to raise awareness, decrease stigma, of mental illness

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/524757068319035393 The Huffington Post: We need to end the stigma around mental illness (October 21, 2014) ...

  • The connection between traumatic brain injury and depression

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/524322812274561026

  • Housing First: The 'counterintuitive' method for solving urban homelessness

    Despite the global recession, homelessness in cities around the world is falling. Can a controversial strategy to give homeless people a roof first – that is, before addressing drug abuse or mental health – take the credit? At a soup kit ...

  • Canada World Youth participants tour CHLY radio

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/523524743774093313

  • Program taking mental health services into the community is finding small successes

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/523510492086956032

  • Churches struggle: Pastors aren't trained to respond to mental illness

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/523469092108652544

  • Canada and BC Invest in Homeless Prevention

    https://twitter.com/BC_Housing/status/523212110457626625

  • Creative duo teams up with Victoria's Bipolar Society

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/523126099195494400

  • RCMP Crime Prevention Services asks people to share experiences of bullying

    https://twitter.com/LZuni/status/523114088977924096

  • CHLY fund drive begins Sunday October 12

    chly fund drive

  • PTSD: Not just a military problem

    Any traumatic experience, or multiple traumas, can cause post-traumatic stress disorder Kalina Christoff felt overwhelmed and pressured to accept medical procedures she didn’t want during the birth of her first child, a “dehumanizing” ex ...

  • Oct. 10 is world mental health day

    https://twitter.com/CAMHnews/status/520642763680133120

  • “Daron’s death is still surreal -- you never get over something like that"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/519874877386678272

  • CHLY focuses on "heart and soul" during its fall fund drive

    Escape the corporate media desert and make community radio your oasis for local, alternative, grassroots, and accessible music and information Community radio is about volunteerism, social engagement, independent music, learning by d ...

  • “Quiet neuroscience revolution” will transform the way mental illness is treated

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/519513397709111296

  • Local and urban agriculture grows food, business, and community

    Christopher Brown -- aka "Farmer Brown" -- participates in a locally owned and operated growers co-operative that delivers food to Nanaimo's Farmer's Markets A little over a year ago a group of local farmers just south of Nanaimo formed ...

  • Men's panel takes a look at current men's issues

    From men's rights to domestic violence, we convene a men's panel to focus on current issues When a men's rights group working against "bigotry that is routinely practiced against men and boys in this culture" planned its first major conf ...

  • Allies against depression

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/519106878765531136

  • Roma Kurtz has two sons with autism, both of whom are participating in "The Art of Autism"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/518457167373148160

  • How Utah embraced Housing First by just giving the homeless homes

    Housing First isn’t just cost-effective. It’s more effective, period. In 2005, Utah set out to fix a problem that’s often thought of as unfixable: chronic homelessness. The state had almost two thousand chronically homeless people. Most ...

  • "We said he wasn’t ready to go, he needed help"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/517677727235964929

  • Young people at-risk for Alzheimer's are working out prevention plans with pioneering doctors

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/517319929943842816

  • Sep 2014“... ...”
  • "The way to build a better girl, it’s clear, is to let her to do it herself"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/516981541919277057

  • An estimated $1 million per day is spent in Vancouver's DTES

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/516978223792803841

  • Canadians, youth, and mental health

    https://twitter.com/CPHA_ACSP/status/516578867960877056

  • Movember Foundation has outspent government on research into men's mental health

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/516249916096929792

  • Tensions near boiling point at Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park tent city, officials say

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/515511668638748672

  • Survive and thrive after mental illness

    Be part of the story of recovery...help us to develop rehabilitative housing, community acceptance and understanding of people with mental illness and addictions Your Giving is Matched! Bienfaisance Foundation will match your giving do ...

  • B.C. communities keen on Victoria and Vancouver’s mental health approach

    ACT teams of police, social workers and health experts have trimmed hospital visits and jail time for the mentally ill As B.C.’s mayors called on the province to reopen long-term residential beds for the most severely addicted and mental ...

  • Paul Manly on El Salvador's struggle with a Canadian-Australian mining giant

    Nanaimo filmmaker Paul Manly has been visiting communities and hearing from individuals affected by mining projects in El Salvador and the tactics of Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) used by mining companies On September 10, ...

  • Mount Polley disaster may portend more of the same as mining activity is on the rise

    B.C. New Democrats say citizens living near the Mount Polley disaster are facing fall rains and winter setting in without even knowing what the plans are for the massive cleanup effort that is needed "The scale is hard to imagine," wrote ...

  • HeroWork is a community movement that shows Victoria at its finest

    The HeroWork Society helps non-profits renovate community infrastructure at a fraction of the normal cost and time---with modern-day versions of an old-fashioned barn-raising When Victoria's Threshold Housing Society received the don ...

  • Victoria’s homeless and vulnerable will have more access to meals, shelter, programs and services

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/513702690455830528

  • When he was deep into gang life and drugs, Jimmy knew all too well the constant threat of violence

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/513343892763447299

  • Island Health unveils new mobile app to help youth improve their mental health

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/512976232645152770

  • Amanda Reaume discovers there are few options available for her depressed friend

    "For people like Jessica, who don't have employee benefits and don't have extra money to pay for treatment, there are few options" When Amanda's friend Jessica (not her real name) lost her job and spent a year desperately seeking---b ...

  • Canadian vets marching for PTSD awareness reach a goal

    Three veterans who served Canada in the former Yugoslavia—Steve Hartwig, Jason McKenzie, and Scott McIntyre McFarlane—have marched across the country to raise awareness of PTSD When Steve Hartwig, Jason McKenzie and Scott McFarlane arriv ...

  • Science shows something surprising about people who love to write

    https://twitter.com/micnews/status/511862157479522304

  • Island Top Team to hold a second women's self-defense workshop in Nanaimo

    A women's self-defense workshop held in late August was attended by over 20 women, prompting organizers to plan for another in September Vancouver Island Jiu Jitsu instructor ("professor") Robert Biernacki and colleague Cathal Walsh offe ...

  • Nob Hill neighbours have made progress in push to improve laneway

    A recent Wisteria Lane walk-through for city officials, politicians, the media and the public gave neighbours a chance to show the progress they've made Nob Hill-area residents in Nanaimo, who live along a laneway they've named Wisteria ...

  • From a Vietnamese refugee tempted by street life to a University of Calgary associate professor

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/511877255283609600

  • Education helps families face severe mental-health problems together

    North Shore Schizophrenia Society’s Cheryl Zipper and Nancy Ford both benefited from hearing about others who had gone through similar experiences Cheryl Zipper says her son was always extremely shy, but it wasn’t until he was about 13 t ...

  • Nanaimo's Wisteria Lane neighbours winning a battle

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/511508294478102528 RELATED | People First Radio: A Nanaimo neighbourhood looks to the structure of its physical spaces to reduce crime, increase stability (July 29, 2014) | ...

  • Neighbours living along Nanaimo's Wisteria Lane meet with media, local officials

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/510863743597965313 MORE: A Nanaimo neighbourhood looks to the structure of its physical spaces to reduce crime, increase stability ...

  • More former B.C. foster children take advantage of tuition-free university

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/510436277145989121

  • Those struggling with mental health and their families echo Vancouver police concerns

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/510407597057671168

  • Haves and have-nots: B.C. has Canada's highest inequality of wealth

    https://twitter.com/BroadbentInst/status/510249558471753728 The Broadbent Institute says that Canada has an inequality problem: "It's deep. It's persistent. And it's time to take action." This report uses custom Statistics Canada dat ...

  • Haven Society to introduce development of a domestic violence unit in Nanaimo

    Members of Haven Society and the Nanaimo RCMP are planning to form a specialized team for supporting victims of domestic violence and holding offenders accountable Haven Society will introduce plans for a Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) in ...

  • Prison ombudsman says almost half of suicides reviewed by his office took place in solitary confinement

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/510061116907859968

  • Four ways socializing can help you live a healthier life

    Psychologist argues face-to-face interactions should be a priority to stave off loneliness and make us more resilient You exercise regularly. You watch what you eat. But when was the last time you hung out with a friend or family member ...

  • "Hockey Night in Canada" commentator and daughter speak out about youth mental illness

    Kelly Hrudy and his daughter Kaitlin share the story of Kaitlin's struggle with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, focusing on awareness and recovery Nearly one in five Canadian children and adolescents will be touched by a menta ...

  • Damian Clairmont converted to Islam at 17, finding solace after struggling with depression

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/509335900065890304 video CBC The National: The mother of Damian Clairmont, a Calgary man who in January died fighting with ISIS in Syria, travels to France to meet the mother of another young ...

  • SirReal's 'Not Like Me' a culmination of personal experiences brought to music, video

    Nanaimo hip hop artist dedicates his latest video to the uniqueness present in all who have seen hardships and have the compassion to know that we are all human Vancouver Island hip hop artist Matt Dunae---aka SirReal---has released the ...

  • Ronnie Goodman may well be San Francisco's most unexpected half-marathoner

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/508994143868043264

  • At 51 years of age, Alzheimer's diagnosis takes centre stage for Spirit of the West frontman

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/508967824371769344

  • You'll see yourself and others in Mike Pond's riveting account of addiction and recovery

    Michael Pond's harrowing two-year journey to sobriety takes stops in abandoned sheds, dumpsters, ditches, emergency wards, intensive care and, finally, prison After two decades of helping clients battle addiction, Mike Pond, a successful ...

  • RCMP missing persons strategy soon to be revealed

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/508256120440639488

  • Vancouver's addiction ambitions, revisited

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/507901761609560064

  • Former PMs, native leaders form group to promote co-operation

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/507553341384433664

  • Schools cut ties with corporate food companies to join network of community cafeterias

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/507165907312197633

  • We are entering the age of Alzheimer's

    You and everyone you know will touched by the disease. How are we going to get through this? From The New Republic---Try as we do, us Americans still croak. One and all, somehow, even today. We are done in by ten likely suspects: hea ...

  • Here is how I spent the summer months: doing virtually nothing

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/506813815041064960

  • All-day kindergartners end up more confident, ask more questions, are used to setting the agenda

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/506813140781518848

  • Program funded by donations brings some emotional release to young patients

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/506446925693214721

  • Aug 2014“... ...”
  • My autistic boy has joined the beat generation

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/505347446474809344

  • Solo camping: Sometimes the mind likes to be alone with itself

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/505762309839814656

  • Five ways to ease the family stress of a child with a mental-health challenge

    It's common for parents to experience the stigma attached to mental-health problems, addictions and developmental disabilities From The Globe and Mail---Raising a child with a mental-health challenge, an addiction or a developmental disa ...

  • Mapping community footprints from past a help for future

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/504996038957334528

  • Cognitive therapy + meds = improved recovery from depression for some

    https://twitter.com/Reuters_Health/status/504671025762537472

  • The procrastination doom loop—and how to break it

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/504622908707442689

  • Essay: "Her own kind of absence"

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/504311584815316992

  • Nanaimo's South End in Great Places in Canada vote

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/504335171240607744

  • Nanaimo author breaks silence about horrors of war

    https://twitter.com/peoplefirstrad/status/503909266290638848

  • Thank You Nanaimo!

    We would like to thank everyone who attended the sixth Annual Neighbours Being Neighbours Community Gathering held on August 9, 2014. It was a huge success! Special thanks go out to all the volunteers. We couldn’t have done it withou ...

  • First-person Bakersfield story explores racial prejudices using comedy

    Les Kurkendaal takes Nanaimo Fringe audiences to Bakersfield, California, where his lover’s family lives in all-white isolation What happens when a man brings his male lover home to his family in Bakersfield, California, for the holidays ...

  • Erotic comedy explores gender and sexual stereotypes, late twenties angst

    Adult-rated show at Nanaimo Fringe takes the audience into 'jock boy' and 'square girl' stereotypes, challenging everyone with questions about objectification and relationships SQUARE: A Stage Pornography is an erotic comedy that explore ...

  • Guilty secrets, forbidden escapes, and all in the mind, at Nanaimo Fringe

    New Nanaimo theatre company uses 'devised production' technique to create a tale of two women---one institutionalized and the other a nurse, trying to help Feeling a little normal? Come a-muse yourself inside Grace’s head for an hour. Sh ...

  • Young Nanaimo actors take the plunge, shine in very challenging roles

    An explosive, deeply affecting study of alienation and the redemptive power of love, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea was written in 1983 but retains its funny, frightening, and hypnotic appeal At a rundown bar in the Bronx two of society ...

  • Seasoned writer-actor marks ten years on the fringe circuit

    Brent Hirose brings "The Sucker Punch" to Nanaimo, new shows to Vancouver, continues living and learning on the fringe circuit A new technology allows you go to back in time... for five seconds. Just long enough to take back a misplace ...

  • Stars line up for debut from local writer-director at Nanaimo Fringe

    Quiet debut of theatre gem part of the fringe experience as Nanaimo writer-director William Anderson introduces an exploration of life and relationships in "When the Stars are Right" Ellen, a successful novelist, is content with her wo ...

  • Self-defense workshop for women will offer jiu jitsu approaches

    Dynamic workshop on the psychology, theory and practical realities of self-defense for women will be hosted by Robert Biernacki and Cathal Walsh on August 24, 2014 On February 25, 2013, Statistics Canada released an updated version of t ...

  • Is watching the news turning us into bad news bears?

    Research shows that certain types of news coverage can produce emotional responses associated with stress and that the biggest effect comes from traumatic events covered in a sensational way* A recent survey of more than 2,500 Americans ...

  • Colliers International Nanaimo Clippers Golf Tournament and Dinner August 15th

    We enthusiastically invite you to participate in the upcoming Annual Mid-Island Charity Golf Tournament, hosted by Colliers International and the Nanaimo Clippers this Friday August 15, 2014. We are excited to announce that CBC hockey comme ...

  • It isn't mainstream theatre, and that's the idea behind fringe festivals

    The 4th annual Nanaimo Fringe Festival will run August 14th – 24th, 2014 and 8 companies will perform for live audiences that might love, hate, be transfixed or even startled...it's perfect for developing, emerging and experimenting artists ...

  • Ross Lockwood returns to 'earth' after 120 days in Mars simulation

    Can you imagine experiencing a long-duration mission on Mars---while here on Earth? Ross Lockwood grew up in the small Canadian town of Winfield, British Columbia, where he developed a passion for science, engineering, and space explorat ...

  • The rise of Ebola is pushing us to prepare for future outbreaks

    West Africa's Ebola crisis is a harbinger of future outbreaks and a test of how well Canada will do against worse infections, says The Tyee's Crawford Kilian The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) recommended July 31, 2014 that Canadi ...

  • Musicians highlight Columbian Centre community party Saturday

    Performers Donna Konsorado and celtic-folk group Trinitude are set to perform at the annual Neighbours Being Neighbours community gathering on Saturday August 9th Two Nanaimo-area musicians will be showcasing their talents at an upcoming ...

  • Jul 2014“... ...”
  • Creating defensible urban community space

    Nanaimo's Wisteria Lane neighbours look to the structure of physical spaces to reduce crime, increase stability During the recent past, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, there has been an increasing interest in the effects ...

  • Q&A with T. J. Dawe at Nanaimo's Harbour City Theatre

    The "Lord of the Fringe" was in Nanaimo to present his latest monologue Marathon as a fundraiser for the Nanaimo Fringe Festival Acclaimed fringe theatre veteran TJ Dawe performed his latest show, Marathon, in mid-July in Nanaimo as a ...

  • The story of a young Indigenous woman coming of age in Canada in the 1980s

    Creative nonfiction story Tilly: a Story of Hope and Resilience captures spirit of hope, recovery Monique Gray Smith, an accomplished consultant, writer and speaker, was at the Gabriola Island Public Library earlier this year discussing ...

  • Suicide awareness for everyone

    The importance of recognizing the signs, communicating with the person at risk and getting help or resources for the person at risk safeTALK, a workshop about three hours in duration, is a training that prepares anyone over the age of 15 ...

  • Veterans march to raise PTSD awareness, pay tribute to the PTSD fallen

    "Find your lonely road and follow it...follow it through everything to the end of the road and then let go of that road...put it behind you..." In the past three years, 50 recognized Canadian Forces veterans have committed suicide di ...

  • Montreal's Radio-UP in its third broadcast year

    Inspiration for the clubhouse-based program came from Radio La Colifata of Buenos Aires, Argentina, which broadcast their shows from a psychiatric hospital Radio-UP is an important part of Donald Berman UP House---a "clubhouse" affiliat ...

  • Do you know what's in your food?

    Food security includes access to healthy, affordable food; it also includes knowing what is in the food we eat New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Murray Rankin (Victoria) recently put forward a motion in the House of Commons calli ...

  • Farmers' markets get it right, soar in popularity

    The benefits of local and organic food production are huge---providing significant environmental and social benefits "There’s no doubt people are becoming increasingly passionate about buying local, in-season food and locally produced go ...

  • Helping others while not losing yourself in the process

    As helpers, we need to ensure that we are not falling into a vicious circle of helping others but draining ourselves, says author Debbie Holmes The helping profession is filled with people who are selfless and giving. If you are a help ...

  • Aging artists exhibit their existential process at Nanaimo Art Gallery

    16 British Columbia artists, men and women, senior both in years and professional stature, share their personal take on life, the human condition, aging, the passage of time, and the search for meaning and purpose in life Aging is a ...

  • COCO Cafe serves up inclusion from its community hub in Cedar

    Employment and socialization are important to everyone. Experiencing them can be challenging for people living with a developmental disability Since opening in June of 2011, COCO Cafe has become a bustling community hub that truly is “Wh ...

  • The federal government's prostitution bill is immoral, faith groups say

    34 clergy and faith groups from Victoria and across Canada have signed a statement of concern about the proposed federal bill that makes buying and advertising sex illegal Faith leaders in Victoria and across the country are speaking ...

