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 committed to raising awareness about mental illness and psychiatric disorders and community education is part of our mandate. We encourage YOU to #GetLoud about mental illness and join our campaign. You can click here to join.

Why is it so important to GetLoud about mental illness? Stigma and discrimination continue to surround people with mental health issues and people experiencing mental illness are reluctant to come forward for treatment. 46% of Canadians thought people use the term mental illness as an excuse for bad behaviour, and 27% said they would be fearful of being around someone who suffers from serious mental illness (www.camh.ca).

What are the consequences of non-treatment? Suicide, unnecessary suffering, physical health problems, victimization and trauma, job loss and job instability, homelessness, incarceration, and addiction. The economic burden of mental illness in Canada is estimated at $51 billion per year, and include health care costs, lost productivity, and reductions in health-related quality of life (www.camh.ca).

Mental illness affects ALL Canadians through family, friends, and colleagues and it is estimated that 20% of us will personally experience mental illness at some point in our lives. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in both men and women from adolescence to middle age.

VIMHS has listed a few ways to fundraise and Get Loud about mental health on our campaign page. You can join as an individual or a team and have a bake sale, mow some lawns, host a dinner party, have a movie night, or, you can simply make a donation as an individual. But whatever you do, TALK about mental health and mental illness, and share stories about how it has affected YOUR life.