Inverness County Mental Illness Family Education & Support Group

Monday, June 27, 2016

 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Date

Monday, June 27th, 2016

Time
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Place

Inverness Education Centre Academy

59 Veteran Court, Room No. 118

Topic
Coping as a Family

Everyone Welcome!

Do you have a loved one or friend who lives with a mental health and/or addiction problem? 

If Yes, this meeting is for you.  

With sharing comes hope, strength, and wisdom.

For further information about the Inverness County Mental Illness Family Education And Support Group, please contact Jubanti Dhan Toppo, Project Coordinator, Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, by calling (902) 631-1336, or by sending an email: coordinator@ssns.ca.

Antigonish County Mental Illness Family Education & Support Group Meeting

Thursday, November 19th, 6:30 pm

Community Room

The People’s Place Library

283 Main Street

Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Topic
 Talking to a Loved One's Psychiatrist

Guest Speaker
Dr. Sanajana Sridharan, Psychiatrist

Family members and friends of people living with mental illnesses are all welcome to attend and participate. These mental illnesses can include, but are not limited to: psychosis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and depression.

If you have a loved one living with a mental illness, this meeting is for you. With sharing comes hope, strength, and wisdom. Please come join us – together we can bring a significant change in the lives of the people we love.

For further information, please contact: Jubanti Dhan Toppo, Project Coordinator, Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, at 902-631-1336, or send an email to jubanti.dhan.toppo@bellaliant.com.

Artwork by Rodrick J Mackinnon

Infinitely Polar Bear:
Free Film Screening to Raise Awareness of Mental Illness

Saturday, October 10 at 10am

Cineplex Cinemas New Glasgow

612 East River Road, New Glasgow, NS

Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 4 – 10, 2015, and in New Glasgow there will be a free film screening to raise awareness of mental illness and its impact on families.

Infinitely Polar Bear will be screened at 10 am, Saturday, October 10 at Cineplex Cinemas on East River Road, New Glasgow. This will be the first showing of this film in Nova Scotia, a film that was screened last year at international film festivals, including Sundance, Toronto and Vancouver.

The film is the true story of a father with Bipolar who tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters. The film was written and directed by Maya Forbes, telling the story of her father.  

The film is being shown on the last day of Mental Illness Awareness Week, a cause that is very personal for the organizers, Elaine Garland and Cecilia McRae, of the Pictou County Mental Illness Family Support Group.

Cecilia and Elaine’s family’s have both been touched by mental illness. Both sit on the Board of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, and with support from that organization were able to start the Pictou County support group they now co-facilitate.

The Pictou County Mental Illness Family Support Group is fundraising to make the free screening   possible, and the event is being presented in partnership with the Aberdeen Health Foundation.

“The Aberdeen Health Foundation is committed to mental health initiatives and to raising awareness about the Sandbar Mental Health Endowment, a fund that supports mental health treatment and      programs in our community,” says Susan Malcolm of the Aberdeen Health Foundation.

The Foundation is also sponsoring tickets, to provide some of the 200 free seats the organizers hope to have available.

For those wanting to sponsor seats, or in the event the free seats are filled, tickets are $8, including taxes, this is a special ticket price that is being offered by Cineplex for this event. To sponsor or reserve seats contact Elaine at (902) 695-6118. 

To read more about MIAW and the efforts of the PCMIFSG to raise awareness and reduce stigma please visit here.

Getting Mental Health Crisis Support in Nova Scotia

Call (902) 429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free)

The Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (MHMCT) provides intervention and short term crisis management for children, youth and adults experiencing a mental health crisis. They offer 24/7 telephone intervention throughout Nova Scotia - (902) 429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free) - and mobile response (1:00 pm to 1:00 am) in most communities in Halifax Regional Municipality.




Note that this video is four years old and it does not mention the 24/7 telephone crisis intervention service that is now available throughout Nova Scotia.

From this document:

Mental Health Crisis vs. Psychiatric Emergency

A mental health crisis is:

1. an acute disturbance of thinking, mood, behaviour or social relationship that requires an immediate intervention;
2. which involves an element of unpredictability, usually accompanied by a lack of response to social controls; and
3. which may be defined as a crisis by the client, the family or other members of the community.*

Thoughts of suicide, distorted or psychotic thinking, intense anxiety, depression, unable to cope.

A mental health crisis does not necessarily require hospital-based assessment/triage services and can be effectively supported in the community by a team of service providers.

A psychiatric emergency is when a person is an immediate danger to him/herself due to compromised thinking and/or judgement. A psychiatric emergency requires hospital-based treatment services – Call 911 or attend a local emergency department.