  • "If I get therapy can I get off these meds?"

    Therapist Michael Pond has been captivated by rigorous and extensive research that argues millions of people who are prescribed psychotropic drugs derive no benefit from them and, in fact, may be making their illness worse by taking them ...

  • Poverty is a health issue, and it affects well-being

    Income is the strongest determinant of health---and living in poverty is not just an economic and political issue, but fundamentally an issue of human health How much money you make is more important than what you eat, how much you exerc ...

  • Jun 2014“... ...”
  • Not enough Canadian youth are getting the mental health care they need

    New research network will develop strategies to ensure that more young people are connected to the mental health services they need In Canada, one-in-five people experience a mental illness in their lifetime. However, it is young Canadia ...

  • National study supports scattered social housing

    Participants with mental illness, addictions thrive after being given apartments: five-year national study click to view VANCOUVER---A five-year study that housed people with mental illness and drug addictions in apartments scattered ...

  • New supportive housing is on the way in Nanaimo

    Project involves a partnership between three nonprofits and will offer 41 individual units, 24/7 support presence Construction will begin this summer on a supportive housing project in Nanaimo to be jointly operated by Columbian Centre, ...

  • B.C.'s poverty reduction projects aren't reducing poverty

    Advocate Adrienne Montani says that some good work was done assisting families with crisis situations, but there is no evidence that they are no longer living in poverty In April 2012 the government of British Columbia announced that sev ...

  • 'Roboethics' isn't science fiction anymore

    Robotics experts are investigating the ethical implications inherent to firsthand interactions between humans and robots More than 20 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have endorsed a joint statement calling for a ban on weapons that would ...

  • Moving Mountains for Mental Health - a benefit for Columbian Centre Society

    Erin Warner of Nanaimo will be hiking up Mt Benson on Saturday June 28th, 2014 in support of the Columbian Centre Society. Erin will be joined by Jenga (the dog) who will be leading his humans, Kerrie Jack and her partner Rasa, on a hike. ...

  • Teacher wars: Where has respect for education gone?

    British Columbia's education conflicts reveal the competition for funds between public and independent schools, and the political conflict between two visions of society In British Columbia---and also in Alberta and Ontario---teachers se ...

  • Church and state: Deciding who can or should teach law

    What happens when religious beliefs clash with human rights in the teaching of law British Columbia lawyers voted overwhelmingly on June 10, 2014 in favour of a motion directing the Benchers of the Law Society of BC to declare that Trini ...

  • Front page tragedies: Mentally ill people are being criminalized

    Society's wait-and-see inactivity---until something horrible happens---in effect criminalizes mental illness, says Austin Mardon Austin Mardon is an academic, author, and community leader who has participated in community based volunteer ...

  • Columbian Centre Society 2014 annual general meeting

    Tuesday June 24, 2014 at 5:00 pm Please join the Columbian Centre Society’s Board of Directors for our Annual General Meeting to review the work of the Society, and learn about the plans for the coming year. Columbian Centre's Barnabas W ...

  • Manjit Virk, his daughter's death, and teaching for all

    The Reena Virk tragedy has become teaching for all of us In the years since their daughter, Reena Virk, was murdered in Victoria B.C., Suman and Manjit Virk have made their work against bullying a top priority. In November 2009 British C ...

  • Gabor Mate on the hungry ghosts of addiction

    In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction takes a panoramic yet highly intimate look at the widespread and perplexing human ailment of addiction From street-dwelling drug addicts to high-functioning workaholics, ...

  • Mark McLaughlin and his campaign against meth

    It has been described as a ‘hideously destructive substance’…and ‘the most addictive drug in the world’. Methamphetamine is a drug with high potential for widespread abuse—due to the portability of its manufacture. Canada’s meth problem ...

  • May 2014“... ...”
  • Centre helps men and their families

    Theo Boere, Executive Director of the Men's Centre in Nanaimo will be with us to discuss the general social attitudes which still restrict men in so many ways, some examples of which are: the Equal Parenting Bill C-560, currently before ...

  • Nanaimo's Alzheimer Resouce Centre

    Alzheimer’s disease is the second most feared disease for Canadians as they age.  With many Nanaimo residents 50 years of age or older, dementia is becoming a pressing health issue locally (Source: Nanaimo Bulletin May 6, 2014). The Alzh ...

  • 4th Annual Mental Wellth Gala a Hit!

    Thank you to all our sponsors, volunteers and guests for making the 4th Annual Mental Wellth Gala, held on May 9 2014 at the Grand Hotel, a fun and entertaining event.  We would also like to thank our performers Phil Dwyer, Louise Rose, Joa ...

  • Employing those with disabilities

    Community Living BC’s vision for inclusive employment is “Every person with a disability who wants a job is employed”. More and more people with developmental disabilities want to work at jobs they enjoy, earn their own wages and feel value ...

  • Kim Goldberg's Ride Backwards on Dragon

    Kim Goldberg is an award-winning poet, journalist and author of six books. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies around the world. She has lived in Nanaimo for more than thirty years. Latest titles: RED ZONE (poems of ...

  • National initiative Partners for Mental Health

    Every year, one in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem or illness, at a cost of over $50 billion to our economy. Partners for Mental Health, is a national organization that works to toward a new vision of mental health.  ...

  • Crisis lines help

    Crisis Line Awareness Week: March 23-29, 2014 Provincial funding has been assured through March 31, 2015, for the 1800SUICIDE (1.800.748.2433) and 310Mental Health Support (310.6789) phone lines. These are networks that enhance access to ...

  • Apr 2014“... ...”
  • Brain injury info

    The Nanaimo Brain Injury Society stands for an inspired world where the importance of neurological health and excellent care is a priority: where the removal of barriers to participation is imperative; and where all preventable brain in ...

  • Physio expert on cycling

    May is Physiotherapy Month and also Bike to Work Month. Kari Watson, is a physiotherapist at the Outpatient Clinic of the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Tune in to People First Radio on CHLY 101.7FM this Thursday at noon, for a co ...

  • Help for victims

    NANAIMO RCMP VICTIM SERVICES: WHO THEY ARE, WHAT THEY DO AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED AS A VOLUNTEER. Nanaimo RCMP Victim Services provides a variety of services to victims of crime and other personal tragedies.  They work from a client ...

  • Local food bank helps youth

    Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank is hoping a student-only food depot at John Barsby Secondary School will serve as a blueprint for depots in other schools.  The food depot program at the Nanaimo school supplies hampers that provide foo ...

  • New location for Nanaimo Community Hospice

    The Nanaimo Community Hospice provides counseling and support to people with serious progressive illnesses where a cure is not expected and to their families and caregivers. Support is provided during the end of life and for family members ...

  • Programs and events at the Mid Island CMHA branch

    Gwen Vonarx is the Program and Event Coordinator for the Mid-Island Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.  On Thursday, April 10th, she will join People First Radio live in studio to introduce the Mid-Island Branch: what they ar ...

  • Dying With Dignity: Expanding end-of-life choices

    A 2012 Angus Reid poll showed that 80% of Canadians support the right of terminally ill patients to have medical assistance to die.  Similarly, an Environics Institute poll released December 2013 found Quebec residents are more likely than ...

  • NFLA's new Beyond Blame workshop

    In the tradition of pioneers such as Jackson Katz (Violence against women: it’s a men’s issue) and Tony Porter (co-founder of A call to men: The national association of men and women committed to ending violence against women), Nanaimo Fami ...

  • Feb 2014“... ...”
  • Dissolve: A play about drug-facilitated sexual assault

    This is actually happening in our community!  And it is happening much more frequently than we would like to think.  Survivors rarely step forward with a report to the police- the reasons for this are many and are understandable- she wonder ...

  • Hearing Voices That Are Distressing workshop in Courtenay & Campbell River in April 2014

    An exceptional simulation and training experience in Courtenay April 15, 2014 & Campbell River April 16, 2014 The goals of this experience are to: • Learn about the subjective experience of hearing voices that are distressing • Bec ...

  • Society offers successful temporary housing

    On our February 6, 2014 People First Radio broadcast, we will be talking about the Victoria Human Exchange Society and their two houses in Nanaimo.  Mary Gordon House was just opened in December of 2013.  The name of the society is take ...

  • Jan 2014“... ...”
  • Trixie Hennessey: BC's eating disorders awareness week

    The beginning of February marks the start of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign. On this week’s People First Radio broadcast on January 30,2014, we feature interviews with people from different aspects of this import ...

  • Deborah Grimm: BC's eating disorders awareness week

    The beginning of February marks the start of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign. On this week’s People First Radio broadcast on January 30,2014, we feature interviews with people from different aspects of this import ...

  • Amy Pezzente: BC's eating disorders awareness week

    The beginning of February marks the start of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign. On this week’s People First Radio broadcast on January 30,2014, we feature interviews with people from different aspects of this import ...

  • Blake Woodside: BC's eating disorders awareness week

    The beginning of February marks the start of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign. On this week’s People First Radio broadcast on January 30,2014, we feature interviews with people from different aspects of this import ...

  • Mining company empowers First Nations

    Largest private sector employer of Aboriginal men and women invests in education and training BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association is a large organization with locations in Vancouver, Kamloops, Williams Lake, Cranbrook, New Aiyansh and ...

  • Testing housing first for chronic alcoholics

    A new study shows that non-abstinence based housing does not enable alcohol use, but actually decreases it. A controversial project using a housing-first approach with chronically alcoholic homeless people in Seattle has been shown to decr ...

  • PFR catches up with Bipolar Babe

    Returning guest Andrea will update listeners on her efforts to educate others on the effects of Bipolar Disorder On January 23rd, Nancy and Ashta will speak with Andrea Paquette, AKA the Bipolar Babe.  Andrea is the executive director of ...

  • VIU Prof speaks about constructed images of indigenous peoples

    What are the policy and cultural relations implications of inaccurate and constructed images? On Friday February 4th 2011, Vancouver Island University professor Keith Smith gave a talk called “On Black Hawks, Pontiacs, and Crazy Horse ...

  • Verbatim theatre explores homelessness in Victoria

     Home is a Beautiful Word is the title of Joel Bernbaum’s new play on homelessness. Joel has a Masters in Journalism from Carleton University. His thesis topic was “Verbatim Theatre as a form of journalism”. This play is entirely made ...

  • Hearing Voices That Are Distressing workshop in Duncan

    Space Still Available! Register Now An exceptional simulation and training experience--Monday January 27, 2014 The goals of this experience are to: • Learn about the subjective experience of hearing voices that are distressing • Becom ...

  • Island Crisis Society Speaks with People First Radio

    Thursday January 9th and Monday January 13th on People First Radio...  Samaritan House Launches Campaign Nanaimo’s Samaritan House in is operated by the Island Crisis Care Society. It has been in operation since 1989 and is badly in n ...

  • Dec 2013“... ...”
  • Peers and Burghers offered a night of themed performances

    Bobbi Schram and Joan Wallace + The Martys played at a fundraiser held Friday November 15th to benefit Columbian Centre Society. Kevin and Ashta hosted the night of performances which focused on issues related to health and wellness. On ...

  • Meeting the need for basic housing literacy

    Some renters are in real need of help to face systemic barriers that make finding housing difficult Ready to Rent B.C. was established when a group of housing and service-related agencies came together to find ways of helping families ...

  • Nov 2013“... ...”
  • AIDS Vancouver Island shares its stories to break stigma

    HIV and AIDS have been with us for thirty years but stigma and its effects continue to create harm VICTORIA, BC---While this year’s UNAIDS World AIDS Day theme, ‘Getting to Zero’, aims to achieve zero new HIV infections and zero AIDS d ...

  • Changes in the studio as People First Radio marks 6 years on-air

    Columbian Centre's People First Radio media-based education initiative is about to enter its seventh year with new leadership People First Radio, an initiative offered by Nanaimo’s Columbian Centre—in partnership with the Radio Malaspina ...

  • Nanaimo housing society battles labels

    Negative connotations surrounding projects can make things difficult, says Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society executive director Jim Spinelli Jim Spinelli doesn't like the term 'low-barrier housing,' despite his 17-year involvement with ...

  • Scandals involving politicos may point to a wider problem

    Columnist Mitchell Anderson writes that along with Rob Ford, Canada's political leadership has hit rock bottom while 'dumbing down democracy' Fresh from the reality TV spectacle of the Senate scandals, Canadians have been offered a new s ...

  • Overcoming weight bias in health care

    Weight bias among health professionals influences quality of health care for people with obesity, finds University of Alberta obesity researcher EDMONTON---Five days after undergoing gastric bypass surgery to reduce the size of her stoma ...

  • People in addiction recovery gather to educate the public

    'Recovery Speaks', a series of free interactive learning sessions, is being offered to the public in Victoria and Nanaimo by the Cedars at Cobble Hill Society Addiction is a chronic and progressive health issue affecting the body, mind a ...

  • Peers & Burghers with Music this Friday November 15

    A fundraiser for Columbian Centre, a musical feast for you! Come and join us for a unique evening of live music by local musicians. The program will explore popular songs inspired by mental health and addictions experiences. Friday No ...

  • What's the buzz about social determinants?

    Read all about it in the latest Columbian Centre Currents newsletter Since mental disorders and addictions are usually consigned to the healthcare domain, it is not surprising that most attention is channeled into the notion of illness a ...

  • 'The explainer' looks at life in a highly mediated society

    Michael Wesch says the power of today's technology to change our relationships and culture is unprecedented Kansas State University professor Michael Wesch starts with a simple premise, according to his bio at National Geographic: all hu ...

  • What is the 'real' crisis in Canadian justice?

    John Howard Society executive director says Ottawa’s proposed victims’ rights bill distracts from the real crisis in Canadian justice, and promises yet further regress Catherine Latimer of the national John Howard Society, has written an ...

  • Oct 2013“... ...”
  • Human rights for women is under an international spotlight in British Columbia

    West coast legal group releases report card on women's rights in B.C. as international groups hear testimony about the disappearances of indigenous women and girls West Coast LEAF has released its 5th annual report card on women’s rights ...

  • Women’s fight for equality must include legal aid

    On October 26, West Coast LEAF will celebrate Persons Day in Nanaimo with a special breakfast featuring constitutional expert Kasari Govender. Govender will be speaking on the intersections of legal aid and women’s equality. In light of ...

  • New $7.3-million facility represents 'just one piece' of puzzle to end homelessness

    A new supportive housing project on Uplands Drive is underway and received a sunny kickoff from officials on site Wednesday. By fall 2014, 6025 Uplands Dr. will be home to a 33-unit housing facility for people 45 and up who are homeless ...

  • Pharma and medical research industries have routinely exploited poor, powerless

    The truly shocking aspect of revelations concerning the use of native children as research subjects is that we were shocked by the revelation, says author Tom Koch Demonstrations were held across the country Thursday July 25, 2013 as a g ...

  • New supportive housing coming soon to Nanaimo

    “The City of Nanaimo greatly supports projects that integrate affordable and supportive housing with our existing communities," mayor says NANAIMO– Construction is underway for Uplands Walk, a new 33-unit supportive housing development f ...

  • Canada needs to be a leader in dealing with Indigenous issues, former PM says

    Former prime minister Paul Martin says that the only way in which the vow of 'never again' can have any substance is if people have a full awareness of what happened Food, health and nutrition historian Ian Mosby, in what he called the m ...

  • Conflict of interest policies at Canadian medical schools are under observation

    Researchers say that the education of medical students should be based on the best clinical information available, rather than on commercial interests A first-of-its kind study has analyzed the conflict-of-interest policies at the 17 med ...

  • Solidarity witness shares observations about protests from around the globe

    "The failure of electoral politics to address what's really at stake means an increasing number of...issues are destined to be resolved through various forms of protest and civil disobedience" Before photographer and essayist Christo ...

  • Mad Pride marks a milestone 20th year in Toronto

    Mad Pride is an arts, culture, and heritage festival created by psychiatric survivors, consumers, mad people, and folks the world has labelled “mentally ill” Mad Pride Toronto holds "a Celebration of Madness" from July 8th to July 14th,2 ...

  • Mental health and older adults---October 10, 2013

    World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2013 focuses on the mental health of older adults Every year on 10th of October, The World Health Organization joins in celebrating the World Mental Health Day. The day is celebrated at the initiati ...

  • Poet calls men to action to prevent violence against women

    Jeremy Loveday's YouTube message implores men to speak up and act against sexual violence, generating thousands of views, links from political leaders, and some controversy Performance poet, community builder, change agent. Those are the ...

  • The call for men's centres and programs resumes

    Men's centres on campuses are needed, advocates say, but so are programs designed to support men in other communities In a visit that was probably destined to create controversy, Miles Groth, an educator and activist in the men's rights ...

  • Sep 2013“... ...”
  • Abused child was 'out of sight' but survived her horrific ordeal

    Report by the British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth prompts immediate reaction from governments in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, along with pledges to improve child safety The tragic case of a young Aboriginal girl ...

  • 'You Should Have Stayed Home' tells a story of G20 violence and detentions

    Award-winning play is based on one citizen's experience after being swept up by the Toronto police response to G20 protests---which constituted the largest peacetime mass arrest in Canadian history You Should Have Stayed Home (aka #G20Ro ...

  • 'Mind Your Mind' is focused on an anti-stigma message

    Unique resources-focused project recognizes the appeal of visual content---as well as formal and informal sources of information sought by youth who need help The province of Ontario is supporting an innovative program that helps youth w ...

  • The Great Lake Walk has been cancelled and an alternative route proposed

    As you may or may not have heard, the Great Lake Walk Society has cancelled this year’s Great Lake Walk. The walk was 56 km and was to take place on Sept 21st.  Columbian Centre Society greatly appreciates your support towards our operation ...

