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 health strategy. The commission, headed by Michael Kirby, is due to release its strategy document in early 2012. A draft copy of that strategy [opens to PDF], not intended to be available to the public, is currently being finalized. (more…)
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 surrounding world for more than one hundred years. The wall still exists as both a monument and emotional manuscript to the lives lived at what then was called an ‘asylum’. This week, during Toronto Mad Pride, The Friendly Spike Theatre Band performs “The Walls are Alive” at the outdoor site of the patient-built wall. (more…)
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 she enjoys “doing art.” But Anne also uses art to help her combat severe anxiety and depression. Over the years she has moved from collages to painting with oils to chalk pastel work. She’s just launched a show of her work at Studio 366 in Nanaimo. (more…)
“Mental illness”, diagnoses, and associated concepts are all social constructions, but the professions haven’t yet recognized it, psychologist saysMultiple fingers point to a ‘debacle’ unfolding at the psychiatric emergency service in Victoria, British Columbia
The Archie Courtnall Centre [opens to PDF], also known as the Psychiatric Emergency Service (PES), is connected to the ER at Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital. Two years after its opening, the number of patients trying to access services at PES was overwhelming what was available. The clinical director resigned, saying the PES had “become the default processing centre for addicted individuals seeking treatment” due to lack of detox beds in the region. (more…)
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 health professionals told people with mental illness and their families that most illnesses got worse over time. People were told to lower their expectations. But now recovery is the goal—and it can mean anything from the complete absence of the symptoms of mental illness to living a full life in the community while learning to live with ongoing symptoms. [Source: Canadian Mental Health Association]
What is the “recovery model” and how does it differ from old school approaches? And how can a recovery model be implemented? (more…)
