People First Radio

Michael Sellick lives in Nova Scotia and teaches crochet on YouTube to an audience of 1.3 million subscribers. It’s a hobby he says he first discovered when he was going through a difficult period in his youth. “Two weeks into  high school, I had no friends at all,” he said. “And I was unable to […]

University instructors Jamie Brownlee and Kevin Walby are the authors of Psychedelic Capitalism, a book that takes a critical look at the direction of the mainstreaming of psychedelic drugs, particularly within the medical system. “We began this work, I would say, with a sense of naive optimism, even enthusiasm that this psychedelic renaissance, this process […]

Cole Kennedy, a Phd student in neuropsychology at the University of Victoria, led newly published research aimed at improving healthcare for people with brain injuries experiencing homelessness and mental health and substance use issues. “We know that every brain injury is different, so the cookie cutter approach doesn’t work in terms of treatment as well […]

As a journalist and documentary maker, Luke Galati says he’s learned that good storytelling has a through line. “ It has something that takes you from the beginning, the middle to the end,” he said. In the two documentaries Galati has made about mental health, he says he’s been that through line. “Using myself as the […]

CRCL stands for “crisis response community led.” It’s a model for a team that brings lived experience and minimizes police involvement in mental health related crisis situations. CRCL used to be called Peer Assisted Care Team or PACT. It’s funded by the Province of British Columbia, developed, and administered by the Canadian Mental Health Association, […]

Janel Van Dongen is the founder of 100 Kids For Change Oceanside. It’s a group that brings youth together to support local charities. Inspired by similar groups in the area for men and women, 100 Kids members meet every three months. Each member brings a $10 donation, and a charity to nominate. At each meeting […]

About a year ago, Joanna Pozzulo of Carleton University started the Reading For Well-Being Community Bookclub. “ I wanted to use my background in psychology and research to really highlight for people books that I think might be useful, or at least interesting to read,” she said. “ It’s more around well being rather than trying to […]

Laura Eramian of Dalhousie University was the lead author on a study looking at the experiences of 21 Atlantic Canadians who identified as having no or very few friends. “There really was no single profile of a person who identified as having fewer no friends. We had participants ranging from their late teens up to […]

Rob Wipond, author of Your Consent is Not Required, visited Nanaimo for an author talk on his book, which takes a critical look at involuntary psychiatric treatment. Wipond says that in the late 90s, after voluntarily seeking treatment, his father was committed for a period of several months, which included experiences of forced electrocunvulsive therapy. “ This […]

Guelph On. resident Elaine Uskoski’s journey to becoming an author, coach, and speaker on the issue of video game addiction got started on Halloween in 2014. “ I got an SOS email from my son who was in his first semester of second year university,” Uskoski said. “He had been backed into a corner where he […]