  • Campaign for the reform of cannabis policy is underway

    If the Sensible B.C. campaign collects over 400,000 signatures from across the province, the group says there will be a referendum in British Columbia to decriminalize marijuana possession in 2014 A group called Sensible BC is working to ...

  • 'Rape culture' on display during university frosh events

    Pro-rape chants at St. Mary's University and University of British Columbia lead to national attention and backlash Photo by Michael Courier, www.michaelcourier.com A chant promoting non-consensual sex with underage girls has created ...

  • Poverty reduces brainpower needed for navigating other areas of life

    "The lack of financial resources itself can lead to impaired cognitive function. The very condition of not having enough can actually be a cause of poverty." Poverty and all its related concerns require so much mental energy that the poo ...

  • Poverty is linked to multiple health problems in new mothers

    New mothers living on very low incomes are more than 20 times more likely to experience multiple health problems than new mothers living on high incomes The Centre for Research on Inner City Health analyzed health survey data representat ...

  • Aug 2013“... ...”
  • Invitation to dinner & silent auction at the 3rd Annual Colliers International Mid-Island Charity Golf Tournament

    Not handy with a golf club??? Skilled at wielding cutlery? If golf isn’t your thing, but good food is, please consider joining us for dinner only at the 3rd Annual Colliers International Mid-Island Charity Golf Tournament. For $45 you get ...

  • Adventures to be had when you’re over 60

    Stories and reflections encourage and support readers in living vibrantly through wholeheartedly embracing life's challenges Gail Boulanger is a coach and counselor for “vibrant living” in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island. She says that v ...

  • Rampant ageism is fueled by common, yet largely inaccurate, social beliefs

    Our culture promotes the belief that aging means decline, dependence and dementia, or at best isolation and depression---yet most elders are healthier, better educated and productive both economically and socially, than they were earlier in ...

  • The cost of keeping people poor is high

    Governments say they can’t afford poverty reduction policies but fail to consider the cost paid for consequences of poverty Poverty is a hardship for those who experience it; it’s also costly to society. Governments say they can’t afford ...

  • Canada gets a “B” on its Society report card for 2012

    Despite solid performance, high rates of poverty and a large gap in income between the rich and everyone else put stress on a society and on the economy The Conference Board of Canda is an independent, not-for-profit applied research org ...

  • 'Frequent flyers' get specific help

    The Edmonton Homelessness Commission reports that a chronically homeless person costs taxpayers $100,000 annually -- but one night's accommodation in an emergency shelter costs only $42 Some of Canada's homeless people are being descri ...

  • Early recognition, timely intervention key to treating eating disorders

    The medical consequences of eating disorders can go unrecognized, even by experienced clinicians Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with significant, life-threatening medical and psychiatric morbidity and mortality, regardless ...

  • Approaching wellness in drumming circles

    Drum circles provide support, improving emotions and feelings in people struggling with eating disorders A drum circle is a rhythm-based event where people gather in a circle to express themselves with African drums and percussion instru ...

  • A story of recovery

    Amy Candido lives in recovery from eating disorders The beginning of February each year marks the launch of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign and National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. PEDAW coordinator Amy ...

  • Canada needs to be a leader in dealing with Indigenous issues, former PM says

    Former prime minister Paul Martin says that the only way in which the vow of 'never again' can have any substance is if people have a full awareness of what happened Food, health and nutrition historian Ian Mosby, in what he called the m ...

  • Pharma and medical research industries have routinely exploited poor, powerless

    The truly shocking aspect of revelations concerning the use of native children as research subjects is that we were shocked by the revelation, says author Tom Koch Demonstrations were held across the country Thursday July 25, 2013 as a g ...

  • Jul 2013“... ...”
  • "The Five Stages of Collapse" provides a survivor's toolkit

    Author Dmitry Orlov says that if financial, commercial, and political collapse are met with appropriate responses, the more extreme aspects of social and cultural collapse could be prevented  The City of Detroit's bankruptcy filing made ...

  • Nanaimo sees homeless numbers rise

    Reports of Nanaimo's healthy economy may be partly behind the sudden influx seen by agencies The number of homeless people using Nanaimo emergency shelters is higher and came earlier than usual during the summer. Some people---men in ...

  • The gap in the gender gap: Violence against women in Canada

    Study shows how Canada lacks a coherent response to end violence against women---and says costs related to that violence rival those related to the use of illegal drugs Progress on ending violence against women in Canada is stalled by ...

  • "Let's Talk" leader sets a personal and corporate example

    Mary Deacon has faced and dealt with mental health issues---in her own life and the lives of those close to her---and has become a high-profile corporate advocate for mental illness education and awareness When Mary Deacon, the chair of ...

  • Mad Pride marks a milestone 20th year in Toronto

    Mad Pride is an arts, culture, and heritage festival created by psychiatric survivors, consumers, mad people, and folks the world has labelled “mentally ill” Mad Pride Toronto holds "a Celebration of Madness" from July 8th to July 14th,2 ...

  • Conflict of interest policies at Canadian medical schools are under observation

    Researchers say that the education of medical students should be based on the best clinical information available, rather than on commercial interests A first-of-its kind study has analyzed the conflict-of-interest policies at the 17 med ...

  • Solidarity witness shares observations about protests from around the globe

    "The failure of electoral politics to address what's really at stake means an increasing number of...issues are destined to be resolved through various forms of protest and civil disobedience" Before photographer and essayist Christo ...

  • The 5th annual Neighbours Being Neighbours Community Gathering

    Join us on August 10th to celebrate community, diversity and children by encouraging neighbourliness among all people Have fun meeting your neighbours in a family-friendly environment while enjoying live music, great food and activities ...

  • Health authority pulls funding from west coast mental health groups

    Vancouver Coastal Health will no longer fund a range of community-based mental health groups, in a decision that was reportedly based on VCH's imperative to focus on "core health services" Five community-based nonprofit groups on the wes ...

  • Despite their effectiveness, peer support programs receive very little funding

    Canada's national mental health strategy says peer support is an essential component of mental health services---but also recognizes it's not yet seen as a core part of the recovery process The Mental Health Strategy for Canada promotes ...

  • Jun 2013“... ...”
  • Psychiatrist Joris Wiggers shares his observations in new documentary film

    On the Road...to Find Out includes the stories of three people who relocated to Nanaimo for mental health services, comments from service providers, and the observations of Nanaimo psychiatrist Dr. Joris Wiggers A new documentary film, O ...

  • Bike riders support mental health in women and families

    People will be riding their way across British Columbia Sunday June 23, 2013 to support programs for women and families experiencing mental health challenges Ride Don’t Hide is a community bike ride hosted by the Canadian Mental Health A ...

  • Right to housing Charter challenge is opposed by governments

    Lawyers for homeless and inadequately housed Ontarians have appeared in Ontario Superior Court of Justice to argue against a government motion to strike their landmark legal challenge In the spring of 2010, several individuals and the Ce ...

  • Growing numbers of elderly people are homeless in Victoria

    Seniors homelessness is on the rise in Greater Victoria---prompting a call for more age-appropriate housing A change is being seen among homeless people in Victoria, British Columbia. Alan Rycroft, a spokesperson for the Victoria Cool Ai ...

  • May 2013“... ...”
  • Youth hold first LGBTQ pride parade in 'Bible belt' city

    More than 500 people, including newly elected MLA Darryl Plecas and Abbotsford Mayor Bruce Banman, show support for an expanded "Walk Away From Homophobia" event More than 500 people took part in the Fraser Valley's first Pride parade on ...

  • LGBTQ youth face significant challenges

    LGBTQ youth experience health inequities, mostly attributable to societal stigma and marginalization and its related risks of rejection and violence, as well as lower social supports Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, queer ...

  • Psychiatry, the DSM, and human rights

    Law Project for Psychiatric Rights is one of several activist groups charging that the American Psychiatric Association is committing serious human rights abuses The 2013 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) was h ...

  • Subjected to shock therapy as a child, survivor went on to champion human rights

    "It made me want to die ... I remember that they would stick a rag in my mouth so I wouldn't bite through my tongue and that it took three attendants to hold me down" Ted Chabasinski is an American psychiatric survivor, human rights acti ...

  • The Salvation Army marks a major milestone

    The 'Sally Ann' has been serving and working in Nanaimo, and Vancouver Island, for 125 years The Salvation Army is the largest provider of social services across Canada, outside of government. But for many ordinary Canadians, the closest ...

  • Wi-Fi exiles signal a coming plague

    Where do you go when an invisible matrix spanning the globe is making you sick? Author Kim Goldberg has been awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to write a book about people who are physically sickened by their exposure ...

  • Civil Rights Now is working to improve the lives of people with disabilities

    Civil Rights Now and its Think Twice campaign is building toward the ultimate goal of a "British Columbians with Disability Act" "When your civil rights have been violated you don’t need a good hug---you need a good lawyer." That's what ...

  • A twisty tale of transformation

    Martha Carter shares a multimedia performance reflecting her own 'twisted' journey of living with a crooked spine while pursuing a career in dance THE STRAIGHT (Vancouver)---Martha Carter empties a little black bag onto the dance-studio ...

  • Rampant ageism is fueled by common, yet largely inaccurate, social beliefs

    Our culture promotes the belief that aging means decline, dependence and dementia, or at best isolation and depression---yet most elders are healthier, better educated and productive both economically and socially, than they were earlier in ...

  • Apr 2013“... ...”
  • Alone and isolated by language and living space

    Pulling back the curtain on the widely felt, seldom-discussed discrimination that Chinese seniors face every day In Vancouver’s Chinatown, seniors who speak only Cantonese or Mandarin face discrimination, marginalization, and a lack of a ...

  • Work remains to be done in HIV prevention and treatment

    New research finds implications for two groups affected by HIV and AIDS---women and gay men New research presented at conferences in Victoria and Vancouver this month have highlighted several challenges related to HIV/AIDS prevention a ...

  • Mar 2013“... ...”
  • Is the shelter 'emergency', 'extreme weather', 'cold wet weather' or 'winter'?

    It seems words can indicate pivotal differences among shelters for homeless people during British Columbia winters British Columbia's Extreme Weather Response program enables communities to temporarily increase emergency shelter capacity ...

  • Affordable housing project clears milestone

    Tom Grauman, executive director at the Columbian Centre Society, praised the city for identifying the site for affordable housing A new affordable, long-term housing project in Nanaimo cleared a major milestone Monday as city council app ...

  • Nanaimo social housing project going forward

    An information session on the Boundary Crescent social housing project attracted a hundred interested Nanaimoites last week Construction is expected to begin this summer on a four-storey, 41-unit supportive housing project at 1597 Bounda ...

  • At Home/Chez Soi project nears its end

    Housing first makes better use of public dollars---especially for those who are high service users In 2008 the federal government invested $110 million for a five year demonstration project aimed at providing evidence about what services ...

  • From the streets to a home and a new life

    Housing First approaches prove to be effective and can change lives A three-year-long intensive multi-city study looking into the effectiveness of Housing First approaches is due to end on March 31, 2013. The federal government funded th ...

  • B.C. overhauls its family laws, winning praise from advocates

    But no funding has been committed to address increased demands on mediators, arbitrators and family justice counsellors The Province of British Columbia's new Family Law Act took effect on March 18, 2013, replacing the Family Relations A ...

  • Over-representation of Aboriginal people in federal prisons is pervasive and growing

    Canada's correctional investigator says stronger leadership and improved implementation of mandated Aboriginal initiatives are needed to address a growing crisis in our prisons More than twenty years after Parliament enacted the Correcti ...

  • Aboriginal prisoners often shut out of healing lodges

    Report on Aboriginal prisoners in Canada finds limited understanding of Aboriginal people, culture and approaches to healing within federal corrections, especially among front line staff in facilities A report by Canada's Correctional In ...

  • Canada is moving backward on Aboriginal corrections

    The scandal of Aboriginal incarceration in Canada is getting worse as "tough on crime" policy changes stamp out rehabilitative intent A report by Howard Sapers, Canada's Correctional Investigator, has found that over-representation of Ab ...

  • Black fathers can face challenging issues

    But there's next-to-no Canadian data on black fathers. The founder of the Black Daddies Club support group intends to change that with a research project. The Black Daddies Club was founded in 2007 by Brandon Hay in response to the lack ...

  • Accusations of gentrification accompany new restaurant opening in Vancouver

    The Pidgin Restaurant struggle is part of a larger problem--lack of affordable housing and fear of being priced out of the neighbourhood By the time the mainstream media began to focus its attention on the protests being held at the Pi ...

  • 30 deaths among homeless people in Victoria raise questions

    Law students and members of the University of Victoria’s Poverty Law Club have asked the regional coroner to conduct an investigation Members of the University of Victoria's Poverty Law Club have drawn public and media attention to thirt ...

  • Feb 2013“... ...”
  • A family working hard to make sense of mental illness

    Calen Pick, his mother Jessie Close, and his aunt, Glenn Close, are working to alter public perception of mental illness through their stigma-fighting campaign Bring Change 2 Mind Calen Pick's famous aunt, Glenn Close, was a keynote spea ...

  • Canada gets a “B” on its Society report card for 2012

    Despite solid performance, high rates of poverty and a large gap in income between the rich and everyone else put stress on a society and on the economy The Conference Board of Canda is an independent, not-for-profit applied research org ...

  • "No justification" for tobacco

    Errol Povah's long struggle for a tobacco-free world Several years ago, Errol Povah crossed Canada on a "journey for a tobacco-free world"--which he also described as a "cross-Canada shore-to-shore ‘run, walk or crawl’ awareness and fund ...

  • "Those Who Take Us Away"

    Human Rights Watch alleges in an explosive report that members of the R.C.M.P. in northern British Columbia failed to protect indigenous women and girls from violence--and physically and sexually abused some of them The Royal Canadian Mo ...

  • High profile visit shines a spotlight on youth issues

    Laureen Harper, wife of Canada's prime minister, and Ottawa city councillor Allan Hubley praise the programs of Ottawa’s Youth Services Bureau downtown drop-in centre METRO NEWS OTTAWA, February 11, 2013 After years of neglect, youth ment ...

  • 'Frequent flyers' get specific help

    The Edmonton Homelessness Commission reports that a chronically homeless person costs taxpayers $100,000 annually -- but one night's accommodation in an emergency shelter costs only $42 Some of Canada's homeless people are being descri ...

  • The ghosts of our street names

    A Victoria-based campaign seeks to discard the street name reminders of British Columbia's troubled history  'Taking the Names Down from the Hill' is a new campaign being launched by SocialCoast.org. It's designed to bring attention to p ...

  • It might be time to winterproof your mental health

    Some people say mid-winter is the most depressing time of year—when cold and dark days, holiday bills, and already-lapsed new year’s resolutions catch up with us Whether you believe that or not, it’s never a bad time to reflect on how ti ...

  • Uplands housing project reaches permit stage

    "There's been a lot of public scrutiny on this project but we're very optimistic this will work" NANAIMO--Some final architectural tweaks have been made to the 33-unit Uplands Walk supportive housing project as it heads toward the deve ...

  • Expanding the reach of hockey

    Nanaimo Eagles team offers the hockey experience to people with developmental challenges The puck moves quickly up the ice, from the rock-steady defence to the winger flying up the boards on the left side. He skates the puck deep into th ...

  • A mother’s story of her son’s addiction

    June Ariano-Jakes shares a search for answers and the lengths she went to in trying to help her drug-addicted son June Ariano-Jakes is the mother of five adult children and the grandmother of four. While she worked by day as a Licensed C ...

  • Early recognition, timely intervention key to treating eating disorders

    The medical consequences of eating disorders can go unrecognized, even by experienced clinicians Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with significant, life-threatening medical and psychiatric morbidity and mortality, regardless ...

  • Jan 2013“... ...”
  • A story of recovery

    Amy Candido lives in recovery from eating disorders The beginning of February marks the launch of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign and National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (Feb. 3-9, 2013). PEDAW coordinat ...

  • A passion for prevention

    Loving our bodies and ourselves is the focus of eating disorders prevention efforts The Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign is launched the first full week in February with activities and events taking place throughout ...

  • Approaching wellness in drumming circles

    Drum circles provide support, improving emotions and feelings in people struggling with eating disorders A drum circle is a rhythm-based event where people gather in a circle to express themselves with African drums and percussion instru ...

  • A national standard for workplace mental health

    Workplace managers say that they're informed about mental health issues, but would benefit from training to help employees with mental health problems stay at work or return to work successfully and healthily The Canadian Standards Assoc ...

  • Quebec considers 'dying with dignity' law

    Quebec could be the first Canadian province to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives A landmark report to the Quebec legislature in March 2012 suggested the province legalize doctor-assisted euthanasia. It recommended the Que ...

  • Grieving in an online world

    Online grieving, whether on Facebook or other social media, is becoming the new normal...but does it actually help? After the campus shootings in the U.S. at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University in 2008, hundreds of aff ...

  • New way to support Columbian Centre

     Did You Know? If you shop at the Soap Exchange at Country Club Centre and mention that you support the Columbian Centre, Barry & Shirley Reid, owners of the Soap Exchange, will donate 10% of your dollar value to the Columbian Centre ...

  • Dec 2012“... ...”
  • Violence against women is a men’s issue too

    Men and women attending a workshop about gender-based violence emerge with a focus on working together for change Jackson Katz is a social theorist, educator, anti-sexism activist and a major advocate of the ‘bystander approach’ to gende ...

  • Nov 2012“... ...”
  • Expanding the heart of Hospice in Nanaimo

    Dying, caregiving and grieving are three of life’s greatest challenges, and the Community Hospice is ready to help Nanaimo Community Hospice has been serving the community for over 30 years, and was Canada's first community-based nonprof ...

  • West coast poets and authors get their close-up

    A new book capturing the images of some of the west coast’s most admired authors and poets has been launched A new book called 111 West Coast Literary Portraits features rare portraits of emerging, mid-career and well-known writers who h ...

