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 coordinator Amy Candido has a passion for prevention, after being tortured for years by her own eating disorder. Amy’s eating disorder began in grade eight and continued until her mid twenties. “I was existing, not living,” she says. (more…)
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 the year. It’s a British Columbia province-wide effort to raise awareness around prevention and early intervention of eating disorders as well as media literacy, resiliency, building healthy body image and self-esteem.
You are invited to take part in supporting the ongoing Love Our Bodies, Love Ourselves movement in promoting health and preventing disordered eating and eating disorders. (more…)
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 Association together with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, has released a national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace, along with guidance for staged implementation.
The national standard defines and sets a higher standard for workplace mental health with a goal of protecting and improving the mental health of Canadian workers. It’s designed for both employers and employees. (more…)
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 on harassment, bullying, violence, and the problems these behaviours pose for individuals and society. Media reports about Amanda Todd’s experiences and state of mind acknowledged that she had described anxiety, depression, and panic disorder. But her death was portrayed as being directly caused by the experience of being bullied. (more…)
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 often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets in unsanitary conditions. Hoarding involves obsessively collecting objects to the point of risking one’s own health—or the health and safety of others—and it has become so widespread that the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is considering listing the disorder in its next edition. (more…)
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 genuinely adventurous creative spirit,” says the Juno website. Changing Seasons was awarded “Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year.”
The Changing Seasons suite marks a new stage in Phil Dwyer‘s development as an artist, writes Nou Dadoun at VancouverJazz.com. The theme running through the composition is change, described by Phil as: “Changing weather, changing climatic conditions, the changing economic structure of the world and some big changes in my own life. It’s a call to acknowledge the fact of all these changes taking place and a query as to what are we going to do about it.” (more…)
