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…)
Aden Ahmed settles into life in Nanaimo, far away from his Somalian origins, in a “country full of opportunities”
Aden Ahmed is the second student brought to Nanaimo through the World University Service of Canada Student Refugee Program, which has helped more than 1,000 young men and women pursue education and resettle in this country as permanent residents. He has just completed a year in business studies at Vancouver Island University. VIU students have contributed financially to make Aden’s education there possible. (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…)
Mehdi Naïmi says that good art therapy empowers people, strengthens relationships, brings peace of heart, and joy to life
Long before there was “art therapy,“ artists explained themselves with their inner images as references to reality [Wikipedia]. Now considered a mental health discipline, art therapy combines the creative process and psychotherapy, facilitating self-exploration and understanding. Using imagery, colour, and shape as part of this creative therapeutic process, thoughts and feelings may be expressed that would otherwise be difficult to articulate. (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…)