* Consistent with B.C.’s Mental Health Reform Crisis Response / Emergency Services

Also see:

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team - Overview Document (2007)

Video focuses on mental health (2013)

N.S. mental health supports reach rural areas (2013)

Meet Halifax's mental health mobile crisis team (2012)

Learning about Schizophrenia: Rays of Hope

A Reference Manual for Families & Caregivers

Revised Fourth Edition (2012)

Please click on the image to magnify it.

To download the 2012 fourth revised edition of Rays of Hope (PDF), please click here.

Printed copies of Rays of Hope are available from the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia at a cost of $10.00 (including shipping).  To order a copy with payment by Visa, MasterCard, or American Express, please call (902) 465-2601 or 1-800-465-2601 (toll-free in Nova Scotia), or send a cheque or money order to:

Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia
Room B-23, Purdy Building
P.O. Box 1004
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B2Y 3Z9

National Guidelines for a Comprehensive Service System to Support Family Caregivers of Adults with Mental Health Problems and Illnesses

A report released on June 27, 2013, by the Mental Health Commission of Canada:

From this webpage:

A loved one’s mental health problem or illness often impacts family, friends and supporters. Caring for a person living with a mental illness often creates emotional, physical, financial and social burdens for caregivers. The Mental Health Commission of Canada has created guidelines for policy makers and service providers that seek to recognize and support family caregivers’ needs, including recommendations on services and supports caregivers find useful.

Please click on the image to magnify it.

To download the entire document (PDF), please click here.

Also see:

National Family Caregiving Support Guidelines

Family Support Group - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Wednesday, January 29th, 7:00 pm

The HRM Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia

hosts the

Dartmouth Family Support Group

When a loved one is diagnosed with a mental illness, or you feel there are mental health issues not being addressed, it can be overwhelming. Many families find that talking with others who have had similar experiences to be very beneficial. This new support group provides an opportunity to learn about resources in the community, navigating the mental health system, strategies to promote recovery and enhance coping skills, and much more.

Meetings are held the last Wednesday of every month. The next meeting is ...

Date

Wednesday, January 29th, 2014

Time

7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Place

Alderney Gate Public Library

Starr Room

60 Alderney Drive

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

For further information, please contact Donna Methot by phoning (902) 462-8658 or sending an email to hrmchapterssns@accesswave.ca.


Photograph by Robert Alfers

Family Education Group for Mood Disorders - Halifax

A poster photographed today at the Mood Disorders Program locaton in Halifax:

Please click on the photograph to magnify it.

From the OurHealthyMinds.ca website:

Mood Disorders Program

Often collaborating with family physicians, the Mood Disorders Program provides consultation, assessment, group therapy and follow up for people living with mood disorders, especially bipolar disorder. The program also provides services for people at high risk of developing a mood disorder as a result of family history, and focuses on mood disorder research and education.

Telephone: (902) 473-2585

Location

Mood Disorders Program
QEII Health Sciences Centre
Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building, 3rd floor
5909 Veterans' Memorial Lane
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 3E2

Also see:

Research: Mood Disorders (Dalhousie University)

Mood Disorders Research Group Contact Page

Disclosure guidelines protect privacy, improve care

An opinion piece published in today's edition of The Chronicle Herald.

By Ian Slayter (pictured)

Capital Health’s Mental Health Program recognizes the need to listen better to our patients. Only the people living with mental illness can help us understand their goals and needs as they see them. For this reason, we must provide them with the information, treatment and support they need to follow their own path to recovery.

Often, care is shouldered by families — people, whether relatives or friends, who provide the emotional and practical support that is so critical to someone living with mental illness. They are one of our greatest resources because they provide timely, insightful information about a person who is becoming more ill or not responding well to treatments.

Providing families with general information about treatment and care improves their understanding of what their loved one may be experiencing. If we encourage patients to consent to share basic clinical information about their illness, treatment and needs, families are better able to help them. We know from research that working with families improves patient outcomes.

We have a duty of care not only to the patient but also secondarily to the family, as defined above, both to help them support the patient, and to help them cope with the challenges of living with, and caring for, someone with mental illness.

We have drafted disclosure guidelines, with insight from individuals living with mental illness, families and care providers to guide how and what information can be shared when the patient consents, and what is withheld when the patient is not prepared to do so.

This is all in accordance with the Personal Health Information Act and other applicable laws of Nova Scotia. We are now finalizing the guidelines in response to the extensive feedback received from stakeholders.

