Mental Health in Canada

When Will They Wake Up? As I mentioned in one of my recent blogs I was over at my son’s house watching a video about SNFU and their lead singer. Ken Chinn. This video managed to rile me up again as it showed how our mental heath system it is not doing its job. Actually I can’t blame this video for getting me angry. Even though I have been out of the mental health field for several months now I still think about the mentally ill and their plight every day. What really gets to me is that I know there are answers and solutions out there. They just need to be acted upon. I’m not saying that we can create a perfect life for the seriously mentally ill. What I am saying is that we can give the seriously mentally ill a lot better quality of life than they have now. Why are we not doing that? We are not doing that because of the politics and money that is involved. The seriously mentally ill do not have a high enough priority in our society. Our governments must be prepared and willing to spe...

Is Recovery From Depression Possible? Is recovery from depression possible? It depends upon how one defines recovery. If one is talking about remaining free of the symptoms of depression for the rest of their life I would say that this is possible for some but not others. Some people are fortunate in experiencing only one episode of major depression in their lives. For others the prognosis is not as good. These individuals will likely experience recurrent episodic bouts of clinical depression. Persons in this second group may need to take medication for the rest of their lives. If the side effects are not too bothersome one will become used to taking meds. It will become part of their daily routine similar to taking nutritional supplements on a daily basis, There is another type of depression known as dysthymia. Dysthymia is a mood disorder in which an individual may still be able to function at their job and can meet most of life’s demands. The problem is that they are in a chronic ...

Recovery From Depression In my experience I have found that depression is a condition that cannot be cured but can be managed. I will now list some of the things that I have found help full in maintaining my recovery. 1 getting enough sleep. 2 eating a healthy diet 3 getting regular exercise 4 trying to moderate stress levels 5 trying to find work situations that are not excessively stressful 6 having a counselor to discuss your issues with 7 having a relaxed attitude towards life 8 getting in lots of leisure time 9 trying not to put a lot of pressure on yourself 10 trying to get along with others as best I can 11 having plenty of time to do the things I like to do 12 trying not to rush when working on a project 13 having faith in a Higher Power that is looking after me at all times 14 having pets 15 recognizing my limitations

Living With Depression If anyone finds that they have a significant number of the symptoms I wrote about my advice from one who has been there is to get help. As debilitating as the disease of depression can be, it is treatable in most cases. You do not need to continue suffering on your own. My experience is that few if any actually beat this illness solely on their own efforts. Some form of assistance is usually needed and this is nothing to feel bad about. I have read and heard some say that suffering is good for the soul, but I for the life of me cannot see what it is good for. There probably is only one exception. After you have suffered you can relate to what others are going through. All the same the idea is to stop the suffering. If you have all or most of the symptoms listed in my previous post you should make an appointment with your family doctor. He or she will be able to advise you if you tell them about your symptoms. Medication can be very helpful when it comes to tre...

The Forgotten People In a few of my previous blogs,   I may have touched upon the topic of schizophrenia. For thirteen years I worked as a mental health worker in two residential rehabilitation facilities for persons with severe and persistent psychiatric disorders. The vast majority of the clients I worked with had schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a biological brain disorder that can render some very debilitating symptoms grouped as either positive or negative symptoms. The positive symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations and delusions. The negative symptoms include fatigue, lack of motivation, blunt affect, poverty of speech and a few other disabling symptoms. The prognosis for a person receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia is usually not very hopeful. The supposition is that the person with schizophrenia is going to lose many basic things associated with a good quality of life. Theses include things like gainful employment, a good education and a decent material stand...

What Is Normal ? The term normal gets thrown around a lot in general conversation and very often when talking about mental health. The question is, “What is normal?” I suppose from a clinical psychiatric or psychological perspective it would be not having a diagnosable psychiatric illness. Of course, if one is to go by this definition Casey Anthony is normal and your brother who is addicted to coffee is not.   In my experience, if people are honest, most of us are dysfunctional to some degree or another. If someone claims to be totally without dysfunction they are probably either lying or are in denial. I know that this post will probably make some people angry but this is what I believe.

