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 Conference, held in Calgary June 19 to 20, 2015, included a presentation called “The Real Deal: Honouring Lived Experience.”
Elizabeth Anderson, Catherine Dyer and Lisa Piepgrass shared their experiences with collaborative mental health care and offered reflections on the successes of — and potential challenges for — this model. They also spoke about language and stigma associated with mental illness and addiction.
People First Radio was there to capture the presentations.
Elizabeth Anderson: Being Healthy
Elizabeth Anderson has been living with schizophrenia and depression since 1995. She’s the author of Being Mentally Healthy and says that delivering a message of hope that one can recover from a mental illness is her life’s work.
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audio | @BMHElizabeth #CCMHCC #mentalhealth #peoplefirstradio @CHLYRadio @VIMentalHealth https://t.co/FHL4BJBOUX pic.twitter.com/FrLy7mYeOs
— People First Radio (@peoplefirstrad) January 15, 2016
Catherine Dyer: The Hallway Club
Catherine Dyer didn’t understand the mental health system — or the challenges within the system — until she and her son were plunged into it in December 2013. Her son is “in the system” — a situation Catherine describes as “a family issue.”
665_catherine dyer_2015 ccmhcc_real deal_january_14_2016_40
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audio | Catherine Dyer #CCMHCC #mentalhealth #peoplefirstradio @CHLYRadio @VIMentalHealth https://t.co/NAh9q4i5hk pic.twitter.com/Kta0TXUELM
— People First Radio (@peoplefirstrad) January 15, 2016
Lisa Piepgrass: Pills Aren’t Skills
Lisa Piepgrass was a university student in liberal arts, but quit her studies just four courses before completing her degree. She traveled extensively, puzzling about her seeming inability to achieve her goals. Then, Lisa was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.
667_lisa piepgrass_2015 ccmhcc_real deal_january_14_2016_40
Left-click to listen; right-click to save.
audio | Lisa Piepgrass #CCMHCC #mentalhealth #peoplefirstradio @CHLYRadio @VIMentalHealth https://t.co/ikxwyvxP8x pic.twitter.com/gLJH0p6z0S
— People First Radio (@peoplefirstrad) January 15, 2016
Listen Thursday January 14, 2016 at noon Pacific on CHLY 101.7 FM.
Revisit this page on Friday January 15 to listen on-demand.
More about the collaborative mental health care conference
The Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Care Conference is the leading national conference focused on research and innovations in collaborative mental health care and addictions service delivery within primary care. The program will feature presentations in five topic streams: innovation, prevention, measurement-based care, mental health initiatives in the Patient’s Medical Home (PMH) and systems integration.
A collaborative approach between mental health providers and primary care ultimately improves access and outcomes for patients and helps address efficient use of resources. The conference has the potential to impact the delivery of primary and community-based care, the design of services and the composition of health care teams, research into mental health and addictions, advocacy efforts, public policy and the overall approach to mental health and addictions within the health care system.
The 2015 conference was held in Calgary, Alberta from June 18th to 20th. The 2016 conference takes place from June 16th to 18th in Kelowna, B.C.
