Is Canada making progress in treating mental illness?

Listen to the episode aired yesterday, February 21st:

On Cross Country Checkup: mental illness

It used to be the condition nobody would talk about. Five years ago a Senate report ... the first-ever national study of mental health and addiction, said Canada badly needed a strategy to deal with mental illness.

What has changed since then? Is support for mental health improving?

With guest host Andrew Nichols.


Introduction

Five years ago a Senate report, the first-ever national study of mental health and addiction, said Canada badly needed a strategy to deal with mental illness.

Today we want to talk about mental health services in Canada.

When that report came out, Cross Country Checkup did a program on it asking Canadians for their views on the subject. The reponse was overwhelming. From people who themselves battled with mental illness, to families having difficulty trying to manage one of their own, to professionals who have identified solutions but don't see them instituted in their work places.

Since then we have been checking back in every few years to see how things are going. To see what has changed since and to find out whether support for mental health is improving?

The co-author of the report was Senator Michael Kirby and he has joined us on each program to update us on the progress. He will join us again later in today's program ... but this is also your chance to talk about the issues and stories ... things that you have seen or experienced that might provide some insight and help the process along.

The Senate Report, called "Out of the Shadows at Last", contained the following quotation:

In no other field, except perhaps leprosy, has there been as much confusion, misdirection and discrimination against the patient, as in mental illness... Down through the ages, they have been estranged by society and cast out to wander in the wilderness. Mental illness, even today, is all too often considered a crime to be punished, a sin to be expiated, a possessing demon to be exorcised, a disgrace to be hushed up, a personality weakness to be deplored or a welfare problem to be handled as cheaply as possible.

Those words were not original to the report. They came from a 1963 study by the Canadian Mental Health Association. DO those words still ring true today? If they do then one of the first hurdles has not been cleared ... removing the stigma that surrounds the disease many would rather not discuss.

There are other hurdles which our guests will outline ... and you, if you have some experience or insight you'd like to share, then give us a call.


Guests

• Louise Bradley, President and CEO of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
  

• Dr. Stan Kutcher, Professor of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University & Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health.
  

• Michael Kirby, Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
  

• Honourable Mr. Justice Edward Ormston, Ontario Court of Justice, currently the Chair of the Law and Mental Health Advisory Committee for the Mental Health commission of Canada. Prime mover in the development of the First Mental Health Court in Canada in the City of Toronto.
  

To listen to this episode, please click here.

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.