  • The great house concert tour of 2013 on its way

    If you’d like to invite Eric Harper to bring his award-winning music into your home, you can join his house concert tour Award-winning guitarist Eric Harper has plans for 2013—and you could be a part of those plans. He says: “I’d love to ...

  • Anti-sexism activist to speak in Nanaimo

    Author and educator Jackson Katz advocates the ‘bystander approach’ to sexual and domestic violence prevention Jackson Katz is a social theorist, educator, and anti-sexism activist who says that gendered understandings and behaviour are ...

  • Adventures to be had when you’re over 60

    Stories and reflections encourage and support readers in living vibrantly through wholeheartedly embracing life's challenges Gail Boulanger is a coach and counselor for “vibrant living” in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island. She says that v ...

  • A closer look at citizen concerns about social housing

    The City of Nanaimo has had emails and Facebook posts with concerns about supportive housing projects studied and summarized The planning for social housing in Nanaimo—as in cities and towns in many parts of Canada—has been accompanied b ...

  • Power and mental health: Addressing imbalances

    “The expertise gained from lived experience should be complemented by professional expertise, not overwhelmed by it.  All stand to benefit from ensuring that there are as few imbalances as possible in the distribution of power throughout th ...

  • Story about ‘nobody’s dog’ looks at a child’s grief

    Ria Voros’ debut novel uses a special relationship to explore the grief of a child whose parents were killed in an accident For thirteen-year-old Jakob, the summer is looking pretty bleak. A few months before, he was in a car accident th ...

  • Voluntouring trekkers help villagers in Nepal

    Lea Ross and Bev Cole have been working to help people in a Nepalese village to obtain water for its schools After organizing several treks to Nepal after her first visit there twenty years ago, Lea Ross has “fallen in love” with the cou ...

  • Gaza mission, and arrests, raise awareness

    Jim Manly’s participation in a recent mission attempting to deliver aid to Gaza helps raise awareness of needs, issues On October 16, 2012, a tall ship called The Estelle began its voyage from Greece to Gaza, carrying citizens from a num ...

  • Oct 2012“... ...”
  • Has tragic death led to a bullying tipping point?

    Amanda Todd’s death by suicide—after her video disclosing bullying and harassment —creates a media tsunami The death by suicide of Amanda Todd, who disclosed in a YouTube video the bullying and harassment she had been experiencing, creat ...

  • A national strategy to deal with bullying?

    Dany Morin, Member of Parliament, asks for a response to bullying and harassment of children and youth in Canada Calling the bullying of children and youth “a nation-wide problem,” N.D.P. Member of Parliament Dany Morin has been asking C ...

  • Linking bullying, depression, and suicide

    Chaplain Diane Weber Bederman says Amanda Todd’s death was more about mental health than bullying In the aftermath of the death by suicide of Amanda Todd, an avalanche of news reports, opinion articles, and social media postings focused ...

  • Are you lost in a corporate radio desert?

    Make community radio your oasis for local, alternative, grassroots, and accessible music and information Community radio is about volunteerism, social engagement, independent music, learning by doing, community capacity building, citizen ...

  • Defending your right to die as you choose

    ‘Dying with dignity’ has been supported by many members of Unitarian Fellowships across Canada—for over thirty years It’s your life and it should be your choice as to how and when you die. That’s what British Columbia resident Gloria Tay ...

  • Artist explores motherhood and her 'double life'

    Sara Robichaud’s exploration is shaped and informed by objects of personal and symbolic significance in her life Nanaimo artist Sara Robichaud’s latest collection, Double Life, is a series of large-scale acrylic paintings that explore th ...

  • World Mental Health Day

    Wednesday October 10, 2012 World Mental Health Day raises public awareness about mental health issues. The day promotes open discussion of mental disorders, and investments in prevention, promotion and treatment services. This year the t ...

  • Pastor defies Abbotsford’s harm reduction ban

    Pastor Ward Draper is “bringing the church back to where it should be”—and that includes providing clean needles and pipes Pastor Ward Draper is ministering to addicts in Abbotsford, in defiance of the municipality’s ban on harm reductio ...

  • Cycling cooperative settles into community role

    Nanaimo’s Hub City Cycles promotes the cycling way of life, while bringing people together and building community In the fall of 2011 a group of passionate bike riders became passionate about the idea of starting and working in a communi ...

  • Bullies get their close-up

    As the much-hyped documentary film ‘Bully’ began to roll out across North America, we took a look at local experiences The Bully Project is the much-anticipated documentary film that follows stories of several kids who are being bullied ...

  • Sep 2012“... ...”
  • The real cost of homelessness

    What happens if we shift our energies from managing the problem to actually trying to end homelessness? It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that it is cheaper and more cost effective to provide people who experience homelessness with ...

  • Ecstasy deaths lead to calls for new approaches

    The federal government reinforces criminalization, parents call for education, and doctors and others encourage accurate knowledge about MDMA 22 British Columbians have died in the last 18 months after using the popular party drug Ecstas ...

  • Prostitution case can proceed, Supreme Court decides

    The federal government had argued that the individuals and non-profit groups involved had no right to bring the case to court A court case was launched in British Columbia in 2008 by an organization of sex workers and one former sex work ...

  • CCS board member helps launch United Way campaign

    Columbian Centre board member Mark Willott spoke at the kick-off breakfast for the United Way's campaign in central Vancouver Island, held in Nanaimo on Friday, September 21st. CTV Vancouver Island covered the event, and later interviewed ...

  • Hoarding horrors lead to task force

    Hoarding is primarily an issue of mental health, but its effects can be very dangerous to safety as well Hoarding is defined by the Mayo Clinic as the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding ofte ...

  • Can empathy be taught?

    Empathy, compassion, understanding, awareness—what happens when we try to put ourselves into others’ shoes? Empathy is a relatively common word, but it’s also a concept that is poorly understood. It’s sometimes confused with sympathy, pi ...

  • Congratulations Andy Sibbald for completing the Great Lake Walk!

    On September 15, 2012 Andy Sibbald successfully completed the 56 km Great Lake Walk (breaking his personal best by over 1 hour). Andy raised over $600 (and a few blisters) for Columbian Centre Society. CCS would like to thank Andy and his f ...

  • From global imperatives to local realities

    The work of community-based organizations in HIV prevention can be linked with the development of democracy The 19th International AIDS Conference was held in Washington D.C. in July 2012, with a focus on how global and decisive commitme ...

  • Criminalization and rights of people with HIV

    Canada may have gone farther than most countries in harsh treatment of HIV non-disclosure. What will the Supreme Court say? Under Canadian law, a person living with HIV may be guilty of a crime for not disclosing his or her HIV-positive ...

  • War on drugs is implicated in the spread of HIV

    International experts, activists, and health professionals agree that ‘we cannot end AIDS until we end the war on drugs’ The 18th International AIDS Conference, held in Vienna in 2010, included a high-profile statement called The Vienna ...

  • Master sax man brings inspiring message

    Juno award-winning master musician and composer Phil Dwyer has battled with addiction and mental illness Phil Dwyer’s 2012 Juno award for the incredibly ambitious Changing Seasons is the latest in a “resume full of examples of his genuin ...

  • Master sax man brings inspiring message

    Juno award-winning master musician and composer Phil Dwyer has battled with addiction and mental illness Phil Dwyer’s 2012 Juno award for the incredibly ambitious Changing Seasons is the latest in a “resume full of examples of his genuin ...

  • Nanaimo shelter changes raise concerns

    Homeless shelter was overwhelmed by demand last winter, so now it will only be open during extreme weather conditions The First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo has decided to scale back its shelter operations this year, after being overw ...

  • Aug 2012“... ...”
  • Long, hot summer of senseless gun violence

    Doctors, health experts set minds to making meaning of the senseless and speak of gun violence as a social disease Public health experts now speak of guns in the same way they speak about viruses, cars, tobacco, and alcohol. After the mo ...

  • A world without hate

    Rais Bhuiyan forgave the man who tried to kill him in a hate crime, then campaigned to save him from the death penalty Ten days after the September 11th attacks in the U.S., Texan Mark Stroman entered the gas station where Rais Bhuiyan w ...

  • Jul 2012“... ...”
  • BC Ideas wants to get your vote

    A legacy of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is working with partners across the province to create social innovation 2010 Legacies Now was created in June 2000 by the British Columbia government and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid Corporati ...

  • Neighbours gathering is a big annual party

    "I'm really glad we can do this. It situates a human service within the community. We're not apart, let's just normalize this since anyone of us can have a mental illness" The Neighbours Being Neighbours community gathering on Aug. 11 is ...

  • Inside William Kurelek’s surrealistic world of art

    Extraordinary film looks into artist’s mind, fears, and his questions about whether he was really even human William Kurelek’s The Maze is a documentary about the life of celebrated Canadian artist William Kurelek, dramatically told thro ...

  • From personal experience to helping others

    Karen Liberman believes thousands of workers affected by mental illness are trying to hide it, unable to talk about it Karen Liberman was once so ill with clinical depression that she would sometimes spend 24 hours at a time crying. Thou ...

  • Housing project promotes inclusive employment

    Toronto’s Houselink is working to hire “people with lived experience”—including former clients—at all levels Houselink Community Homes is a non-profit, charitable agency based in Toronto that provides a range of supportive housing option ...

  • The 4th annual Neighbours Being Neighbours Community Gathering

    Join us on Saturday August 11th to celebrate community, diversity and children by encouraging “neighbourliness” among all people. Have fun meeting your neighbours in a family-friendly environment while enjoying live music, great food and a ...

  • Jun 2012“... ...”
  • First Nations children, and poor children, revisit E.R. for mental health crises

    Study finds more return visits to emergency departments for mental health crises among Aboriginal and poor children First Nations children and those from families receiving government subsidies had more return visits to emergency departm ...

  • Facilitating real conversations to build community

    Facilitators’ purpose is to invite possibilities to emerge and manifest through engaging people in “real conversations” A group of facilitators, consultants, coaches and health practitioners who are passionate and committed to promoting ...

  • Right-to-die ruling seen as a civil liberties victory

    Gloria Taylor is given the right to physician-assisted suicide but observers expect the federal Conservative government will challenge the ruling A recent British Columbia court ruling has struck down the law that makes physician-assiste ...

  • Columbian Centre fosters commitment to being kind to one another

    "Kindness is much more than just being nice, kindness is the weaving that makes a fabric of a compassionate community." Columbian Centre's Annual General Meeting for 2012 was held on Tuesday June 26. Tom Grauman, the executive director, ...

  • Brain injuries lead to permanent life changes

    It is estimated that thousands of Canadians incur a traumatic brain injury each year—the majority being young adults Brain injury occurs suddenly, without warning. In an instant life is changed, forever. Every day we participate in activ ...

  • A cross-border partnership to end stigma

    NoStigmas raises awareness to erase the stigmas of suicide and mental illness by sharing stories of hope and inspiration A cross-border partnership to end the stigmas associated with suicide and mental illness has been created under the ...

  • B.C. makes changes to social assistance programs

    Government surprises many with a host of changes that are designed to support vulnerable families The British Columbia government surprised many on June 11, 2012 when it announced a long list of changes to welfare assistance in the provi ...

  • A series of victories for transgender Canadians

    Transgender Canadians have won a few significant victories in the ongoing struggle for acceptance and recognition Canada's transgender community, after lengthy struggles with discrimination and bureaucratic obstacles, is now celebrating ...

  • A social model for sexuality and disability

    Cory Silverberg is committed to the work of having thoughtful, accessible, and open conversations about sexuality A reality TV series called “Push Girls” is bringing an unfettered, uncensored glimpse at what it means to be sexy, ambitiou ...

  • Low-barrier housing project stalls

    Unexpected land negotiations with City of Nanaimo provide 'challenges' for housing organizations A new low-barrier housing project is on ice in central Nanaimo as operators face unexpected land negotiations with the City of Nanaimo.... B ...

  • Andy Sibbald of Nanaimo makes fourth Great Lake Walk

    Saturday, September 15th, 2012 www.greatlakewalk.com WILL YOU SUPPORT MY EFFORTS? Great Lake Walk Pledge Form 2012 Andy Sibbald of Nanaimo will take part in the 2012 Great Lake Walk in support of The Columbian Centre Society. ...

  • May 2012“... ...”
  • 'The Cats of Mirikitani' at Columbian Centre's annual general meeting

    Tuesday June 26, 5:00 pm, at Christ Community Church, 2221 Bowen Road, Nanaimo "Poignant beyond words, The Cats of Mirikitani is comparable to finding a pearl in a pile of oyster shells." --The Philadelphia Enquirer Eighty-year-old Ji ...

  • Nanaimo mental health services facing backlog

    "What happens is people suffering with mental illness often are homeless or drug taking, and if you are homeless and drug taking you generally come to the attention of police" NANAIMO--Over a decade spent on the streets of Nanaimo, Franc ...

  • Wayne Cho brings his message to the world

    After running across Canada, Wayne Cho brings his stigma-busting and awareness-raising message to a world audience Wayne Cho developed anxiety and bipolar disorders which he says resulted from neglect and abuses he experienced throughout ...

  • Is there a need for more men’s centres?

    A proposal to establish the first-ever men’s centre at Simon Fraser University brings attention, discussion, and analysis The Simon Fraser University Student Society has approved $30,000 to start a men's centre at SFU's Burnaby campus. T ...

  • Mental illness can affect the entire family

    What are the challenges—and what does Canada’s new mental health strategy have to say about it? Canada’s first-ever national mental health strategy was released on May 8, 2012, after five years of extensive consultations across the count ...

  • An overview of the new Canadian mental health strategy

    After five years of extensive consultation, the Mental Health Commission of Canada presents a first for the country Changing Directions, Changing Lives is the first mental health strategy for Canada. Its purpose is to help improve mental ...

  • Women and girls invited to create herArt

    Art project for women builds community spirit while raising awareness about women’s issues Nanaimo Women’s Centre, with the help of artists from the community, offered women and girls the opportunity to create art in a project called her ...

  • Being alone together

    Social media and its implications for people with mental health issues Social media, in the form of Facebook, Twitter, cell phones, and texting, etc. are sweeping through the world, much like a tsunami.  Thrashing about in this churning se ...

  • New mental health strategy for Canada

    Changing Directions, Changing Lives: Canada's first mental health blueprint unveiled Canada’s first strategy to improve the mental health of all Canadians was publicly released Tuesday May 8, 2012 by the Mental Health Commission of Canada ...

  • Senate committee studies cyber bullying

    The Senate’s human rights committee has launched a study into cyber bullying, and it needs and invites youth input The traditional archetype associated to bullying is becoming outdated. The face of bullying is changing—it’s moving from c ...

  • Teach and learn how to ‘live life to the full’

    Program utilizing a series of facilitated classes was created by psychiatrist frustrated by the limited time he had for patients A course called Living Life To The Full was created by Glasgow psychiatrist Dr. Chris Williams, when he want ...

  • Two questions to ask about kids’ anxiety

    Shyness, anxiety, and worry in Kindergarten-aged children can be indicators for potential anxiety disorders A University of British Columbia research team has developed a simple two-question test to screen Kindergarten-aged children for ...

  • Apr 2012“... ...”
  • Analysis and the grail of the unconscious

    A form of psychotherapy, Jungian analysis is an interpersonal process of coming to terms with the unconscious Carl Gustav Jung was a psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. He is considered the first modern psychiatrist to ...

  • Daughter of chaos takes to the stage

    Helani Davison is sharing her compelling autobiographical story of riches to rags—and the struggle to come back Saltspring Island artist and performer Helani Davison has created an autobiographical performance—including narrative, poetry ...

  • Youth stand up, speak out against hate

    A community dialogue in Nanaimo provides opportunities tor youth to listen, be heard, and make change Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society will present an opportunity for youth to speak openly about experiences and concerns rel ...

  • Bullies are about to get their close-up

    As the much-hyped documentary film ‘Bully’ begins to roll out across North America, we take a look at local experiences The Bully Project is the much-anticipated documentary film that follows stories of several kids who are being bullied ...

  • Second Annual Colliers International Mid-Island Charity Golf Tournament

    Dear Friends of Columbian Centre Society: We enthusiastically invite you to participate in the upcoming second annual Mid-Island Charity Golf Tournament, hosted by Colliers International.   Columbian Centre Society is delighted that it h ...

  • Mar 2012“... ...”
  • A mother’s story of her son’s addiction

    June Ariano-Jakes shares a search for answers and the lengths she went to in trying to help her drug-addicted son June Ariano-Jakes is the mother of five adult children and the grandmother of four. While she worked by day as a Licensed C ...

  • Ever heard of a book club in a prison?

    Organizer and Anglican priest Rev. Carol Finlay is pioneering the Canadian version of a successful U.K.-based model In 2009 Carol Finlay visited a medium security penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario, and told a small gathering of inmates t ...

  • Reconciliation is a personal journey

    Columnist reflects on the generational impact of Canada’s residential schools and coming to terms with the after effects The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has been making its way across the country, collecting more ...

  • The cost of keeping people poor is high

    Governments say they can’t afford poverty reduction policies but fail to consider the cost paid for consequences of poverty Poverty is a hardship for those who experience it; it’s also costly to society. Governments say they can’t afford ...

  • The social costs of policing Victoria’s poor

    A peer research project confirms that police have become the de facto first responders for drug and mental health issues Cuts to health services and income supports for people living in poverty, including those with disabilities involvin ...

  • Urban agriculture’s seedlings are growing: Community challenges

    Interest in local agriculture is surging—whether it’s urban, rural, roof-top, or front-yard—and the benefits may be huge Urban agriculture is surging in British Columbia and across North America, resulting in a growing network of small-s ...

