Mentally ill being 'set up for failure' with short hospital stays

From the August 22nd edition of The Province:

By Becky Rynor, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA - Hospitals may be discharging patients with chronic mental conditions like schizophrenia too quickly, suggest new statistics released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

"We're kind of setting people up for failure," said Schizophrenia Society of Canada president Pamela Forsythe. "If we send people out before there's been a chance to arrange appropriate follow-up services or address issues around inadequate housing or access to appropriate supports and treatments . . . the gains that may be starting to appear from the time in hospital are very quickly lost."

To read the entire article, click here.

The SSNS’s 20th Annual Conference - Held Friday, May 30th, 2008

Families as Partners in Mental Health Care

Plenary Speaker

Dr. Gráinne Fadden, Director of Meriden, the West Midlands Family Programme, UK

Developing Effective Partnerships with Families - Benefits and Challenges

To view Dr. Fadden's PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).




Cyril Allan (right), president of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, with Dr. Gráinne Fadden (please click on the photograph to enlarge it).

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Pamela Forsythe, President, Schizophrenia Society of Canada

"Prejudiced, who me? Are the attitudes of health care professionals contributing to stigma about schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses?"

To view Dr. Forsythe's PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).

Additional Presentations

Ms. Jane Gillis, Pharm.D., Manager, Pharmacare Business Solutions, Nova Scotia Department of Health. An Overview of the Nova Scotia Family Pharmacare Program.

To view Dr. Gillis' PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).

Ms. Patricia Murphy Cosgrove, MSW, RSW, Clinical Social Worker, Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program. Families: PARTNERS IN RECOVERY (Not Just Rhetoric).

To view Ms. Murphy Cosgrove's PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).

To view the PowerPoint presentation on Vincent van Gogh, please click here (PowerPoint file).


Conference Organizing Committee

Dr. Stephen Ayer, Executive Director, SSNS
Ms. Dachia Joudrey, Vice-President, SSNS


The Conference Brochure is available by clicking here (PDF).



Please click on the image to enlarge it.