Community college hosts youth forum on mental health

Posted on February 10th by SouthShoreNow.ca:

Singer-songwriter Joe Leger related the story of his battle with mental illness in song during a youth forum held at the Nova Scotia Community College - Lunenburg Campus January 28.



By Robert Hirtle

BRIDGEWATER - It may be hard to believe, but statistics show that one in five Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime, with a large portion of those individuals being in the age range of 15 to 24 years.

That is the message Jean Covert, executive director of the Lunenburg County branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), brought to a youth forum on the subject that was held at the Nova Scotia Community College - Lunenburg Campus, January 28.

The gathering, which attracted over 100 participants, was designed to explore ways of reaching out to young people with mental illness.

Jan House, past president of the Lunenburg County chapter of the Nova Scotia Schizophrenia Society, said the forum was organized by South Shore Mental Health Services, South Shore Health, CMHA and the Schizophrenia Society.

The morning session was spent meeting with service providers whose goal was to develop an action plan to provide services they feel are needed by youth in the community.

"We've formed a committee that is going on a fact-finding mission to find out what services are out there that we don't know about, so that we can co-ordinate things and use all the facilities that we have in Lunenburg County to the fullest, and then approach government for the things we don't have," she explained.

Joining Ms. Covert as speakers at the afternoon portion of the event were Peter Duke, a co-ordinator at Laing House, a community support centre in Halifax for people ages 15 to 29 who live with mood, anxiety and psychotic disorders, as well as three young persons who utilize the facility, Ruthmarie Adams, Michael Smith and Joe Leger.

While adolescents and young adults are more prone to mental illness, particularly when it is caused by drug or alcohol addiction, it is not exclusively a problem of youth.

"Eight per cent of adults will suffer major depression sometime during their lives, [and] one per cent will experience bipolar disorder," Ms Covert explained, adding that, in terms of Nova Scotia, one per cent of the population is about 9,000 people.

She said, however, that the risk of suicide involving young people experiencing mood disorders is highest and, at 24 per cent, represents the second-leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 24 in Canada.

"Onset of mood disorders usually occurs during adolescence," she said. "Hospitalization rates for bipolar disorder are increasing among youth."

Ms. Covert said schizophrenia affects about one per cent of the population worldwide, and is "the greatest disabler of youth because it commonly strikes at a time when they are just graduating high school, just going to university and just deciding what their career choices are going to be."

She said 12 per cent of the population live with anxiety disorders and 6.9 per cent suffer from some form of personality disorder.

"So, mental disorders are not rare."

It was during his adolescent years that Mr. Smith, now 28, first began experiencing bipolar 1 disorder, the result of alcohol and marijuana abuse, which led to numerous hospitalizations.

"That means I either get real manic, like a maniac, or I get so depressed all I can do is just drool on the couch," he said. "I take 12 pills, mood-stabilizing, anti-psychotic medication, every night before I go to bed and I regularly see a psychiatrist."

He said the biggest key to recovering from mental illness is recognizing that you have an affliction.

"Laing House is great because I have friends who are always supportive and nice to me, but they can never understand talking about mania or depression," he explained. "They may have studied it in school … but they can never understand it. At Laing House, if you're going through something, you can connect with people right there, automatically, who say 'oh yeah, I understand,' so your experience is much more validated."

Mr. Leger, who relates his struggles with mental illness in song, agreed, saying the peer support mental illness sufferers receive at Laing House is very important.

"You talk about mental illness, but it's really more about mental health. We all need to work on maintaining it," he said.

In dealing with youth, he believes the biggest challenge is explaining their illness to them on a level which they can understand, and to get them to accept the fact that they need medication.

"And by far, the best way to do that is through peer support," he added.

Photograph of Joe Leger by Robert Hirtle

To view the above article as it appeared in the Bridgewater Bulletin, click here.


Judy Bell (left, Laing House), Jan House (middle, Lunenburg County Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia). and Peter Duke (right, Laing House)


Ruthmarie Adams (left) and Michael Smith - Youth speakers from Laing House

Click on the images above to enlarge them.