  • Urban agriculture’s seedlings are growing: SPIN farming

    Interest in local agriculture is surging—whether it’s urban, rural, roof-top, or front-yard—and the benefits may be huge Urban agriculture is surging in British Columbia and across North America, resulting in a growing network of small-s ...

  • Urban agriculture’s seedlings are growing: Permaculture

    Interest in local agriculture is surging—whether it’s urban, rural, roof-top, or front-yard—and the benefits may be huge Urban agriculture is surging in British Columbia and across North America, resulting in a growing network of small-s ...

  • Feb 2012“... ...”
  • Daniel Griffin explores the troubled family

    Stories about artists, lovers, brothers and strangers probe love, loss, and the family ties that bind people Daniel Griffin’s debut collection of short stories, “Stopping for Strangers”, covers birth, death and all the big moments in bet ...

  • Bearing witness to the evil of Auschwitz

    Sei-in Remy Jordan experienced an interfaith retreat ‘bearing witness’ to the horrors of Auschwitz and Birkenau More than six million Jewish people were killed in the atrocities of the Holocaust. Others were also targeted, including Gyps ...

  • Calls for B.C. to deal with homophobia, transphobia in schools

    Advocates challenge the government to move farther in the attempt to protect young people from bullying violence The West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund is calling on the British Columbia government to implement a province ...

  • New housing project moves forward

    In late 2011, Pacifica Housing and Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society, in partnership with Columbian Centre Society and Haven Society, were selected as the successful non-profit providers to develop, manage and operate two new supportiv ...

  • Matt Dunae on how hip hop saved him

    Dedicated, passionate hip-hop artist learned to conquer his demons of addiction and poverty and shine through with music Hip-hop artist Matt Dunae—who performs as SirReal—has credited his involvement with music for helping him to overcom ...

  • Learning about therapeutic communities

    People live in organized and structured environments to promote change, support a drug-free life in outside society Therapeutic communities are drug-free environments in which people with addictions and other problems can live together i ...

  • Testing housing first for chronic alcoholics

    A study shows that nonabstinence-based housing does not enable alcohol use, but actually decreases it A controversial project using a housing-first approach with chronically alcoholic homeless people in Seattle has been shown to decrease ...

  • Not a choice, not a phase, it’s a disease

    Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses, and there isn’t enough care, treatment, and support available to help A province-wide advocacy group working on behalf of adults with eating disorders recently met with the British Columbia ...

  • What lies beyond the macho man?

    The all-powerful protector and provider stereotype pressures men to conform, powerless to face modern social challenges From first-ever university courses to academic conferences,an increasing interest in the concept of “men’s studies” i ...

  • My faith, my community—a dialogue

    While various religions may hold differing attitudes toward worldliness, they still have obligations to their neighbours The Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society will host an  interfaith bridging dialogue called “My Faith, My C ...

  • Eric Harper, Panache, and the Doug Thring Trio at second annual Mental Wellth Gala

    Second annual dinner and musical gala is set for Thursday March 15, 2012 Thank you for your support! The second annual Mental Wellth dinner and musical gala is set for Thursday March 15, 2012. Funds raised are used in programs for Colum ...

  • Mr. Anderson goes to City Hall

    George Anderson, in his first election, became the second African Canadian currently elected to municipal office in B.C. George Anderson made history in Nanaimo last November after he was elected to City Council following a gra ...

  • It’s Black History Month across Canada

    A Vancouver Island take on black history, identity, and the community celebrations that will mark the month Black History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Each year ...

  • Second annual Bell Let’s Talk Day

    The second annual Bell Let’s Talk Day was held on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.  Recognising that simply talking makes a significant impact in breaking down the stigma attached to mental health, the campaign encourages people to “start t ...

  • Jan 2012“... ...”
  • Justice system struggles with FASD

    Estimates of people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in the adult prison population are as high as 50 to 80 per cent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term used to describe the range of disabilities that result fr ...

  • Lone MLA takes up 'welfare challenge'

    Jagrup Brar, nearing the end of his money, and living in SRO on the Downtown Eastside, is learning about poverty On May 25, 2011, Jagrup Brar, MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood, B.C., received a letter from a group called Raise the Rates entitled ...

  • Dream analysis for the everyday dreamer

    C.G. Jung viewed dreams as offering a snapshot of our current mental condition, alerting us to problem areas Carl Gustav Jung was a psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. He is considered the first modern psychiatrist to ...

  • Hotels may get low-income option

    "New buildings take capital and time," said Tom Grauman, executive director with the Columbia Centre Society. "The appeal of motels is that they are already contained units that just need refurbishing." Nanaimo city staff members could s ...

  • Psych meds heavily used on BC elders

    Government report says that over half of the elders in British Columbia care homes are given anti-psychotic medications The B.C. ministry of health released a report in December which revealed that just over half of all elders in reside ...

  • Getting connected to make a difference

    187 members and 11 campaigns later, SocialCoast.org has grown and is beginning to make its impact felt SocialCoast.org was established in spring 2011 to provide the Victoria region with an online hub—a social network—for community activi ...

  • Who benefits from prostitution laws?

    John Lowman challenges government to cut hypocrisy and determine what prostitution law and policy should accomplish Prostitution is legal in Canada, while soliciting is not, exemplifying the hypocrisy present in our society’s responses t ...

  • Dec 2011“... ...”
  • Social housing providers in place

    Non-profit groups are named as operators for two new social housing projects in Nanaimo, but will controversy fade? Pacifica Housing and Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society, in partnership with Columbian Centre Society and Haven Society, ...

  • An award for mental health activism

    Ruth Ruth Stackhouse, a Mad Pride pioneer, is recognized by the City of Toronto for her outstanding work Ruth Ruth Stackhouse is a proud member of the psychiatric survivor community and a long-standing social and health activist. Her ext ...

  • Pandora’s Box or Xbox?

    The debate over violence, addiction and isolation in video gaming In September 2011, a middle-aged British man burst into the home of a fellow online computer gamer, aged 13 years, and “throttled” him, according to news reports. The shoc ...

  • Providers selected for Nanaimo supportive housing sites

    Columbian Centre and Haven Society will jointly operate a facility at 1612 Dufferin Crescent Pacifica Housing and Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society, in partnership with Columbian Centre Society and Haven Society, have been selected as t ...

  • HIV test a part of routine healthcare

    ‘It’s different now,” a new social marketing campaign says, as warnings to ‘high-risk groups’ become yesterday’s news This year’s 2011 World AIDS Day campaign is about “getting to zero”—zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, zero ...

  • Fighting homelessness on many fronts

    Judy Graves’ next fight will be to ensure that homeless people actually get into the housing that is built for them The City of Vancouver’s advocate for homeless people, Judy Graves, recently warned the provincial government of the conse ...

  • Nov 2011“... ...”
  • Peers & Burghers evening a success

    On November 19th, 2011 the Columbian Centre Society hosted it's first Peers & Bugers evening at the Harewood Arm Pub. This fun evening included a Silent Auction and several  50/50 & meat draws. At the end of the day Columbian Centre ...

  • Bible school child abuse alleged

    Linda Fossen says that she, and over eighty other children, suffered extreme abuse at Canada’s oldest Bible school Linda Fossen, a former student at the Prairie Bible Institute near Three Hills, Alberta, has alleged that she and dozens o ...

  • Bleak future for children in poverty

    A generation’s future could include more crime, drug use, teen pregnancies, poor health and failure at school and work Could British Columbia be the very last province to enact a plan to fight poverty? That’s the question asked by BC Cam ...

  • What do men need from counseling?

    Women are more likely to request counseling, but when men do seek help, they tend to have difficulty with the process Dr. Wray Pascoe, a family therapist and human systems consultant from Manitoba, says research has found that women requ ...

  • What now for small-city Occupiers?

    Occupy Nanaimo is staying put at its downtown location for now, as members hold talks with the city and police While big-city mayors and police are engaged in various stages of trying to remove Occupy protesters from their public spaces, ...

  • Rebroadcast: Struggle for inclusion continues

    David Weekley’s “journey in from the wilderness” continues as he and others face institutional efforts to exclude them Rev. David Weekley stepped into the pulpit of the Epworth United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon in 2009 to share ...

  • Out of mind and into creativity

    Art and mental health symposium tackles the deep-seated social ignorance and stigma accompanying mental illness Out of Mind—Into Creativity is a symposium co-sponsored by Artbeat, a Winnipeg gallery focused on mental health and art, and ...

  • Stories from the frontlines

    Michael Christie’s powerful debut collection is inspired by his experiences working with people on the DTES The Beggar’s Garden, Michael Christie’s debut collection of nine linked stories, is dazzling, writes reviewer Candace Fertile in ...

  • Can empathy be taught?

    Empathy, compassion, understanding, awareness—what happens when we try to put ourselves into others’ shoes? Empathy is a relatively common word, but it’s also a concept that is poorly understood. It’s sometimes confused with sympathy, pi ...

  • Colliers Intl donates to Columbian Centre

    Colliers International recently presented a cheque for $10,000, the proceeds from the Colliers International Charity Golf Tournament held on September 9. Colliers International hosted its First Mid Island Annual Charity Golf Tournament o ...

  • Radio-UP premieres in Montreal

    Clubhouse members are working toward realizing their full potential, and now that includes broadcasting to a wider world Donald Berman UP (Urban Pardes) House is a clubhouse that helps adults living with a mental illness achieve greater ...

  • Oct 2011“... ...”
  • On living deeply and dying well

    What if grief is a skill, in the same way that love is a skill, something that must be learned and cultivated and taught? With counseling and ceremony, Stephen Jenkinson has for a quarter century been guiding individuals, couples, families ...

  • After the ruling, what's next?

    The Insite decision could signal a fundamental change in the way Canadian society approaches and deals with addiction The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision of September 30, 2011 regarding the continuation of the Insite supervised inject ...

  • Sep 2011“... ...”
  • Saying yes in my backyard

    An online YIMBY toolkit from Vancouver’s Pivot Legal Society may be coming soon to a neighbourhood near you NIMBY is an acronym for “not in my backyard” used to describe a person who objects to something they perceive as unpleasant or po ...

  • Preserving restorative justice

    Advocates fear the federal government’s strong emphasis on incarceration and punishment will push healing to the side The federal government’s emphasis on incarceration and punishment in response to crime has created concern that restora ...

  • Advocates praise sex trade strategy

    PACE Society is pleased that the City of Vancouver has finally taken a position and steps toward a sex trade policy A new strategy on the sex trade developed by the City of Vancouver is intended to provide a comprehensive framework and ...

  • Is new housing a ‘nightmare’?

    Opponents to a new housing project for teenage girls say it must exist outside the DTES, away from pimps, predators Atira Women’s Resource Society has opened an 18-unit single room accommodation facility for young women in the Downtown E ...

  • A unique invitation goes out

    As Nanaimo social housing projects experience predictable, continuing opposition, citizens are invited down to the 7-10 The City of Nanaimo’s 2008 homelessness action plan estimated there were anywhere from two to three hundred individu ...

  • Author makes third Great Lake Walk

    Andy Sibbald will walk to benefit Columbian Centre Society and its mental health programs on Saturday September 17 Andy Sibbald is a Nanaimo author with an interest in the Canadian arctic, mental health, addictions and satire. He’s been ...

  • Too many patients are restrained

    A recent study confirms that one in four psychiatric patients in Ontario was restrained or isolated while in treatment The use of control interventions, including physical and mechanical restraints, acute control medications and seclusio ...

  • Walking at VIU for the AIDS cause

    National event raises funds to provide support and services for Canadians living with HIV/AIDS in their communities The Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life is a national awareness and fundraising event that takes place every year in communitie ...

  • Nontoxic approach to treating cancer

    Fighting Cancer presents overview of the ‘Gorter model’, the research behind it, and ways to strengthen natural immunity The Gorter Model is described as an integrative, nontoxic approach to cancer treatment that mobilizes the immune sys ...

  • Soles remembering souls

    Nanaimo hip hop artist SirReal will rap about loss this Sunday September 11th as he pays tribute to his brother, Nick The subject of suicide is no longer something that people keep hidden in the dark, ashamed to talk about. There are man ...

  • Suppressing schizophrenia

    Mental health advocate Susan Inman says schizophrenia is invisible in Canada’s new mental health strategy In 2007, the Government of Canada established a group called the Mental Health Commission of Canada to develop a national mental he ...

  • Grassroots group set to open houses

    Nanaimo Transitional Housing group opens two houses for homeless people in Nanaimo this week The Victoria Human Exchange Society has been successfully assisting people in need of housing for 19 years—and now the organization’s Nanaimo br ...

  • Aug 2011“... ...”
  • A world without hate

    Rais Bhuiyan forgave the man who tried to kill him in a hate crime, then campaigned to save him from the death penalty Ten days after the September 11th attacks in the U.S., Texan Mark Stroman entered the gas station where Rais Bhuiyan w ...

  • Jul 2011“... ...”
  • Grieving in an online world

    Online grieving, whether on Facebook or other social media, is becoming the new normal...but does it actually help? After the campus shootings in the U.S. at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University in 2008, hundreds of aff ...

  • Living a self-propelled lifestyle

    As bicycling moves into the mainstream, it provides transportation, exercise, and recreation. But is it an identity? The bike lifestyle seems to have moved into the mainstream. Whether the surge in interest is related to the economy, the ...

  • Arctic history makes waves in China

    The history of the Arctic is retold, from an Inuit perspective, and the project creates interest at an international conference A University of British Columbia research study was presented at a recent international conference in Shangha ...

  • Death with dignity back in focus

    Russel Ogden—and the Farewell Foundation—prepare plans for Canada’s first facility to offer legal assisted suicide Last November, sociology professor Russel Ogden offered to accompany a small group of Canadians to Switzerland's Dignitas ...

  • Social enterprises hold promise

    Small social enterprises exist—and even thrive—but do they really help to prevent the highs and lows of unstable funding? Social enterprises are business ventures operated by non-profit societies, charities, or co-operatives. The busines ...

  • "A country full of opportunities"

    Aden Ahmed settles into life in Nanaimo, far away from his Somalian origins, in a “country full of opportunities” Aden Ahmed is the second student brought to Nanaimo through the World University Service of Canada Student Refugee Program, ...

  • "The walls are alive" in Toronto

    A patient-built wall in Toronto stands as a monument and an emotional manuscript, and stars in a play In 1860, patients at an Ontario psychiatric hospital helped to build a brick wall that would conceal them and their lives from the surr ...

  • Unique, soul-stirring, entrancing

    Eric Harper’s musical journey began in Portugal, continued in Europe and L.A. and then led to Vancouver Island Award-winning musician and performer Eric Harper’s musical education began in Portugal and then continued in Europe and the U. ...

  • The enjoyment of 'doing art'

    Anne Turner’s journey with art continues, as she opens a show at Studio 366 and turns herself ‘inside out’ Anne Turner became involved with art therapy in 2003 at Other Hand Studio in Parksville, B.C. Anne is an artist because she says s ...

  • Using art to express and heal yourself

    Mehdi Naïmi says that good art therapy empowers people, strengthens relationships, brings peace of heart, and joy to life Long before there was “art therapy,“ artists explained themselves with their inner images as references to reality ...

  • Jun 2011“... ...”
  • Musician traveller back on the road

    Simon Walls has resumed his cross-Canada pilgrimage, a journey focused on music, meditation, and meaning After a winter’s pause, singer-songwriter Simon Walls has resumed his cross-Canada walk, setting out from Toronto at the end of May, ...

  • A network for community activism

    Eric Nordal launches SocialCoast.org to create an activist alliance that could help social, anti-poverty groups connect Eric Nordal has launched a Victoria-based online gathering place for community groups and organizations to share idea ...

  • Healing through expression

    Marika Swan’s work with Redwire Native Youth Media has shown her the importance of healing through expression Marika Swan is a Tla-o-qui-aht woman who was born out in the wilds of the west coast. Marika says she believes in a deeply prof ...

  • The social construction of mental illness

    "Mental illness", diagnoses, and associated concepts are all social constructions, but the professions haven't yet recognized it, psychologist says Michael Walker is a psychologist working to implement the recovery model within the L ...

  • In the mental health holding cell

    Multiple fingers point to a ‘debacle’ unfolding at the psychiatric emergency service in Victoria, British Columbia The Archie Courtnall Centre , also known as the Psychiatric Emergency Service (PES), is connected to the ER at Victoria’s ...

  • Writing for the health of it

    From the two-minute miracle to writing your memoirs—expressive writing holds the promise of health benefits Life Writing is an organic process—living and vital—with interrelated functions. In simple terms, it’s anything you write about y ...

  • From old school to new school

    Consensus about the value of recovery-based health systems and programs grows, but how are they best implemented? The goal of many mental health services and treatments is now recovery. This wasn’t always the case. In the past, mental he ...

  • B.C. MLAs challenged to live on $610

    Raise the Rates says MLAs accepting the challenge would be engaging in real action research and gain understanding Anti-poverty activists are challenging British Columbia’s elected provincial MLAs to take a challenge and live on $610 a m ...

  • Mental health, citizenship, and inclusion II

    Austin Mardon, Order of Canada recipient, is about to receive an honourary degree for his mental health awareness work In 1986, 24-year-old Austin Mardon was a junior field member with an international meteorite recovery expedition 170 m ...

  • Stigma awareness, art to travel

    Nanaimo artist and activist Wallace Malay will present about art, mental illness, and stigma at New York conference A conference for organizing resistance against psychiatry will be held June 20-21, 2011 at the City University of New Yor ...

  • Homophobia is rampant in schools

    Verbal, physical, and sexual harassment is reported by gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and queer school students The terms “homophobia” and “transphobia” signify a great deal of unnecessary misery in the lives of Canadian students. ...

  • Mental health, citizenship, and inclusion

    A group of people diagnosed with schizophrenia conducted research about housing and its impacts on mental health The struggle for housing stability is among the many challenges faced by people with schizophrenia. That struggle was the fo ...

