January 25th was "Mental Health Awareness" day in Canada. This year "Bell Let's Talk" day had a new campaign, which was "let's change this". It is a campaign to raise awareness and combat stigma around mental health. Bell donated $10 million to create positive change for mental health.
In Canada, 12 people every day take their own lives. Ninety percent of those suicides are a result of mental illness, especially depression. Nunavut has a suicide rate ten times higher than the Canadian rate and the highest in the world. Men commit suicide 3-4 times more often than women, that is the same for male youth. The medical profession with the highest suicide rate is male dentists, followed by physicians, pharmacists and then nurses.
In today's world with so many experts in the field of suicide, the rate continues to rise. Some reasons are: underdiagnosed mental health conditions, barriers to care, stereotypes and discrimination associated with poor mental health, racism and discrimination and disparities in the use of mental health services.
It is not uncommon for people to be on a mental health leave from work. Young people in the prime of their lives, are trying to make sense of their lives. The use of prescription drugs must be at an all-time high. Prescriptions are given to help people cope during the day, to sleep at night or both. It seems like a cycle, people on stress leave stay at home, take their prescriptions, may or may not get counselling or other help depending on what they can afford. Then when they feel strong enough, they often return to the same situation that may have caused the leave in the first place.
Homelessness, seems to be increasing across our country. In Canada, the largest population of homelessness are aged 25-34 years. Twenty percent are youth between 13-24 years old, or one in five shelter users. Toronto has the highest homeless rate followed by Calgary then Vancouver. The lowest percentage is Lethbridge followed by Saskatoon. Syria has the highest rate of homelessness in the world and the lowest is in Japan. The most common reasons for the homelessness are: loss of employment, family break-up, family violence, mental illness, drug abuse and lack of affordable housing.
A good majority of Canada is like Manitoba and has had a very cold winter with frequent cold weather advisories. The Bear Clan in both Winnipeg and Brandon try to help by asking for donations of: coats, mitts, warming pads or whatever can be given to help the homeless. I can't image being cold for 24 hours every day, all day, trying to sleep while freezing and also hungry. Winnipeg have pop up shelters, churches and other places open their doors to provide the homeless a warm spot during extreme conditions. I was told a few years ago our homeless total is about 100. In Brandon, the Samaritan House has the capacity of 41 shelter beds. Warming centers are set up, if the need is in excess of that amount. These centers don't offer a bed, they offer a chair and a blanket and a warm spot.
Like most communities, Brandon has the problem of increased drug use and the violence associated with it. I am not sure if it is just me, but I feel very little about the drug problem is shared to the public. The instant addiction and subsequent psychoses that comes with Crystal Meth use is escalating. Some users chose to take that first hit of meth, some get it mixed with other drugs. In any event they are now addicted to a powerful chemical that they feel they can't live without. Meth is just one of the drugs that is used, but it is the one that is cheap and very accessible. The cycle of drug use is challenging for the police as the user has to be accessed at the hospital before going to jail or returned to the street. The resources and people to help this situation seem to be limited.
I am not sure why I chose to write about a topic that I know very little about. I have absolutely nothing to offer as solutions to the problems I have just written about. I have never considered suicide, nor been diagnosed with a mental health illness. I know that the police are overworked trying to deal with the issues associated with drug use. Taking that person to the hospital or to jail is not a fix, it is a band aid to the problem for the moment. My knowledge about the homeless in my city is limited. I got more from a friend at lunch yesterday than I did in all of my google search. She volunteers at the Blue Door, which is a place downtown where the homeless can go when the shelter is closed during the day. The Blue Door provides a shower, washing machines, protection from the elements and most importantly kindness from people like my friend. There has been the suggestion some of the empty buildings in downtown Brandon would make great hostels. Once again, I assume the resources to make that happen aren't available.
When you keep doing the same thing, you get the same results. I have no clue what the something different is that is needed. It seems to be bigger than what people are offering. As people plead for more financial support and we get creative to provide comfort to people in need, the issues continue to rise. It is apparent to me we are trying to deal with all the problems at once, when in fact, would it make more sense to deal with one problem with the hopes of helping the others as a trickle effect?
I have always believed that "Knowledge is Power". As members of a community, we need to know the extent of the problems. We are all capable of finding out how dismal it is, but most are like me and live in a bubble. I have always believed in every situation someone, somewhere has the answer. I do wonder if a good place to start would be to truly listen to someone that has had a lived experience. Someone that has lived through and recovered from a diagnosis of a mental health disease, someone that felt suicide was the only answer but for some reason decided to live, or someone that is clean from addiction and homelessness would be a good place to start. Whoever it is, I hope they step forward, are heard and we can start to turn this around.
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