In an April 28 opinion piece titled "Mental health care: Are our rights to privacy being eroded?" Aileen McGinty stated that our policies, meaning the draft disclosure guidelines, "may not be in compliance with legislation." However, we have taken steps to ensure that the guidelines do follow legislation and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

She suggested the guidelines prioritize the rights of family members over the rights of patients. We respect the rights of the individuals living with mental illness and work with them to arrive at the level of consent they are comfortable with, first and foremost. There are certain situations, allowed by law, where limited disclosure may be necessary to prevent danger.

Patients’ personal health information is private and confidential. The central message of our guidelines is that care providers should explain to patients that sharing of some of their clinical information about their illness, treatment and related needs can improve the level of their support. The care providers are advised to ask if the patient wishes to consent to share particular information with designated persons.

Ms. McGinty’s feedback is helpful; we need to make certain elements clearer. We have received a lot of helpful feedback from many people. The disclosure guidelines will be available on our website, OurHealthyMinds.com, along with other supporting material.

Collaboration is a major step in improving our services. The insight we gain from individuals and families based on their experiences in our system is invaluable. The disclosure guidelines provide a process to open communication among individuals, families and care providers, while protecting and respecting the rights of individuals living with mental illness.

Dr. Ian Slayter is clinical director, Adult General Psychiatry Services, Capital Health Mental Health Program; and assistant professor, Dalhousie University, department of psychiarty.

Also see:

CDHA Mental Health Program Disclosure Guidelines - DRAFT - 30 March 2011

Putting the sibling back into the family

A December 8th news story from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine:

By Laurie Wang

The role of brothers and sisters is often overlooked when it comes to family support for those with mental illness.

“When people think of family, they often think of the parents, not the siblings,” said Liz Taylor, professor of occupational therapy at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. “There’s a lifelong impact on the healthy sibling living with the ill sibling—something we often forget.”

The researcher conducted a narrative study on women who had a sibling with schizophrenia. She also spoke on the topic at the University of Alberta Calgary Centre Rehabilitation Seminar Series in mid November.

“The siblings wanted to be involved, but never got to be. Perhaps the parents were trying to protect them, but they told me they felt left out of the medical education the parents received,” Taylor said. “And then when they’re older, their parents are aging so they are the ones being asked to be caregivers, but they don’t have all the information.”

It is also common for the parents to focus on the child with mental illness over the others. Taylor explained that from the people she interviewed, a majority reported that they would feel left out so they’d cope by having achievements outside the home.

“Leisurely activities became a form of escape. The women in the study were highly successful and well-educated. They perceived themselves as helpers—some were health-care professionals themselves,” Taylor said. “But they always felt they had to be even more successful and needed to achieve more.”

An underlying theme was the inability to enjoy time with family.

“They felt they were unable to celebrate and that they had to put on an act that they were happy. One woman said to me, ‘I feel like a fraud with my own children,’” she explained.

All of the women in the study were willing to accept that they would need to be caregivers to their siblings. “It wasn’t a matter of ‘I don’t want to’; it was a matter of ‘I don’t know how to.’ They just felt like they were doing it without any information,” said Taylor.
She stressed the importance of letting the healthy sibling be involved early on, even at a young age.

“Health-care professionals need to know that family is more than just mom and dad. Everyone in the family needs to learn how to give support,” she said. “As an occupational therapist working with families, I need to remind myself to include the siblings when I talk to families too.”

Taylor is teaching her occupational therapy students how to be more inclusive in their future practice and get the whole family involved.

“I’d also like to see the future generation of parents demanding that all their children are involved. Teachers should also encourage healthy siblings to take part in being part of the support and solution,” she continued.

Taylor says that the Schizophrenia Society of Canada and other organizations have played a positive role in educating people and providing information, but that teachers, parents, health-care workers and friends need to provide support for the sibling too.

“There needs to be more support groups for the siblings. We need to encourage them to get the information and education they need,” Taylor said. “The more you understand, the more you can give support and be a part of the team.”

Links:

• Download PDF of story published in Edmonton Journal

About the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine

As the only free standing faculty of rehabilitation in Canada, the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine balances its activities among learning, discovery and citizenship (including clinical practice). A research leader in musculoskeletal health, spinal cord injuries and common spinal disorders (back pain), the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine aims to improve the quality of life of citizens in our community. The three departments, Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT) and Speech Pathology and Audiology (SPA) offer professional entry programs. The Faculty offers thesis-based MSc and PhD programs in Rehabilitation Science, attracting students from a variety of disciplines including OT, PT, SLP, psychology, physical education, medicine and engineering.

Photo credit