Vancouver Island Mental Health Society (formerly Columbian Centre Society) board member (and Vancouver Island University professor) Mark Blackell will head to this year’s Boston Marathon and he hopes to raise some much-needed funds for mental health programs in the process. Contribute here.
#Nanaimo marathoner to raise funds for mental health programs
March 4th, 2015 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on #Nanaimo marathoner to raise funds for mental health programs)Vancouver Island communities are working to address the risks associated with hoarding
February 23rd, 2015 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Vancouver Island communities are working to address the risks associated with hoarding)Hoarding is increasingly recognized as a significant problem within the Island Health region. An estimated 1 in 25 people have some level of hoarding behaviour, and about 11,000 homes may have a hoarding problem in the Greater Victoria area.
Memoir aims to help people understand mental illness without judging or stereotyping
October 28th, 2014 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Memoir aims to help people understand mental illness without judging or stereotyping)“What had happened to our beautiful happy life? Could it really be over for us? I just wasn’t sure if our love was strong enough to keep us together. I probably believed it wasn’t.”
It was an idyllic marriage. John and Marion were high school sweethearts who married and began a successful life together. He, an internationally respected scientist in his field and she, a business woman in her family firm. With three children and finally settled in Victoria. BC, Canada after stints in Vienna and Australia, tragedy struck.
Despite the eventual and probable diagnosis of late-onset schizophrenia, John and Marion struggled to hold their family together and to deal with an illness that usually strikes much earlier in life. This is their story of what happens when the mind betrays you.