  • Campaign to connect the dots

    Jean Oliver is working to highlight the gaps in mental health services by organizing an event that will ‘connect the dots’ Victoria resident Jean Oliver is planning an awareness event that will see 1,200 volunteers stand on white dots th ...

  • May 2011“... ...”
  • On smoking and mental illness

    A look at the ethics of smoking bans in psychiatric facilities and the dynamics of a consumer-driven stop-smoking program  According to the World Health Report 2001, people with psychiatric illnesses are about twice as likely to smoke as ...

  • Medical marijuana laws struck down

    Judge notes overwhelming, undermining refusal of doctors to participate in Canada’s medical marijuana program On April 11, 2011, a ruling by an Ontario judge struck down Canada’s medical marijuana laws and the laws dealing with cannabis ...

  • Journey in from the wilderness

    A candid account of one person’s transgender experience, grounded in faith, pilgrimage, and hope “In from the Wilderness” is the story of a transgender man who has been an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church since 1984 and has ...

  • On busting Nanaimo's buskers

    As the City works to revise its busking bylaw, buskers challenge perceptions and stereotypes about their craft “The City of Nanaimo is reviewing its street entertainer bylaws and considering changes to how and where buskers can perform. ...

  • Apr 2011“... ...”
  • Spotlight is on Nanaimo bullying

    A violent incident in Nanaimo has refocused attention on bullying, schools, parents and social media A Nanaimo woman has established a Facebook page called Bullying Awareness in Nanaimo in the aftermath of a high-profile incident involvi ...

  • Permaculture sustainability in demand

    Working in harmony with natural principles, method maximizes effect while minimizing the work involved “Permaculture is about creating a world where we can live indefinitely,” writes Javan Kerby Bernakevitch. The term was coined as a com ...

  • Dentists to volunteer at new clinic

    Community dental clinic in Nanaimo will provide dental care for people with low incomes A group called Community Organized Dental Clinic, working with Volunteer Nanaimo, is about to open a dental clinic for people in the city who aren’t ...

  • Mar 2011“... ...”
  • Elder abuse more common than you think

    U.S. disclosure and a shocking Ontario abuse case bring new attention to a disturbingly common problem Recent high-profile cases of elder abuse have brought public attention to a problem that advocates say is disturbingly common—and unde ...

  • Legal aid an essential public service

    Report confirms that B.C. isn’t providing the most basic legal aid needs and calls for increased funding In June 2010, after years of government cutbacks to legal aid services in British Columbia and concerns about those most impacted, a ...

  • On keeping dads in their kids' lives

    Support programs and peer networking help dads to become better fathers and stay in their kids’ lives At the age of 24, Brandon Hay discovered he was about to become a dad for the first time. He’d been raised by a single mother without t ...

  • Moonkissed series tackles FASD

    Evalena Schwartz is a quirky, endearing character who brings a unique perspective on life, love, and art Evalena is a teenager who excels at art, dislikes math, wants to fall in love, has a mom and dad, a baby brother and a best friend, ...

  • Gambling addiction is a health issue

    Dr. Shao-Hua Lu on increased gambling exposure and how it could cause a spike in gambling addictions Gambling problems share many similarities with other addictive disorders. However, there are no visible signs or physical changes that w ...

  • Investigating BD and creativity

    Bipolar disorder is often characterized by periods of highly creative thoughts and behaviours Bipolar disorder (which was once called “manic depression”) is a condition characterized by repeated episodes of depression and abnormally elev ...

  • On surviving anti-gay bullying

    Jordan Rada and Frank Figueroa survived anti-gay bullying in school and now speak out to help others Pink Shirt Day was recently observed at schools in Nanaimo and across Canada. The now-annual event was inspired by Nova Scotia high scho ...

  • SWAN collective keeps art accessible

    Local gallery appeals for funds so its programs for all people, including those with disabilities, are available Start With Art Nanaimo (SWAN) opened a studio across from the Nanaimo train station in 2009 called Studio 366. In the past y ...

  • Feb 2011“... ...”
  • Spotlight on food, urban farming

    Urban food production and sustainability challenge notions of private property and home ownership Dirk Becker’s Vancouver Island urban farm was ordered shut down last year by the District of Lantzville after a neighbour complained about ...

  • Just 7,000 miles away from home

    Patricia and Renato share cross-cultural experiences from Nanaimo in an online blog Patrícia Melo and Renato Coelho left Brazil for Nanaimo a few months ago to attend Vancouver Island University. The couple, who are former journalists, a ...

  • Nanaimo's St. Paul's marks 150 years

    Church says it is part of the community—and it has been part of the community for a very long time Nanaimo’s St. Paul’s Anglican church hosted a special service of thanksgiving on January 23rd 2011, the first event of several planned for ...

  • Youth focus on addiction prevention

    Nanaimo Addiction Foundation works with youth to create a forum for learning, raising awareness Substance abuse among Canadian youth is a significant issue and can result in serious harm—including injury, overdose, car crashes and sexual ...

  • Psychiatric meds and health problems

    People using psychiatric medications can experience greater physical health problems Linda Chamberlain knows eight people with mental illness who have recently died and she says that medications and nutritional issues are to blame. “Some ...

  • Leadership hopefuls challenged

    Faith groups ask that Liberal and NDP leadership candidates explain homelessness, housing positions The Vancouver Interfaith Alliance to End Homelessness is calling on leadership candidates from B.C.’s NDP and Liberal parties to declare ...

  • Churches oppose Harper justice

    Christian faith leaders endorse and sign letter to PM opposing plan to send more Canadians to prison Christian churches across Canada are being asked by an advocacy group to tell the federal Conservative government that they don’t want t ...

  • On madness, myths and stereotypes

    Mental illness hardly ever leads to violence, contrary to media distortions and general misunderstanding  Mental illnesses can take many forms, just as physical illnesses do—and are common—but mental illnesses are still feared and misund ...

  • On Indigenous images and imaginings

    What are the policy and cultural relations implications of inaccurate and constructed images? On Friday February 4th Vancouver Island University professor Keith Smith will give a talk called “On Black Hawks, Pontiacs, and Crazy Horse Mal ...

  • Jan 2011“... ...”
  • Electroshock redux raises alarm

    Anti-psychiatry activists respond to reports that use of ECT therapy is increasing U.S. regulators are meeting this week, considering whether to “downgrade the risk classification of electroshock devices, reinforcing what many psychiatri ...

  • Not your everyday books

    Multicultural Society holds ‘living library’ of spirituality and faith to battle prejudice, promote understanding Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society is set to host a series of events it calls a Living Library at libraries in ...

  • Now, more than ever

    Treatment as prevention is a new—but underutilized— approach to preventing HIV/AIDS in B.C. Leading international HIV/AIDS expert and researcher Dr. Julio Montaner will be in Nanaimo next week to speak about the “Treatment as Prevention” ...

  • Homeless shelter gets a rethink

    Nanaimo’s Unitarian Fellowship considers opening its extreme weather shelter every night to end of winter The extreme weather shelter for homeless people in Nanaimo may be open every night for the rest of the winter, after city council a ...

  • Dec 2010“... ...”
  • On best intentions, quitting quitting, and how-tos for quitting smoking

    Quitting smoking is among the top ten in most lists of new year’s resolutions, but nicotine, the drug in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, is one of the most addictive substances known. It is considered to be as addictive as cocaine or hero ...

  • Dealing with holiday Grinches like stress, loneliness, and other challenges

    “‘Tis the season that provokes difficult emotions. This can be the maddest, saddest, most stressful time of the year. On the streets and in the malls, you can tell the holidays are approaching not only by the music and the decorations, but ...

  • Kitchen sink drama endures

    Coronation Street brought working class lives to telly and became an international phenomenon December 9th marks the 50th anniversary of the enduring TV program Coronation Street, one of the early examples of “kitchen sink drama” that em ...

  • Shelter strategy criticized

    Nanaimo’s shelter and homelessness strategies need improvement, critics say Extreme weather shelters in B.C. provide extra emergency shelter space during periods of winter weather when the health and safety of homeless individuals is thr ...

  • AVI 25 years and counting

    Vancouver Island’s regional AIDS organization continues its work amid change and challenge On September 17, 1985, five men sat around a kitchen table and decided it was time to meet the challenge posed by the AIDS epidemic on Vancouver I ...

  • Poverty knows no seasons

    But the weeks leading up to Christmas are vital for food banks, charities seeking public help The public believes that homelessness and poverty are two of the most pressing issues in Canada today. Nearly two-thirds of Canadians ranked po ...

  • Nov 2010“... ...”
  • Not criminally responsible

    Society’s response to those found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder A number of Canadians have recently been found not criminally responsible for their crimes due to mental disorder. Recent high-profile—and shock ...

  • Over the edge and back

    How a father became delusional, killed his son, and now fights for awareness of the side effects of medications “David Carmichael lives with loss, sorrow and stigma like no other. In 2004, he strangled his 11-year-old son, Ian. While sev ...

  • Call for transgender rights

    Vancouver throws its support behind a federal bill that would protect transgendered Canadians Vancouver city councillor Ellen Woodsworth introduced a motion at the Tuesday November 16th Vancouver city council meeting, asking that the Cit ...

  • It takes a province

    Why calls for British Columbia to take action to help its own kids are growing stronger BC has had the worst child poverty record of any province for seven consecutive years from 2002 through 2008—and advocates have been pushing the BC g ...

  • A dream come true

    Donna Lynch visited 50 countries in 50 weeks, asking 50-something women about their lives Victoria author Donna Lynch has just written an account of her recent extensive travels in 50ish: A Journey to 50 Countries in 50 Weeks Interviewin ...

  • Canadian traveller takes long road

    Reconnecting with Simon Walls—now in Montreal—about his walk across Canada Singer-songwriter Simon Walls’ travels began shortly after the loss of a friend to suicide. He spent seven months in the Katimavik program and then walked across ...

  • Fear and othering

    Is a ‘tea party’ brewing against Nanaimo’s progressive homelessness solution? A group of residents living in the Townsite Road area of Nanaimo are reportedly still fuming about plans to build units of housing to house homeless people in ...

  • Oct 2010“... ...”
  • Anne Frank's tree grows in Montreal

    A sapling from Amsterdam embodies symbol of nature, continuity, hope in times of hate While Anne Frank, her family, and others hid from Nazis in a secret annex in Amsterdam, the view of a giant chestnut tree near the building gave her no ...

  • The Native perspective

    On youth, education, and the Canadian future with Tchadas Leo A recent national survey has found that aboriginal teens aged 15-19 generally share the same life goals as other Canadian adolescents, such as good jobs, homes and families. B ...

  • 'One in Five' set to raise awareness

    Victoria art exhibition to include Parksville and Nanaimo artists inspired by struggles, recovery A juried art exhibition called One in Five opens friday October 15th in Victoria. It features works by a diverse group of artists from Vanc ...

  • Random acts of poetry for youth

    Annual event highlights the importance of youth literacy with in-person poem-ing Poets across Canada will visit juvenile detention centres, alternative schools and youth centres October 4th to 9th, 2010, during the seventh annual Random ...

  • Hatred, homophobia, and bullying

    Tragedy at Rutgers University turns attention to privacy, homophobia, bullying issues The death by suicide last week of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi—which occurred after the online posting of private information—has been lin ...

  • My schizophrenic life

    Sandra Yuen MacKay’s book is a true story about her journey of recovery Sandra Yuen MacKay has written a book about her recovery from what she describes as an invisible disability—schizoaffective disorder—which includes a combination of ...

  • Sep 2010“... ...”
  • One man’s courage to come back

    Don Fraser credits family, doctors, and medications for helping him with schizophrenia Donald Fraser was once enrolled in Surrey’s program for gifted students, active in sports, musically inclined, and popular. Years later, while at Univ ...

  • Taking back the night

    A protest that refuses to be silent about sexual violence--and reflects on what has happened “Take Back the Night” is an action created to enable large numbers of women to publicly express our anger at the sexual violence that goes on an ...

  • On the psychiatric experience

    A roundtable discussion with three people who have experienced the system, first-hand Anti-psychiatry and mad pride movements have been questioning and assessing the role of psychiatry in health care and society—from the “patient’s” pers ...

  • Challenges of Alzheimer's

    Burden grows for individuals, families, and governments as agencies raise warning The recent World Alzheimer Report for 2010 says that the societal cost of dementia is not only already enormous, but that dementia is also significantly a ...

  • Party assaults create shock waves

    Social networking’s involvement in sexual assaults reveals dark side of technology Pictures of the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a weekend party east of Vancouver were circulated on the Internet via Facebook, police told reporters l ...

  • Suicide prevention is back in class

    Vancouver Island Crisis Society works in local schools to bolster awareness, prevention The Vancouver Island Crisis Society has been “taking suicide prevention to the heart of Nanaimo-Ladysmith district secondary schools, showing student ...

  • Unpacking the housing numbers

    Study looks at data to see where the B.C. government has increased social housing A new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has found that over the past five years British Columbia has seen an increase of about 1,500 uni ...

  • Parents plan café opportunities

    Idea for a café to give their children greater opportunities takes off in Cedar The Cedar Opportunities Cooperative was created four years ago, as a result of discussions among five families, to give their children with developmental dis ...

  • Partnership takes ‘Aunti’ to YouTube

    Short films for kids share values of taking care of mind, body, and the earth Devyn Brugge, a Nanaimo-based filmmaker, has teamed up with Bobbi (‘Aunti Bobbi’ the clown) Kurtz, a local performer, to create a series of YouTube films for k ...

  • Survivor advocates for 'mad studies'

    Phebe Wolframe’s research into connections among madness, gender, and academia PhebeAnn Wolframe is a proud psychiatric survivor and an advocate for mad studies who is currently completing a PhD degree in English and Cultural Studies. Ph ...

  • World suicide prevention day

    Nanaimo events include the annual “Soles Remembering Souls” gathering for those bereaved by suicide In recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day 2010, The Central Vancouver Island Crisis Society is hosting its fifth annual community ga ...

  • Bipolar Babe’s cause goes on

    Second annual fundraiser for BD and her stigma-stomping work will sell out fast The newly-formed Bipolar Disorder Society of B.C., a Victoria-based nonprofit dedicated to reducing the stigma of mental illness, will host its second annual ...

  • Helping men and men's organizations

    A look at the need for men’s groups and some upcoming programs for men on Vancouver Island Cowichan Men’s Centre works to “provide resources and support groups for men to better improve their relationship with themselves, their families, ...

  • Aug 2010“... ...”
  • StEps for students nears a goal

    Tulani Ackerman’s cross-B.C. trek nears a destination point, but will Victoria listen? On July 1st, 2010, the StEps movement hit the road to walk and bike throughout British Columbia in an effort to gather stories and ideas about challen ...

  • A personal exploration of generosity

    Lawrence Scanlan spent a year exploring big questions about doing good Can one person make a difference? When we write a cheque to a charity or volunteer at a food bank, we’re part of the solution—aren’t we? Author Lawrence Scanlan went ...

  • Jul 2010“... ...”
  • A gleaning and gardens check-up

    Gleaning is facing some challenges but new projects are moving the work forward Nanaimo has an abundance of fruit, nuts and vegetables growing in backyards and farmers fields throughout the region. Often gardeners and farmers grow more t ...

  • Native youth, in their own voices

    Jacqueline Windh’s quest to let First Nations kids speak about their lives A series of articles called “Native Youth Speak Out” is being presented at The Tyee.ca. A year in the making, the series was written by Jacqueline Windh, a writer ...

  • Back to the basics—human rights

    International AIDS conference calls for a focus on the human rights of people affected by HIV AIDS 2010, the international conference on HIV/AIDS occurring this week in Vienna, Austria, highlights the critical connection between human ri ...

  • Yoga helps in cancer recovery

    Nicole Culos-Reed’s research shows that yoga is helpful to the survivors of breast cancer Recent research has found that the practice of hatha yoga has had a positive impact on the psychological health of women who have survived breast c ...

  • Summer camps create opportunities

    Harewood students take computer animation, job skills training in week-long camps From computer animation skills development for ages 11-15 to week-long job certification training for high school students, Harewood youth have been attend ...

  • Global hopes for Vienna Declaration

    International declaration calls on governments to base policing of illicit drugs on facts The Vienna Declaration is the official declaration of the 18th International AIDS Conference taking place in Vienna, Austria from July 18 to 23. T ...

  • Canada has not done enough

    Amnesty International report states Canada has not adequately protected Aboriginal rights Amnesty International’s recent report on The State of the World’s Human Rights  mentions, among several issues, the prevalence of violence against ...

  • Electroshock redux raises alarm

    Anti-psychiatry activists respond to media reports that use of ECT is increasing The Canadian Psychiatric Association recently issued its first position paper on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) since 1992, saying that ECT “should remain ...

  • A history of mistreatment

    Robert Whitaker updates Mad in America, the revealing history of psychiatric treatment In Robert Whitaker’s Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, “one lone author bears moral witness ...

  • You can't measure your heart

    Simon Walls’ continues his cross-Canada pilgrimage of self-discovery and sharing Singer-songwriter Simon Walls’ travels began shortly after the loss of a friend to suicide. He spent seven months in the Katimavik program and then walked a ...

  • StEps for students

    Tulani Ackerman increases discussion about the needs of children, youth, and education On July 1st, 2010, the StEps movement will hit the road to walk and bike throughout British Columbia in an effort to gather stories and ideas about ch ...

  • Jun 2010“... ...”
  • Yoga for youth at risk

    Yoga approach provides alternative tools for physical, emotional and mental wellness to at-risk youth A ‘Yoga Connect Project,’ offered at Nanaimo District Secondary School, has offered teens in an alternate program the opportunity to us ...