Recovery And Mental Illness Recovery has become a popular term in the field of mental health. The question is what is meant by recovery. The concept of recovery can have many different connotations depending upon the specific context For example if a person falls off their bike their recovery is likely going to be determined by the severity of their injuries. If the person falling from his bike gets up and discovers that he or she only has a few minor scrapes and bruises, prognosis for recovery is likely to be very positive. In other words the individual will be expected to make a complete recovery within a short period of time. It is predicted that they will quickly return to one hundred per cent of their previous functionality. In this best case scenario recovery means a complete return to your former state of health. When we are talking about recovery from mental illness a return to optimum health and return to previous level of functioning is the exception rather than the rule. T...

Community Mental Health in Canada This week I have been reading a book called Community Mental Health in Canada by Simon Davis. As a former mental health worker I can relate to a lot of the information that he is presenting. Mr. Davis focuses upon those who have serious and persistent mental conditions. These are among the people who are the most disenfranchised in society. Although I have been out of the mental health field for several months now, there are still many things that bother me. In my opinion Canada is not doing enough for those who have serious psychiatric disorders. Simon Davis talks about the policy, theory and practice of community mental health in Canada . In my experience the practice leaves a lot to be desired. Those people with serious and persistent mental disorders face enormous obstacles in our society. They are often in poor physical health, live in substandard housing, are often unemployed and live in poverty. On top of all this they face a tremendous stig...

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Low Staffing : "Many psychiatric treatment and residential units have deplorable levels of staffing. In several mental health facilities it is not unusual t..."

Many psychiatric treatment and residential units have deplorable levels of staffing. In several mental health facilities it is not unusual to find only one staff on duty per shift. How is it possible to meet the varied needs of residents with psychiatric disabilities with only one person in charge? The answer is that it isn't. This situation is almost a guaranteed recipe for staff burnout. In some facilities the workers are paid a reasonable living wage. These workers are almost always unionized. The problem is that these residential units will have the worst staffing situations as their employers will state that they can't afford any additional staff. I sometimes wonder how much benefit the unions are actually giving the workers in these cases. Yes, the workers are getting paid a living wage bu at what cost to their health and well being. The other situation that I have seen is where there is a better staff to client ratio but each worker is being paid a poverty level wage. Th...

A few days ago I was talking about the quality of life of your average resident living in some kind of residential community treatment setting. I have personally worked in two such facilities. Overall the quality of life of your typical resident is poor. One of the reasons for this is that governments are simply not providing the necessary resources and supports to improve the quality of life of the severely mentally ill client. There are two many layers of bureaucracies and agencies that often have very different agendas and work at cross purposes with each other. There is a paucity of front line workers as too much of the allocated funding goes into keeping the bureaucratic machine running. A lot of paper gets pushed and meetings go on ad nausea but the end product consumers are not being well served. The front line workers are in a much better position to know the needs of their clients as the clients are usually closer to the residential care and life skills workers than anyone...

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Classroom Instruction for the Mentally Ill Part Tw... : "What are the characteristics of a successful teacher of the mentally ill? 1) comfortable with all social and economic sectors of the popula..."

What are the characteristics of a successful teacher of the mentally ill? 1) comfortable with all social and economic sectors of the population. 2) easy going with a laid back classroom presentation. 3) flexibility- is able to make changes in the lesson plan during the lesson. If the lesson does not appear to be "going over" it's time to change course. The teacher controls the lesson plan and content not the other way around, 4) The teacher is able to locate appropriate learning resources, The teacher also knows how to do research. 5)  The teacher is capable of creating their own teaching resources. 6)  The teacher is capable and willing to make changes to formal curriculum material. 7) The teacher knows their students well and can use this knowledge as a basis for making changes in formal curriculum resources. 8) The teacher must be able to covey that he likes his or her students and looks forward to working with them.

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Classroom Instruction June 29, 2011 : "In my opinion classroom instruction is one of the key ingredients of a successful psycho-social rehabilitation program. Unfortunately, teach..."

In my opinion classroom instruction is one of the key ingredients of a successful psycho-social rehabilitation program. Unfortunately, teaching classes to the mentally disabled is often considered a frill. This is an element of the program that is often not taken seriously. One of the main reasons that it is not is because many supervisors do not have people on staff who are qualified to teach. For staff who are not or have never been professional teachers the thought of having to teach a class can be quite intimidating. These staff have every right to be hesitant about teaching or leading groups. In my opinion staff who want to teach need professional training. They should either be licensed professional teachers or have had the opportunity to work under a teacher for a minimum of six months. Anything less is not fair to the staff or the residents of the facility. One option might be for residential treatment programs to bring in qualified teachers on a contract basis. Anothe...

