Life Unscripted - Stories of Mental Health and Addiction

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Darcy Patrick is a Mental Health advocate, speaker, coach and author of 5 books about his journey from severe depression to wellness.  Two years ago he ended up in hospital in excruciating back pain.  Doctors still haven’t figured out what caused the serious erosion in two discs in his back and he still lives with debilitating pain. 

I met Darcy almost 10 years ago and he is one of the most determined people I know so I asked him to share how he’s using his mental health skills to help him live with constant pain. 

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Schizophrenia is the least understood and the most stigmatized any mental illness.  

Imagine how scary it can be for the person living with schizophrenia when every minute of the day voices in their head talking to them. When we hear someone yelling on the street, they're yelling at their voices. Signs and symptoms may vary, but usually involve delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, and reflect an impaired ability to function in daily routines.

The stigma of is so strong that many people don’t want to talk about their illness, or aren't well enough, but Jesse Bigelow is on the show today to share his experiences.

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Tara Mckendrick is Executive Director of Canadian mental health association Niagara.  Taratalks about CMHA Niagara crisis services and also help define what is a crisis. Like most communities Niagara has a homeless and addiction crisis but Tara says we can’t just look at solving the problem, we have to find out the story of how a person got to where they are.  It will help people think about possibilities and maybe find hope.

Canadian Mental Health Association Niagiara: https://niagara.cmha.ca
Canadian Mental Health Association National: https://cmha.ca
If you are having thoughts of suicide call or text 9-8-8 The Suicide Crisis Help Line 

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9-8-8 is a new 3-digit suicide crisis help line is being rolled out across Canada. The line will connect people who are experiencing thoughts of suicide to their to their local suicide prevention lines and make it easier for areas that don’t currently have a line. 988 is for people who are in crisis but does not replace 911, which should still be called if someone is in danger or actively trying to harm themselves.

The Center for  Addiction and Mental Health was tasked with creating the line and to work with local mental health organizations to help them set up the technology to implement it.

Dr. Allison Crawford leads the 9-8-8 team.

Learn more about 988 on the CAMH Website

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No one likes to have cold feet and most of us take for granted that we can buy warm socks and be comfortable during the winter. But so many people who are homeless or struggling financially to keep food on the table aren’t able to buy basic necessities like socks. Kids are going to school without warm socks or sometimes no socks at all. 

SocksforChange.ca founder Sam Baio saw the need for warm socks and started Socksforchange.ca in Niagara, which is a volunteer run charity that donates thousands of warm wool socks to organizations and schools across Niagara. 

To buy socks or donate go to: socksforchange.ca

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Feed Ontario has released it’s annual Hunger Report. Five million people visited foods banks across the province in the past year. One in 6 identified as having a job.  

Sadly,  food bank visits have increased at the same time people’s ability to give has declined. 

 On the show today are Carolyn Stewart CEO of Feed Ontario and Christine Clark-Lafleur CEO of Port Cares and part of Feed Niagara.  

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A decision on whether to offer Medical Assistaince in Dying – or MaiD -  to people living with a mental illness in Canada has  been delayed again until March of 2024.

It’s such a complex issue and there’s a real division in the mental health community over whether MaiD should be expanded to include mental health. Some psychiatrists are firmly against it and others are firmly in favour.

We mostly hear about MaiD for people who have terminal illness with no chance of recovery, such as end stage cancer.  But in fact, death doesn’t have to be imminent or foreseeable but the illness must be quote "grievous and irremediable".

As of now there are no agreed upon standards for psychiatrists or other healthcare practitioners.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is concerned with the federal government’s intention to extend MAiD eligibility to people whose sole medical condition is mental illness, in part because of the lack of consensus on the issue.

Eram Chhogala is an emergency trauma nurse in Toronto and she has been on the show a few times to talk about the increasing number of people coming to emergency with a mental health issue. She doesn't support  MaiD for mental illness. Instead, she says governments should put more money into researching treatments.

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National Addiction Awareness Week (Nov. 10-25, 2023) is spearheaded by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.  Inspiration, Innovation and Inclusion is this year's focus. CCSA has released a report on the cost of substance use and addiction. It found that in 2020, substance use in Canada cost $49.1 billion, largely from alcohol and tobacco. Opioid deaths accounted for $7 billion with 75% of that attributed to young people dying. 

Marnie Prokator from Community and Addiction Services of Niagara, or CASON, talks about the wide variety of services CASON provides. They are free and no referral is needed.

For more information about CASON go to - cason.ca

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This year the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is focusing it’s no one left behind fundraising campaign on substance use and addiction.  Opioid use and deaths are still the biggest crisis with more 7300 deaths in Canada in 2022. But use of stimulants like methamphetamine, also know as crystal meth, is also increasing.  Mixed drug toxicity, for example meth with an opioid, is a major contributor to overdoses and deaths.

Dr. Leslie Buckley is chief of addcition services at CAMH and she’s on the show today to talk about stimulants.

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Important news from Pathstone Mental Health. Pathstone is now the direct access point for all publicly funded mental health services in Niagara for children aged birth-18 years.  It's taking over from Contact Niagara so parents and youth now have a single intake number to call for all mental health services in the region.

Please call or e-mail Pathstone directly at 905-688-6850 ext. 8 or [email protected] You can also complete an intake form online at www.pathstonementalhealth.ca. 

Also exciting this fall is the opening of the River House location in Welland and the new pop-up walk-in clinic at Seaway Mall, based on the successful walk-in at the Pen Centre.