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 youngsters felt like outsiders at their schools. [Source: Alliance busts gay stereotypes, Nanaimo Daily News]
Homophobia in schools is also associated with bullying behaviours. (more…)
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 that end. An unpopular movement such as antipsychiatry which is at odds with the state and prevailing hegemony begins at a serious disadvantage. (more…)
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. PsychOUT’s stated purpose was to “provide a forum for psychiatric survivors, mad people, activists, scholars, students, radical professionals, and artists from around the world to come together and share experiences of organizing against psychiatry.”
People belonging to marginalized groups who are at greater risk of psychiatrization, such as women, radicalized people, queers, trans people, people with disabilities and homeless people and others living in poverty, were active participants. (more…)
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 moving, changing schools, the death of a loved one, or parental divorce.
AnxietyBC’s website adds that before parents decide that there is a problem, they ought to consider the stressors in their child’s life. Is he or she having a normal reaction to a difficult situation, or is their child worrying even when nothing is really wrong? (more…)
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 recently enhanced its services with the addition of a new kitchen.
Over the past months, the food service has made a number of appeals for funds from the community, as it deals with increasing demand for its meals. Now, the Club is concerned about recent changes to funding implemented by the provincial government. (more…)
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 themselves safe when confronted with drugs such as crystal methamphetamine.
McLaughlin and the B.C. Crystal Meth Society have worked tirelessly since 2005 to provide prevention education to thousands of pupils across the province. (more…)