  • When the story becomes the therapy

    Autoethnography a powerful way to investigate personal & cultural issues, including trauma & illness Autoethnography is “research, writing, story, and method that connect the autobiographical and personal to the cultural, social, ...

  • Farming therapy and skills

    The Farm at Cedar Woods offers farm worker and food preparation training, along with therapeutic horticulture Cedar Woods Farm—located in Cedar, B.C.—describes itself as a 28 acre healing environment; it offers horticultural therapy and ...

  • A study in sense-making

    Looking at obsessive compulsive disorder: From arbitrariness of diagnosis to roles of recovering patient, the use of creative nonfiction in research Louise Tam attended PsychOUT: A Conference for Organizing Resistance Against Psychia ...

  • Compassion clubs targeted

    Police raids on compassion clubs providing medicinal marijuana are a reminder just how challenging change is going to be Police launched a major marijuana crackdown in Quebec last week, targeting 35 people in raids on marijuana compassio ...

  • Alcoholics Anonymous turns 75

    A June 10th, 1935 meeting between two alcoholic men revolutionized treatment for a malady that had puzzled for centuries What eventually became known as Alcoholics Anonymous began in Akron, Ohio, on June 10th, 1935, as a former New York ...

  • Who has the right to be on the sidewalk?

    Vancouver’s ‘downtown ambassadors’ are the target of a human rights complaint due to ‘hundreds of illegal removals’ On Monday, May 31, 2010, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal began hearing a human rights complaint made by Pivot Legal Societ ...

  • National housing strategy demanded

    Homeless and underhoused Ontarians launch a legal challenge against the federal and provincial governments On Wednesday May 26, 2010 Tracy Heffernan, a staff lawyer for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, launched a legal challenge ...

  • May 2010“... ...”
  • On saving traditional languages

    Young activists are tackling the disappearance of traditional aboriginal languages using a unique learning method “If our language dies, then our identity as a nation does,” according to Squamish Nation member Dustin Rivers. Dustin recen ...

  • Food insecurity

    Nanaimo’s Salvation Army might abandon its meal program, leaving a big gap in food security The Salvation Army’s Nanaimo director of services Rob Anderson recently told the Nanaimo Working Group on Homelessness that the organization face ...

  • 2010: Not just surviving, but shining

    Gay and queer men to look at health, wellness in Nanaimo A three-day-long gathering in Nanaimo on May 28-30 is designed for gay and queer men who want to do more than “just survive.” SHINE will bring together men for workshops, social ev ...

  • Anti-homophobia versus bullying

    Schools appear to be taking up the leadership challenge In 2009, an adolescent health survey revealed that a quarter of gay and lesbian youths in Canada have attempted suicide at least once. And a total of 37% of gay and lesbian youngste ...

  • The withering away of psychiatry

    Bonnie Burstow’s anti-psychiatry activism and an attrition model for the termination of psychiatry For decades antipsychiatry activists have called for an end to psychiatry but the movement has offered little vision of how to bring about ...

  • A public challenge to institutional psychiatry

    An international movement comes together for a meeting in Toronto, and raises establishment hackles On May 7 and 8, 2010 over two hundred people gathered in Toronto for a conference focused on organizing resistance against psychiatry. Ps ...

  • On managing your child’s anxiety

    AnxietyBC offers a workshop for parents and caregivers of anxious children, from ages 6 to 12 It is normal for children to have times in their lives when they worry, especially when there has been a major change or stressor, such as movi ...

  • Apr 2010“... ...”
  • Rising demand for services at 7-10

    Increased numbers push Nanaimo's 7-10 Club to a financial edge The 7-10 Club provides hot breakfasts and bagged lunches to poor and needy people in Nanaimo five days a week. The organization has weathered changes over the years and recen ...

  • Making it crystal clear

    Mark McLaughlin’s tireless campaign to prevent the nightmare of meth addiction Last week approximately 200 Nanaimo school pupils heard Mark McLaughlin’s “Be Crystal Clear” presentation, learning more about refusal skills and keeping them ...

  • Aboriginal income gaps

    New research details the impact of education on Aboriginal women A recent study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says that income inequity between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals is entirely eliminated for women with univer ...

  • Bitter Medicine

    A ‘graphic memoir’ about brothers’ shared experiences with schizophrenia Two of Clem Martini’s brothers have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. One is Ben, the youngest. The other is Olivier, or Liv, an artist. Olivier illustrates this g ...

  • A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer joins The Vagina Monologues

    New play a call to action and outreach to men to become allies in ending violence against women and children Eliza Gardiner and the Vancouver Island University Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee present Eve Ensler’s The ...

  • One pilgrim's progress

    Simon Walls’ wanderings are a part of his search for deeper meaning Singer-songwriter Simon Walls’ travels began shortly after the loss of a friend to suicide. He spent seven months in the Katimavik program and then walked across Spain, ...

  • Mar 2010“... ...”
  • Cuts "won't save money"

    B.C. government cutbacks aimed at the poor and struggling Following its March 2nd budget, the BC government announced a number of cuts to health and medical services available to people receiving disability and income assistance. Jane Dy ...

  • Called to Nanaimo

    Former top prison chaplain takes up new ministry Rev. Terry Richardson is the new pastor at Nanaimo’s Hope Lutheran Church. Before taking up his new position, he was the director general for chaplaincy and restorative justice with Correc ...

  • A team approach to wellness

    Self-management and community-based research take centre stage In 1997, while attending university, Michael Crane was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In recent years he has been working to try and find new and progressive ways to help o ...

  • Helping and healing

    How the father of orthomolecular psychiatry transformed the lives of thousands The late Dr. Abram Hoffer MD, PhD, was a Canadian orthomolecular psychiatrist and researcher. Dr. Hoffer and his co-workers were instrumental in the discovery ...

  • People's Corner

    Paul Beard wonders why the school system isn't doing more about bullying Paul Beard considers himself to be a survivor of bullying. Now, 30 years later, the former Woodlands Secondary student wonders what’s changed—and asks, “Why is this ...

  • A whole family response to mental illness

    A local Nanaimo organization is about to launch a program for family members and friends of people experiencing mental illness A ten session education program for family and friends of people with serious and persistent mental illnesse ...

  • Mental illness and the family experience

    Susan Inman's memoir, After Her Brain Broke, Helping My Daughter Recover Her Sanity, has been recommended by leading organizations advocating for families coping with mental illnesses No parent ever wants to see their child develop a chr ...

  • One family's struggle with eating disorder

    Nanaimo’s Samantha Dubinsky finally admitted to hospital amid scarcity of appropriate care Bryan Dubinsky went public last month with the struggle he and his daughter Samantha were facing trying to find help from a provincial health syst ...

  • Eating disorders on stage

    Students Fiona Sauder and Megan Carty create and perform a play about healthy eating, body image Two students from Ottawa’s Canterbury High School have created a theatre production based on overcoming unhealthy body image. The play, call ...

  • Feb 2010“... ...”
  • A national radio conversation

    Nanaimo’s CHLY and 30 other Canadian community radio stations bring homelessness and poverty issues to the air Canada’s 8th annual national Homelessness Radio Marathon will broadcast live from Nanaimo and cities across Canada on Tuesday, ...

  • The challenges experienced by youth with depression

    A grassroots awareness raiser is set for February 27, 2010 in Nanaimo Depression as an illness is a serious condition that brings about substantial changes in mood, behaviour, and thinking. It affects approximately 8% of adolescents. Man ...

  • Men's gathering

    The Mankind Project brings its 'warrior training' to Vancouver Island The “hero’s journey” of classical literature and myth has nearly disappeared in modern culture. The Mankind Project, through its New Warrior Training project, asks men ...

  • A bullying primer

    The bully, the bullied, and the role of the community Two recent deaths, by suicide, of bullied teens has again raised the issue of bullying in school settings. Ashkan Sultani, 15, of Lantzville, died January 12th. His parents have revea ...

  • Are we doing enough?

    Victoria tragedy, inquest puts spotlight on response to domestic violence in British Columbia The British Columbia government announced January 18th that it was taking immediate action to protect victims of domestic violence and ensure o ...

  • Runners keep it Riel

    Métis Nation’s Olympic focus unfolds during the “Year of the Métis” Métis Nation British Columbia’s 2010 Olympic torch relay team, “Keeping It Riel”, recently ran with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic torch. The team’s slogan, a tribute to Lou ...

  • Jan 2010“... ...”
  • On quality of life

    Turning to the experts who live successfully with BD Very little is known about how people successfully self-manage their bipolar disorder (BD). Information about people living successfully with BD isn’t nearly as easy to find, for examp ...

  • Housing campaigns

    Red tents and hunger strike call for national strategy Vancouver-based Pivot Legal Society, the Citywide Housing Coalition and other partners announced the launch of their Olympic red tent campaign on Monday January 25th, calling on the ...

  • A cappuccino home

    Simple design, low price just might be the key to providing affordable housing The Twelve Cubed Homes website says “welcome to the future” and “we do small in a big way” on its opening page. Ten cubed (ten cubic feet) and twelve cubed (t ...

  • The end of British Columbia's EIBI program

    How are affected families coping with the loss of this program for their children with autism? When the B.C. government announced changes to the way it funds autism support in the province, mothers of children with autism became activist ...

  • Elder rights and care

    Dealing with family and individual challenges The author of a newly-updated Nursing Homes and Assisted Living guide aims to help people choose appropriate care and learn how to advocate for their loved ones in complex care environments. ...

  • Shame on the smoker

    Using stigma as a public health tool in the prevention of smoking “In recent years, addictions policy has stressed the need to counteract stigmatization in order to promote public health. However, through tobacco ‘denormal-ization’ strat ...

  • Men's centres face ongoing challenges

    How men’s centres are, or aren’t, weathering the times Men’s centres in Nanaimo and Cowichan have experiences to share as 2010 gets underway. From funding crises to start-up challenges, organizers continue to agree on the importance of o ...

  • Dec 2009“... ...”
  • Let Beauty Be

    Poet Kit Pepper’s season in the Highlands of Guatemala Let Beauty Be: a Season in the Highlands, Guatemala is a cycle of sequential poems distilled from events and impressions Kit Pepper gained while volunteering in the northwestern high ...

  • How to survive the 10th grade

    Nanaimo students write, produce, and direct a high school survival film The trailer has been viewed over 22,000 times on YouTube...and the DVD is about to be released. For eleven months, a core group of students at Nanaimo’s Wellington S ...

  • Social justice past and present

    Drama, dialogue, and some holiday favourites We share some scenes from two of Charles Dickens’ series of Christmas books, The Chimes and A Christmas Carol along with passages from Thomas Carlyle’s Past and Present in a brief investigatio ...

  • The stress-free Christmas

    It’s not about the kitsch, it is about the connection Christmas is traditionally a season of joy, family reunions, friendship and generosity. So why do so many people get so tied up in knots about it all? For some, Christmastime can ...

  • Coalition raises poverty issues

    Group opposes Salvation Army lunch fee and is asking questions about shelters A Nanaimo-based advocacy group, the Creative Awareness Collective, is challenging a recent fee attached to the lunches served at The Salvation Army’s New Hope ...

  • The art of engagement

    A food bank takes to the streets to raise awareness in a new way Some organizations seem to “sparkle with life” while others feel “dull and mechanical.” The art of engagement is about creating environments in which people thrive—even whe ...

  • The changing face of Harewood

    Community co-operative gets ready for the future The Harewood Community Centre Cooperative met recently for its annual general meeting and to hear a talk about the changing face of Harewood. The HC3 cooperative says its close to bringing ...

  • Food banks face a busy time

    Statistics show a large increase in the use of food banks by Canadians National statistics released last month show the largest year-over-year increase in food bank use on record—but some provinces have been harder hit than others by the ...

  • Nov 2009“... ...”
  • Poverty persists

    British Columbia has the highest child poverty in Canada…again…or as usual? British Columbia had the highest child poverty rate in Canada for the sixth year in a row in 2007, according to a child poverty report card released this week. T ...

  • An action plan

    Scouts Canada’s ambitious hopes for youth and the future Scouts Canada’s chief commissioner has announced an ambitious action plan designed to grow the organization and change perceptions about Scouts Canada being a “traditional, old-fas ...

  • Tackling taboos in a graphic novel

    The Road to God Knows is an original graphic novel about hope, friendship, mental illness, schizophrenia, and a young teenage girl coping with her life and coming of age in a broken but loving family “The Road to God Knows…” is ...

  • The Benefits of Song

    Concert of Island musicians is set to support Nanaimo’s 7-10 Club Island singer-songwriters Bobbi Schram, Jerry Paquette, Island Hue, Brian Hazelbower, and Alyse Paquette have gathered their considerable talents for a special fundraising ...

  • The case for compassion

    Karen Armstrong’s Charter for Compassion and the golden rule The Charter for Compassion is a cooperative effort to restore compassionate thinking and compassionate action to the centre of religious, moral and political life. The Charter ...

  • Child sexual abuse

    Focus on community impacts as City of Nanaimo declares awareness week The City of Nanaimo has proclaimed November 16 to 21, 2009 as “Nanaimo Sexual Abuse Awareness Week.” Sexual Abuse Resource Committee (SARC) spokesperson Jacqueline Gau ...

  • Ryan's story

    From addiction to recovery and back into academic life “Talk to Ryan Glover to understand the true value of education,” an article posted on Vancouver Island University’s website suggests. Ryan was once living in active addiction and ...

  • Advise and guide

    Local mental health, addictions council needs new members A local advocacy group working on behalf of people experiencing mental illness and addictions is looking to expand its membership. The Nanaimo Mental Health and Addictions Advi ...

  • A father's story

    The Reena Virk tragedy has become teaching for all of us In the years since their daughter, Reena Virk, was murdered in Victoria B.C., Suman and Manjit Virk have made their work against bullying a top priority. In November 2009 British C ...

  • Oct 2009“... ...”
  • What a difference...a year makes

    Over the past year, a number of local organizations and groups have moved forward—facing and overcoming challenges and barriers—to step closer to their shared vision of helping some of Nanaimo’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens On ou ...

  • Transgendered youth, adults face social and medical challenges

    Transgender Canadians are coming out at younger ages than ever before, raising a range of questions about sensitive issues related to gender and identity.* We speak with Dr. Gail Knudson, medical director of the transgender health progra ...

  • Out of the wilderness

    An ordained minister tells his church that he is a transgendered man An ordained minister with over 27 years of service in the U.S. United Methodist Church shared with his congregation August 30th that he was born a girl and became a tra ...

  • Gender, identity and music

    Suzy Wedge's personal journey---becoming a trans-person for the first time Last New Year’s day, Suzy Wedge embraced femininity—differentiating it, as she says, from gender—becoming a trans-person for the first time. Her decision was foll ...

  • Parents push back

    Do British Columbia's cuts to autism programs make any sense? Several mothers of children with autism have become activists—and are challenging the B.C. Liberal government’s recent decision to reallocate funding from an early intensive b ...

  • Entirely preventable

    The prison suicide of Ashley Smith brings corrections deficiencies to light Ashley Smith was a troubled teen from Moncton, N.B. who had been assessed by child psychologists several times in her youth, and was in constant trouble with the ...

  • Not equipped

    Security trumps mental health care in Canadian prisons Canada’s federal correctional investigator, Howard Sapers, has released a report detailing the Correctional Service of Canada’s ongoing dealings with mentally ill prisoners. The i ...

  • Sep 2009“... ...”
  • The literacy connection

    Literacy is considered to be a human right---and a tool of personal empowerment Literacy is considered by the United Nations to be a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational op ...

  • Housing First is on its way to Nanaimo

    The city's working group on homelessness has set funding priorities The Nanaimo Working Group on Homelessness recently made decisions regarding the use of federal funding for local homelessness initiatives. But there were too many applic ...

  • 'Bipolar Babe' brings anti-stigma message

    Andrea Paquette's personal awareness campaign might just go viral A self-described former ‘bad-ass’, Andrea Paquette only discovered at age 26 that she had bipolar disorder, a diagnosis that helped her understand much of what had been ha ...

  • 'Boys to men' group aims to provide healthy mentoring

    Challenges boys face seem greater than ever before Challenges boys face today seem greater than ever before. Boys to Men Mentoring Network was created to guide boys aged 13-17 through their passage to manhood. The organization believes t ...

  • Suicide awareness

    Focus on a major preventable cause of premature death Suicide is a leading cause of death for people worldwide, and one of the three leading causes of death for young people under 25. Suicide has biological, cultural, social and psycholo ...

  • In the footsteps of the ancestors

    Local island summer camp focuses on Métis youth and culture Fifteen Métis communities across British Columbia were funded this summer to create a variety of youth projects. The projects focused on life skills, health, and personal, cultu ...

  • Aug 2009“... ...”
  • Just homeless and Aboriginal?

    Curtis Brick’s tragic death raises the issue of systemic racism Curtis Brick died last month after lying in the sun at a Vancouver park on one of the hottest days the city had seen all summer. Curtis Brick was a homeless aboriginal man. ...

  • The recognition of addiction as a chronic illness

    The British Columbia Medical Association has called for a full continuum of care for addictions in B.C. A policy paper released earlier this year also recommends that addiction be officially recognized by government as a chronic illness. ...

  • Good neighbours get together

    Block Party underscores importance of connection, citizenship, locality On Saturday August 8th, 2009, members of Nanaimo’s Diver Lake Community, and other neighbours, were invited to a block party called Neighbours Being Neighbours. It w ...

  • Humanities for everyone

    Vancouver Island University's Clemente course preps for fall The Clemente Course in the Humanities, first offered at Bard College in the U.S., grew out of the disturbing fact that many low-income residents have had limited access to coll ...

  • Jul 2009“... ...”
  • A new generation for the Assembly of First Nations

    Shawn Atleo becomes National Chief to the Assembly of First Nations Shawn Atleo, the hereditary chief of the Ahousaht nation on Vancouver Island, was elected July 23rd as National Chief of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations. The new chie ...

