The benefits of full time mental health support

Audio clip from the March 22nd edition of the CBC Radio One's (Nova Scotia) Information Morning:

As the IWK changes its mental health care facilities for children and teenagers, we find out how youth care workers and in-patient treatment at the IWK allowed a young man to tackle his anxiety disorder.

Connor MacLellan and his mother Susan say he would not have recovered from his anxiety and depression without the care he received as an in-patient.

To listen, please click here.

Image credit

Also see:

Realigning IWK mental health: ‘This is the right thing to do’

IWK explains why its making cuts to in-patient care for youth with mental illness

Nova Scotia can’t even meet its own ridiculous mental health standards

Assistance with navigating mental health services in the Capital Health district

Landlords pitch in to help people with mental illness find housing

From the February 22nd edition of Information Morning:

The CBC's Rob North tells us about a new initiative that might make things better. [Note, the segment begins after a short advertisement for a podcast.]

Also see:

250 Homes

Community Living Initiative: The Bungalows

Cross Country Checkup ... mental illness ... recorded January 11th

From CBC.ca:

Rex Murphy's introduction to the January 11, 2009, program:

"Our question today: "Are governments across Canada doing enough for the mentally ill?"

Today we want to talk about the state of mental illness in Canada.

Almost three years ago we did a similar program after the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology released a report three years in the making called "Out of the Shadows at Last." It was an in-depth look at what it was like to be mentally ill in Canada and what kind of support could be expected. It was not an optimistic picture. The chair of that Senate committee and the co-author of the report was Michael Kirby. One of the recommendations was to set up a mental health commission to, among other things, act as a co-ordinating body in Canada's approach to mental illness.

In 2007 the federal government created the Commission and named Michael Kirby the chair. It has been almost two years since the Commission was created and this week we want to take a look at how things are going in the battle against mental illness.

Those who deal with mental illness are very familiar with the 'trap' this illness falls in. It is the one illness that still has something of a 'taboo' about it. People are 'shy' when talking about mental illness. It is also among the most intractable problems a person, family, or society can face. It is twinned with other more immediately visible problems. How much of homelessness, for example, is wound up - tied to - persons suffering mental disability.

We'd like to have your thoughts today on this sometimes difficult subject. What can be done to advance the treatment of mental illness? What are the difficulties faced by people who have mental illness - or have to deal with or care for someone in their family with that problem.

The Honourable Michael Kirby has joined us from a studio in Florida ...and he'll be staying with us throughout the program.

We want to hear from Canadians across the country ....how do you think Canada is doing in its handling of people with mental illness? Is there enough support ...for individuals and for families? Is there still a tendency to hide the problem? Are there too many people falling through the cracks in the system? How can the system be made better? If there are problems could they be solved by more money ...or is it a problem of organization?

Our question today: "Are governments across Canada doing enough for mental illness?"

To download the entire broadcast, click here (mp3).

Photograph of Rex Murphy courtesy of CBC.ca.

Tasers - Update

From the January 30th broadcast of CBC Radio's The Current:

Back in 1993, as the story goes, two high school athletes had been shot to death in a road rage incident in Scottsdale, Arizona. One of their team-mates -- a man named Rick Smith -- decided there ought to be something other than a gun that people could use to defend themselves. So he and his brother Tom developed a stun gun that would send a jolt of electricity through the target. It was called the Air Taser 34,000. And it was the beginning of what would become the Taser Corporation.

Today, 25,000 American police officers use a Taser stun gun. Canadian police began using them in 2000; there are nearly 7,000 Tasers in use in Canada. And the company says it has sold Tasers to more than 60 countries.

But despite all that, there are still questions about the safety of Tasers, leading the House of Commons Public Safety Committee to undertake a review of Taser use in Canada.

CBC Reporter Sandra Bartlett looked into some of the questions surrounding Tasers as part of a CBC News and Radio Canada investigation, Sandra Bartlett joined us in Toronto to talk about what she found.

To listen to the program (21 minutes, 57 seconds), click here (RealPlayer).

Photograph of Anna Maria Tremonti courtesy of CBC.ca.

Thanks go to Dachia Joudrey for bring this program to my attention.

"A Cruel Confusion"

All this past week, Sounds Like Canada on CBC Radio One ran a series on mental illness.

"A Cruel Confusion" - our series on mental illness begins, Monday, September 17th, with the personal portrait on one family's 30 year struggle with schizophrenia. Our producer Phillip Ditchburn tells Shelagh Rogers about trying to find his way through the often frustrating mental health system - and how he finds where he finds support to keep going.

To hear the audio from the September 17th show, click here (starts RealPlayer streaming audio).

Tuesday, September 18th:
Our understanding of mental illness can be shaped by many things - including our cultural roots. In part two of our series "A Cruel Confusion" - we'll meet two people who are trying to bring a new understanding about mental health in Canada's Chinese and Korean communities.

To hear the audio from the September 18th show, click here (starts RealPlayer streaming audio).

Wednesday, September 19th:
Toronto's main mental health treatment centre is completely rebuilding to get the public onto the grounds, mingling with patients. It's supposed to break down the stigma of mental illness and make it easier for those getting treated to get back to a normal life. Will it work?

To hear the audio from the September 19th show, click here (starts RealPlayer streaming audio).

Thursday, September 20th:
Following a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and psychosis in the early 1990's, Victoria Maxwell took steps to control her condition, and eventually turned her medical problems into a career. Today, she is one of the most well-known educators and consultants in North America on the 'lived' experience of mental illness and recovery, and earlier this month she performed one of her solo shows for the new Mental Health Commission of Canada.

To hear the audio from the September 20th show, click here (starts RealPlayer streaming audio).

Victoria Maxwell's website.

Friday, September 21st:
We conclude our mental health series "A Cruel Confusion" with a feature interview with Senator Michael Kirby, the Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

To hear the audio from the September 21st show, click here (starts RealPlayer streaming audio).

We hear from the people who moved Senator Kirby so much - those who are coping with mental illness and those who are helping someone they love cope.

To listen, click here.

Shelagh reads your letters about our series "A Cruel Confusion". To listen, click here and here.

Thanks go to Jan H. of the Lunenburg County Chapter of the SSNS for informing me of this radio series.

Photograph of Shelagh Rogers courtesy of cbc.ca.