Richard Balser, a member of the Lunenburg County Chapter, presenting his artwork to Sandy Conrad.
Rita and Jennifer, winners the Best Elf Contest.
Kaye Joudrey, Santa's favourite elf, helps Santa (a.k.a. Linda Dagley) hand out some early Christmas gifts.
Jean Covert and Denton Conrad elfing it up!
The Scary Witch won 1st prize for the most creative and scary costume.
Our gal Audrey a.k.a. Aubrey Zinck won 2nd prize for the funniest costume and the nicest legs.
Juanita won a prize for the best foreign costume.
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.
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
By Paula Levy
Richard Balser receives art instruction from Janet Knickle-Mason of Indian Path. The Lunenburg County Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia is raising funds to help pay for lessons.
In his small apartment on King Street in Bridgewater, Richard Balser's kitchen is often turned into a makeshift studio. During the day he confesses to spending hours with an easel and paintbrush perfecting the smallest of details in his art.
"I feel really happy when it does turn out well." He smiles when showing several pieces he is currently working on.
Mr. Balser, 52, has paranoid schizophrenia. In addition to his mental illness, Mr. Balser was blessed with the ability to paint.
"I like it better than a photograph," says Mr. Balser, calling attention to framed pieces in his living room. "It's an outlet because I don't think about my illness when I paint. … With my art it's so therapeutic because I can be ordinary and normal, like everybody else."
Few people have ever seen Mr. Balser's art. Up until recently his friends and family were really the only people who knew he was able to take a pallet of paints and transform them into beautiful canvas paintings.
Mr. Balser lacked the confidence in his abilities to publicly display his creations. His lack of self-assurance was a direct result of dealing with tormentors for most of his life.
"People are really cruel sometimes," he says, noting that on top of being made fun of, he was dealing with bouts of psychosis.
But with the help of Jan House and the Lunenburg County Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, his work is finally beginning to leave his apartment and he is slowly developing confidence in the gift he feels came from his mother.
Ms. House remembers how Mr. Balser volunteered to paint name tags for the chapter. When she saw the amazing creations, she knew that Mr. Baler's talents shouldn't go unnoticed.
"I couldn't believe it. He had painted the most gorgeous irises," says Ms. House.
Last year the charitable group held several events to raise money to help fund art lessons so that Mr. Balser's natural skills could be further developed. The group enrolled him in lessons with Janet Knickle-Mason of Indian Path.
This year Mr. Balser is ready to take advanced art lessons. To help pay for this year's classes, the chapter is holding a Wine Tasting and Silent Art Auction at the Fairview Inn on October 24 from 7 to 9 p.m.
It will be the first time that Mr. Balser will have a public showing of just his art and the paintings will be auctioned to pay for art lessons. Ms. House says each piece of art will be paired with a bottle of wine that will be labelled with a replica of Mr. Balser's work.
Ms. House notes that his art teacher is also encouraging Mr. Balser to finish paintings and to believe that his work is indeed good enough for and worthy of public viewing.
In fact, Ms. Knickle-Mason convinced Mr. Balser to allow her to take one of his paintings to an art sale. Mr. Balser sold that painting. It was the first piece he has ever sold.
"I am a professional artist," smiles Mr. Balser in disbelief. He is continuing to work on confidence in his abilities as an artist.
Richard Balser receives art instruction from Janet Knickle-Mason of Indian Path. The Lunenburg County Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia is raising funds to help pay for lessons.
Assisted by Denton Conrad (left), past-president of the Lunenburg County Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia (LCC-SSNS), Stephen Ayer, executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, draws the names of the winners of the raffle. 
Denton Conrad (left) presents the painting donated by Jane Whitfield Smith to Second-Prize Winner Margaret Burton.
Gail Corkum, Richard Balser, and Jan House (left to right) volunteering at the LCC-SSNS's display booth during the SSNS's 20th Annual Conference held in Halifax on May 30th, 2008.
Gail Corkum (left) and Richard Balser volunteering at the LCC-SSNS's display booth (with Big Bird in the foreground!).
Click on the images to enlarge them.