  • A new generation at Assembly of First Nations

  • The lo-fi media scene visits Nanaimo

    Tuff stuff out of the post-industrial ghost-lands of Buffalo, NY Filmmakers Marc Moscato and David Gracon are in Nanaimo on Wednesday July 22nd to present Tuff Stuff From the Buff, a collection of underground and defiantly independent vi ...

  • The connections between art and health

    Two artists talk about mental illness, mental health, and the creative path The experimental link between creativity and mental illness is well-documented, and now a new study out of Hungary has discovered what could be a genetic link be ...

  • Journey of a lifetime

    Paddling opens the door to culture, self awareness, and healthy lives Tribal Journeys is a high profile annual event for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Youth on a Journey is a related program which helps to prepar ...

  • Finding shelter in a book club

    Homeless men share their experiences and hopes in a book club setting In the fall of 2007, outreach nurse Donna Kelly recognized that books had often become the common ground between her and her homeless patients. From her original idea, ...

  • Red Zone inspiration

    Nanaimo poet's voice returns after a decade Kim Goldberg is an author, poet, photographer and art activist. She has penned five full-length books, over 2,000 articles, and various chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines ...

  • A garden at city hall

    Partnership underscores importance and awareness of local food security Former flower beds at Nanaimo’s city hall and at Beban Park have been turned into vegetable gardens to promote the local food movement. Three partners are involved i ...

  • 'Harm reduction': Buzz words defined

    A closer look at the term 'harm reduction' Despite the growth in the use of the term, the meaning, practice and implications of “harm reduction” are matters of some dispute, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Har ...

  • Depression and suicide

    A high profile tragedy raises awareness Former Saskatchewan member of Parliament Dave Batters took his own life on June 29, 2009 after a lengthy battle with anxiety and depression. He was 39 years old. Mr. Batters left federal politics i ...

  • Pride and peril

    Navigating the space between brilliance and madness Will Hall is a 43-year-old man who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Doctors have prescribed medication for him. “But Hall would rather value his mentally extreme states than try t ...

  • A clear need for awareness

    British Columbia's hepatitis C challenge In British Columbia, the infection rate of hepatitis C is more than twice the national average. Rates in south and central Vancouver Island are even higher. The BC Centre for Disease Control estim ...

  • Barriers to change

    Safer crack cocaine use kits a harm reduction hard sell The smoking of crack cocaine is a relatively neglected public health problem in Canada, in comparison with injection drug use. Crack smoking involves particular risks and harms, inc ...

  • Jun 2009“... ...”
  • Jon Gerrard and Bill 230

    Manitoba's Liberal leader makes the case for a mental health bill of rights Jon Gerrard, leader of the Liberal party in Manitoba, introduced a bill on December 2, 2008 in the Manitoba Legislature to provide a bill of rights for citizens ...

  • A passionate advocate for people who are homeless

    Vancouver's homelessness advocate Judy Graves pays a visit to Nanaimo's homeless people Judy Graves, Coordinator for Vancouver’s Tenant Assistance Program, is a long-time, passionate advocate for the homeless. She began the Vancouver Hom ...

  • From coast to coast

    Wayne Cho's incredible journey Wayne Cho began a run across Canada last May 23, 2008 in St. John’s, Newfoundland to raise awareness for anxiety and depression, which affect a significant portion of the population but are often misunderst ...

  • Bouncing back

    Telephone-based mental health coaching service helps people with anxiety, depression Bounce Back is a program designed to help people experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety that may arise from stress or other life circumstances. ...

  • Attacking anxiety

    Programs and services from Anxiety B.C. respond to disorders AnxietyBC is a nonprofit organization working to increase awareness about anxiety disorders; promote education of the general public, affected persons, and health care provider ...

  • Coast to coast for awareness

    Wayne Cho's awareness run for anxiety and depression reaches Vancouver Island Wayne Cho began a run across Canada last May 23, 2008 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The purpose of his run is “to raise awareness for anxiety and depression, wh ...

  • Putting an end to domestic violence

    Haven Society responds to need Half of all Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16 and every year in Canada, up to 360,000 children are exposed to domestic violence. 58,486 ...

  • Harm reduction goes guerilla

    Why Victoria activists are offering needle exchange in a 'no-go zone' Harm Reduction Victoria launched what it calls a “guerilla needle exchange” in downtown Victoria in the middle of a so-called “no-go zone”—an area that has been off-li ...

  • After the diagnosis

    Alzheimer's disease care and support As people age, a decline in thinking abilities and memory is expected, but when that decline is much faster than normal, the consequences can be devastating to those people and their loved ones. Such ...

  • May 2009“... ...”
  • A look at Mad Pride, in four interviews

    Artist and author Leef Evans: “I have to tell people” Leef Evans, an author and artist, experienced a severe bout of depression six years ago that resulted in hospitalization and the loss of apartment, car, and virtually all connection wit ...

  • 'Crime stopper of the year' engages youth

    Peter McGee has been traveling across B.C. and North America, training and presenting about how the program can engage youth in the digital age Crime Stoppers began in 1976 when a detective in New Mexico appealed to the public with a vid ...

  • Busking and the bureaucracy

    Made-in-Nanaimo approach frames busking as a downtown safety and security issue Arts and culture...or safety and security? Nanaimo’s Street Entertainer’s Bylaw was enacted in 2003 to control altercations between panhandlers and street en ...

  • Apr 2009“... ...”
  • Acting on social accessibility brings drama, discussion together

    An upcoming performance of Canadian playwright George F. Walker’s “Criminal Genius” will be accompanied by an interactive panel discussion involving at-risk youth and members of local service organizations ACTing on Social Accessibility: ...

  • Ark of truth: Luke Marston's contribution to the healing from residential schools

    Sacred Bentwood Box used at national events of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission Ladysmith artist Luke Marston has created a symbol of truth and healing—a sacred Bentwood Box to be used at the seven national events of Canada’s ...

  • Losing confidence

    Green Party leader Elizabeth May on the state of Canadian politics “Canadians are waking up from our long political slumber to realize that there will not be change unless we insist upon it. We have a presidential-style prime minister wi ...

  • Hearing disturbing voices

    Experiential workshop for students and frontline workers provides a personal glimpse into mental health problems Pat Deegan is a clinical psychologist and also a psychiatric survivor, having first been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a t ...

  • From compassion to action

    In the third of a three-week series, From Compassion to Action, we talk with some of the volunteers who are making a difference in our community about their experiences, thoughts, and observations. We’re joined by Theatre BC volunteer Jerem ...

  • Gene competition

    A novel theory of mental disorders “Two scientists, drawing on their own powers of observation and a creative reading of recent genetic findings, have published a sweeping theory of brain development that would change the way mental diso ...

  • Traveling Swami

    A conversation about health and wellness, from the yogic perspective Swami Maheshananda Saraswati is an eminent yoga teacher who has devoted nearly two decades to learning and teaching the philosophical and practical aspects of Yoga and ...

  • From compassion to action

    In the second of a three-week series, From Compassion to Action, we talk with some of the volunteers who are making a difference in our community about their experiences, thoughts, and observations. We’re joined by Canadian Red Cross volunt ...

  • The Mankind Project

    A look at men's health and wellness The men’s movement, and its North American rise in the 1990s, is closely linked with poet Robert Bly’s book Iron John. Bly said in 1991 that he'd at first thought, “My male side was developed, and my f ...

  • A passion for nature

    In the first of a three-week series, From Compassion to Action, we talk with some of the volunteers who are making a difference in our community about their experiences, thoughts, and observations. We’re joined by long-time Morrell Nature S ...

  • Do you know where your voluntary sector is?

    As national volunteer week approaches, we focus on volunteerism...and speak with organizers and some of the volunteers in our community. What is the reality? What are the hopes? What are the trends? We’re joined by Volunteer Nanaimo exec ...

  • Mar 2009“... ...”
  • A frontline services roundtable

    Looking at food, shelter, and supports in Nanaimo Local frontline services are under increasing demand or are experiencing specific challenges. We’ve convened a frontline services roundtable to explore and update recent events ranging fr ...

  • The Vagina Monologues

    Witty, irreverent, compassionate, wise Celebrated as a bible for a new generation of women, The Vagina Monologues has been performed in cities across North America and at hundreds of college and university campuses. It has also inspired ...

  • Is there potential for new life at Harewood School?

    Harewood School was built in 1914, an imposing and highly visible building—and landmark—in Nanaimo. Recent discussions about the now-closed school’s potential as a community centre building have become bogged down in bureaucratic red tap ...

  • Life or meth?

    "Most addictive drug ever" is also considered the most destructive It has been described as a ‘hideously destructive substance’…and ‘the most addictive drug in the world’. Methamphetamine is a drug with high potential for widespread abus ...

  • Dining to make a difference

    Thousands of Islanders will dine out to fight HIV/AIDS on March 12, 2009. Donations from their food bills will be given to AIDS Vancouver Island. We speak with Andrea Langlois of AIDS Vancouver Island, and representatives from a number of p ...

  • War on drugs, drug politics, and drug crime

    Three interviews focused on drugs, from the world-wide war on drugs to the local gangs selling illegal substances Interviews with former provincial court judge Jerry Paradis, senator Larry Campbell, and street gangs expert Michael Chettl ...

  • Feb 2009“... ...”
  • A radio marathon---in an hour

    Highlights from local coverage of the 7th annual Canadian homelessness radio marathon On Monday Nanaimo’s CHLY 101.7 FM joined nearly forty radio stations across Canada and over one hundred radio stations in the U.S. in broadcasting cont ...

  • It only takes a moment...

    Open Minds, Open Windows brings hope to the stage A Nanaimo-based organization has been working to reduce the stigma and prejudice surrounding people with mental health issues. Open Minds Open Windows Society provides a range of supporti ...

  • When mental illness and addiction meet

    Concurrent disorders are more widespread than we realize—and in combination they make for unique challenges Concurrent disorders—the combination of a mental illness and substance use disorder—are much more widespread than many people rea ...

  • Isolating prostitution is unsafe, creating vulnerability, study says

    A new study published by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has shown that forcing prostitutes out of populated areas and into isolated locations increases violence and the spread of HIV. The most vulnerable were women who had been ...

  • Finding our way home: Focusing on B.C.'s housing crisis

    A documentary film about homelessness, based on a provincial tour by NDP MLA David Chudnovsky, was screened at a presentation earlier this week in Nanaimo. We speak with NDP MLA David Chudnovsky. 054_feb_12_2009_sm   ...

  • New needle disposal toolkit promotes safety

    Downtown Victoria’s Clean & Safe Committee is providing a safe needle disposal toolkit to share information about the disposal of needles and drug paraphernalia. We speak with Andrea Langlois from AIDS Vancouver Island. 052_feb_12_20 ...

  • Homelessness radio on 1,400 U.S. and Canadian stations

    Radio stations across North America, including CHLY, join 14-hour marathons focused on homelessness and poverty on Mon., Feb. 23. We speak with Jeremy Alderson, the U.S. founder of the Homelessness Marathon, about the event. 053_feb_12_2 ...

  • Parent mentors help with unique children

    A new project providing mentorship for children with special needs and their families has been launched in Nanaimo. We speak with Geri Sera from Nanaimo Unique Kids about a program designed for caregivers. 051_feb_12_2009_sm ...

  • Local filmmaker sounds the alarm on partnership deals

    “The Nanaimo filmmaker who exposed police ‘provocateurs’ to the world premieres his feature film about the Security Prosperity Partnership at Vancouver Island University. Paul Manly’s latest film You, Me, and the S.P.P: Trading Democracy fo ...

  • The single transferable vote and potential impacts on social issues

    This year’s B.C. provincial election will include a referendum on whether or not B.C. citizens want to adopt a new electoral system based on the concept of a “single transferable vote”. In our first look at the upcoming provincial election ...

  • Jan 2009“... ...”
  • Eating disorders are on the rise

    February 1-7, 2009 is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week in Canada Our society's preoccupation with body image is reflected in the fact that, at any given time, 70% of women and 35% of men are dieting. More seriously, a 1993 Statist ...

  • Coastal Health program helps Aboriginal patients navigate the health system

    A new program designed to help Aboriginal patients access and navigate their way through Vancouver Coastal health launched on January 20th. Aboriginal Patient Navigators will provide referral, advocacy and support to patients to ensure acce ...

  • Federal government promises spending for impoverished First Nations

    “The federal Conservatives will spend an extra $1.4 billion on Aboriginal issues—mostly to help Canada’s impoverished native reserves—in the budget that is covering everything from sea ports to railways. Aboriginal leaders, accustomed over ...

  • Homelessness on film, by Victoria's Movie Monday

    Victoria’s popular Movie Monday film series presents a weekend of films and forums about homelessness this Saturday, Sunday and Monday (January 24-26th). It begins Saturday evening at 7 p.m. with special guest Judy Graves, Vancouver’s city ...

  • Balmoral Hotel upgrades bring supportive housing to south Nanaimo

    In September 2008 the Canadian Mental Health Association purchased the Balmoral Hotel building on Haliburton Street in Nanaimo for the purposes of providing supportive housing and outreach. Christina Martens, CMHA’s Mid-Island Branch execut ...

  • One man's story of recovery, in his own words

    Wallace Malay is a Nanaimo artist and a student at Vancouver Island University. There was a time, however, when Wallace was homeless, ill, and in active addiction. Wallace Malay joins us in the studio to share his personal story of exper ...

  • Seminar to focus on youth anxiety, acute disorders

    Anxiety disorders are surprisingly common in children and teenagers, affecting approximately 10 per cent of them. Unfortunately, 80 per cent of anxiety disorders in this age group go untreated. What are anxiety disorders? Why do they occ ...

  • RDSP for disability savings comes into effect January 1st

    In what is considered one of the most significant disability initiatives since the International Year of the Disabled in 1981, Canada’s federal government has launched a new tax-deferred savings plan for people living with a disability. ...

  • Calling attention to the national tragedy of homelessness

    Vancouver housing activist Am Johal is coordinating a hunger strike to shame the federal government into reinstituting a national housing program. Canadians from coast to coast can participate by spending a week on a liquid-only diet. The h ...

  • 2008 becomes 2009: A look back and a look forward

    We devote our full program this week to a review of some of the stories that made the news in 2008...month by month...from the perspective of social issues as they unfolded...primarily in the Nanaimo region. We also look forward to what 200 ...

  • Dec 2008“... ...”
  • Oscar Clemotte on philosophy and the art of classical guitar

    Oscar Clemotte is both a professor of philosophy and a classical guitarist. He joins us in the studio for a talk about philosophy, ethics, and music. And, he brings a guitar along to share some music with us. 035_dec_18_2008_sm  Image: ...

  • Bouncing back with mental health supports on Vancouver Island

    It’s not uncommon for people with conditions like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, chronic pain, etc. to feel anxious or depressed. Bounce Back: Reclaim your Health is a new self-help program designed to help people living with chronic p ...

  • First Unitarian joins extreme weather response in Nanaimo

    A cold snap and expected record cold weather has put Nanaimo’s extreme weather response program into operation. First Unitarian Fellowship has become the first local church to join the downtown Salvation Army in providing overnight shelter ...

  • Banking food: Touching base with a first line of defense

    Food banks are bringing new meaning to the phrase “run on the bank” as demand for food support rises while—in some areas—donations aren’t rising. We talk about food banks and their campaigns and what they are seeing on the frontlines. We ...

  • Harm reduction surprise

    Nanaimo's Old City Quarter eyes a new neighbour Nanaimo Old City Quarter businesses are crying “foul” after they were surprised by news that Nanaimo’s needle exchange program will be relocated to their neighbourhood...on January 1st. ...

  • Yoga talk: More than just exercise

    Yoga’s physical and mental practices and disciplines are increasingly popular and being adopted by many. We speak with yoga teachers Kim Leduc and Kelly Murphy about yoga and its potential benefit and/or therapeutic use in helping with addi ...

  • Nov 2008“... ...”
  • People's Corner: Tents for Nanaimo's homeless people?

    The BC supreme court decision that struck down Victoria’s bylaws preventing homeless people from camping in the city’s parks created a storm of controversy and discussion...and renewed the homelessness dilemma in the eyes of many municipal ...

  • Coping talk: The holiday season isn't always merry

    December is almost here, and Christmas and holiday planning and activities are already underway. This time of year is commonly described as stressful and challenging...along with the more positive descriptions, of course. What are some o ...

  • Teachable moments: When does bullying become hate?

    Nearly 5,000 people joined an online Facebook campaign which urged members to “get them steel toes ready” for a day of booting last week. The website appears to have been inspired by an episode of the cartoon South Park, in which a young ch ...

  • People's Corner: Nanaimo harbour homes at risk

    Danny Dolen lives on a boat in the Nanaimo Harbour. He joins us to share his concerns related to new Nanaimo Port Authority rules for live-aboards and the potential impacts on people living on their boats in the Nanaimo and Ladysmith areas ...

  • Á vélo pour les sans-abri

    Francophone students bike for a cause Nanaimo high school student Joshua Cheng is on the road with other B.C. francophone students to raise funds and awareness for homelessness. He’s Nanaimo’s first participant in the second year of a bi ...

  • Oct 2008“... ...”
  • Tents for the homeless?

    The Victoria ruling and its impacts “I’m sleeping in a tent-city tonight,” David Johnson declared in an email from Victoria. Earlier that week, a BC supreme court ruling struck down Victoria bylaws making it illegal for homeless people t ...

  • Prisoner of war: PTSD and the personal battle

    Rick joined the Canadian army right out of high school. He was a dad at age 19 and a paratrooper at 20. He served with the coalition forces during Gulf War I in Kuwait and was a veteran of war by the time he turned 21. But “something was ...