Most persons with severe and chronic psychiatric disabilities live in poverty. They are provided with a minimum standard of income and health benefits to survive. Residents of group homes and residential rehabilitation units have little if any money to pursue their personal goals.The situation is made worse by the fact that a large majority of people with psychiatric illness smoke cigarettes. The use of tobacco on a daily basis is a very expensive way to pass the time. I am convinced ,however, that smoking tobacco offers some relief to the residents and for many of them makes their lives tolerable, The psychiatric resident does not have a great deal to look forward to when they get up in the morning. They look forward to having a cigarette and perhaps a coffee and a Coke. In many cases the clients are not provided with caffeinated coffee. Apparently, there is scientific evidence that caffeine interferes with the efficacy of their medications. Ironically,smoking is usually allo...

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Qualtiy of Life : "What is quality of life for the severely mentally ill person? Quality of life ,of course, includes the the minimum standards for survival su..."

What is quality of life for the severely mentally ill person? Quality of life ,of course, includes the the minimum standards for survival such as food, clothing,a roof over your head and medical and dental care.Too often our present medical system stops at this point. The powers that be think that they have done enough for mental health consumers at this point. In my opinion they have not. If these standards indicate a sufficient quality of life then my dogs and cats meet the minimal requirement. In fact my pets have a better quality of care than this as they also get love, recreation and exercise as well. Something is wrong with this picture. Although there are times in life when survival alone is one's major goal this should not be a permanent state of mind, To be human and a creation of God entitles us to a much more abundant life. Why are we not providing this for persons with severely debilitating psychiatric disorders? The answer, unfortunately, comes down to mone...

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing part ... : "10) The quality of life of the mental health consumer is often ignored. The average person with a severe and persistent psychiatric disabili..."

10) The quality of life of the mental health consumer is often ignored. The average person with a severe and persistent psychiatric disability lives in a state of poverty. If their finances are not managed by a mental health worker the client is often going to have great difficulty managing his or her money. A few clients may have learned how to manage their money prior to becoming ill. In my experience the majority of psychiatric rehabilitation clients have little success in applying this essential life skill. This should not come as a surprise as a large number of people who have not been diagnosed with a severe mental illness also have great difficulty managing their money. Living in a constant state of poverty and/or debt is not good for anyone's mental health. Being able to pursue hobbies is a significant factor in a person's quality of life, As most of us know most hobbies cost money. The severely mentally disabled are often unable to pursue their passions in life due t...

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing its C... : "(cont.): 7) The wishes of the mental health consumers are sometimes requested but their indicated desires are often ignored. Government bur..."

(cont.): 7) The wishes of the mental health consumers are sometimes requested but their indicated desires are often ignored. Government bureaucracies still think that they know better than the mental health consumers themselves. The bureaucrats' decisions are not based on their personal experiences but are often a reflection of the latest trend in mental health theory. Theories by their very nature come, go and sometimes recycle themselves years later. During this process the mental health consumer finds themselves involuntarily being part of the next great experiment in psychiatric rehabilitation. Needless to say it is the mental health clients themselves who live out the practical consequences of the next "best practice" in mental health. 8) A recent theory is that the best outcome for a mental health consumer is to live in out in the community on an independent basis. In a perfect world this makes a lot of sense. The sad reality, however, is that there will always be...

Why Canada's Mental Health System is Failing Its C: Why Canada's mental Heath System is Failing Its Cl... : "If you have been reading my previous blogs on teaching the seriously mentally ill you may remember that up until the last few months I was e..."

If you have been reading my previous blogs on teaching the seriously mentally ill you may remember that up until the last few months I was employed as a front line mental health worker in a psychiatric rehabilitation facility. In my opinion our present mental health system is failing miserably in meeting the needs of those persons with severe and persistent psychiatric disabilities. I know that there will be people working in the present mental health system who will disagree with my statements and be offended by what I am writing in my blogs. These persons especially administrators and policy makers are entitled to their own opinions just as I am entitled to mine. With this in mind I will write down what I think needs to be said. After thirteen years of working as a front line worker in the mental health field I have made several observations which I will share with you now. What follows is a list of these observations from my own experience and self initiated research: 1) The pres...