A Glimpse into the Town-Hall Meeting

The Town-Hall Meeting was held in a small location in a room in a library. I would estimate there was 100 people there, some of whom had to be turned away, because of fire regulations. Some were only able to stand, as chairs were not able to be brought in, due to these regulations. The meeting began with an acknowledgment of suicide survivors day. We all had to leave within the two and a half hour period.
Overall many speakers were present, some who showed up by surprise, such as Amanda Todd's mother. The information was plentiful, but the question period was too limited, not even a half hour. Advertisement for the meeting was minimal and very delayed.

Sadly, I saw very few people who took notes, and even fewer did so from the organizing groups. ( I realize some of the volunteers left the room to make space for the people coming in) Apparently, 20-25% of all people suffer from mental illness, and it hits 70% of the people when they are young. 1.2 million of Canada's youth has mental health problems, and 50% drop out when they're no longer a child.

 Doctors have not learned how to include the family in a persons road to recovery, as they are the ones there for the ups and downs. Instead of a trauma system approach we have a prescription  mode of approach. They want to speed up the grieving process, so many people suffering from mental health have to take sick leaves, and go on uppers which off course carry their own side effects. One lady shared how, once a diagnosis is made then women are prone to loose custody of their children. If by chance you mention the word suicide, you likely will be shipped off to a hospital, and it will take months to try to clear your name.

There are long waits to private and public services. Sometimes the wait list is 8-9 months wait for a social worker, 1-2 years for a psychiatrist, and 5-10 years of therapy to figure out if someone is suicidal.

Culture plays a huge roll in the system. Culture speaks of identity, values, morals. Language is only a small part in understanding what someone is saying. For instance in the South Asian mental health, when someone says "I have a ball rolling in my tummy", that means that they are depressed. There is a "moral distress" among our populace. They feel passionate about the work they do, but feel very limited with what they can do. It grieves them when they are told that they can work with this population of folks but not this one. Thereby, and organization called Genesis has addressed this need, and started a non-profit organization, that deals mostly with counselling. All volunteers are welcome in this outreach, they promise they will find a place for us, even if we are an information technologies technician. They wish to work with people without boundaries. The organization "Safer" in Vancouver has had excellent reviews, but they are feeling like they are burning out. The need outweighs their resources.

It is known that there is 1 counselor to 800 students in high schools, and 1 to 1,600 in elementary schools. A safe room for children is needed in every school where a behavior specialist or counselor can help a child. Mental health all under one roof has also been recommended to at least offer one central location.

List of organizations brought up in conversation :
Colony House, Surrey Talks, Right By You, Genesis
Safer-Vancouver
Act 2-Vancouver, No more Bandaids.ca
Morgan Forry-national call for a Mental Health Ministry
Say it with Snowflakes/Grieving moms and dads- Facebook
The TD bank has done a study as to how many days people loose from their work due to Mental Health-( this study is a very well put together one)
 http://www.mentalhealthworks.ca/sites/default/files/free_resources/MHW_workplace_resource_web_June2012.pdf

My daughters feel that this occasion was not productive and feel that it was only talk. As suicide survivors themselves, they realize that money drives policy, and we have to continue to create the space to talk. We are looking forward to the follow up meeting in January which was indicated by our politicians.