Cut for Mentally Ill

Your article stirred up something in me. Here in Ontario we see cuts like these happening. One cut to an entire psychiatric ward happened near me. It is described quite well in the book Cracked Teacups by B.E. Moore. Despite protests from so many, the ward was closed, causing people to scramble to find psychiatrists. Meanwhile, the directors of these hospitals are taking in massive amounts in salary.

it is rare to be in such company

We officially joined your consumer movement 6 months ago Rafe, when our thriving, have it all middle class life was ripped away by mental illness.

Finding someone qualified to help us because my spouse was not an immediate physical danger to himself was near impossible. We travel hundreds of miles for treatment which we will start paying out of pocket for in the next month.

Without our parents our entire family would have entered the shelter system. It will be years before my spouse will be able to be a taxpaying member of society, and this is after a decade and a half of paying enough taxes we almost never saw a gov check in the mail, and we have children. Timely intervention would have spared so much heart ache and stress for everyone. And the vicious impact on young children wouldn't have been so acute.

The worst is understanding how a dynamic person can be rendered almost incapacitated by their own brain, patently unable to move from the couch for days on end. The best is seeing drugs work even a little, that damning fog is just so ruthless.

Right on Rafe!

This is what happens when a government spends on frills when it has the cash and then when times get tough they rely on the very vulnerable to tighten their belts. How utterly moronic.

One flew over the cookoo's nest

Any one notice that the trend to downside mental health insitutions coincided with the movie. It made people think that 1930's treatment was alive and well. Which just happened to help governments save money.

Number of metally ill in Riverview Hospital before down sizing was about 3,000. Now it's 500. Number of metntally ill on DTES; 2,500. Total look familar?

Now smart people who are in crisis commit a crime so that they can get their 30 day assesment at the Porensic Psychiartic Insitute. Imagine that; the best way to get quick treatment is to become a criminal.

That million dollars for Olympics tickets....

...bought by Gordon Campbell and his Government would go a long way to provide services for the mentally ill.
But I'm sure that's the last thing they will be thinking of at the Olympics...have another martini Gord.

Privatized medical system

There is a pattern across Canada by the federal and provincial governments when it comes to our medical system. Cutbacks are the common thread. The intention is to break the current system inch by inch, dollar by dollar, year after year, until the public believes the system doesn't work and gets so fed up with universal medical coverage that they will agree to private for profit medical services. The reasoning behind this move is the threat of baby boomers reaching the age where we need more and more medical attention which, according to big corporations who want to control the system, will break the bank. The pathetic part of all this is that it's working.

the lineup for soma starts here

One would like to think decisions like this … cuts to the most vulnerable … will come back to haunt those that make them. But those that are doing everything in their power to expand the democratic deficit, keep the masses contained and ensure that democracy doesn’t get out of control, have enormous backing by those that stand to profit by these decisions.

Until the awarness that everyone must participate in a democracy truly takes hold, decision making and spending priorities will continue to favour obscenities like the Olympic Games, and tax consessions and subsidies to corporations and multinationals. These are the folks that control our access to food, shelther, medicine, and to media that allows informed decision making.

Cuts that impact the lower rungs on the economic ladder will continue until those in pain can no longer be contained by the likes of CanWest and its Mercerenaries.

As a bit of an aside, and without any intention of minimizing Rafe’s battle with mental illness, his doctor’s statement, “we'll find the right medicine”, is a prime example of how easily opinions can be swayed.

Although “the right medicine” is a part of treating mental illness, it’s only a small part. To really get a grip on the factors that alter serotonin levels one must follow drug therapy with some form of psychotherapy. If we rely soley on drugs we play into the hands of those that aren’t really concerned about “getting better”. And we continue to divert attention away from cuts to the most vulnerable.

Numbers

DenisB and others, I am very interested in showing my head-in-the-sand colleagues some stats on the correlation between cuts to services (especially Riverview downsizing) and increases in DTES homeless population.

Anybody have links or publication titles that could help?

Why people bully, or "watch," without interfering

Voting in people who hurt the mentally ill helps people feel like persecuters, and therefore not of the bullied. When society is warping, many people come to believe that the downtrodden are responsible, to be blamed for, their ills. They remember when they were manipulated, abused by their parents, and identify with the parents' righteousness rather than with their own sense of aggrievement, as means of making themselves seem now worthy of parental love and approval.

Just a reminder, again, that getting the news out isn't always means to change things. Rather, its most useful purpose is to let the sane know just how depraved their neighbors are. If other provinces aren't targeting the mentally ill as much as BC is, thank the Tyee for putting you in the know, and get the hell out of here, if you are able. The Olympics coming here has already served notice that Vancouver may in fact be more Rio than it is Chicago, more resort-town than civitas. (Where exactly was the intelligensia on all this, anyway?)

OUR government

While it is easy to point fingers at THE Campbell government we have to remember that we elected them and it is time we all took responsibilty for government actions. I believe the majority of BCers are sympathetic and basically kind people. So what makes us pawns of media, corporations, governments? It always goes back to money, we the people need to approve provincial and federal budgets with a ballot, we need to know what our money is being used for and who is suffering because we won't help.

Of all the people...

...who should be sympathetic to mental illness, you'd think Gordon Campbell would be out front. His father committed suicide when he was 13.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Campbell_%28Canadian_politician%29#Early_life

Ninety Agencies

-that tells me that we have a totally dysfunctional and costly system to deal with those with mental issues.

Let us not forget that the problem with mental health care was initiated by none other than PM Pierre Trudeau and his flawed 'Charter'. I can recall at the time when the SoCREDs partially closed Riverview, and others, that a prediction was uttered that any replacement would have difficulty in success. Of course the thought was that the creation of community centric supervised housing would do the trick, and to some minor extent some success has been achived; but not nearly so as to meet challenges.

I think there is a need to centralise all mental services, and consider reopening Riverview, along with others to deal more efficiently with the mental health problem.

"Cuts mean better service"

should it be any surprise this would come from the moth of the BCLiars Party. As hard as it is to stomach such garbage rhetoric the truly sad thing is we have years of these lies and suffering ahead of us yet. Not one BCliars Party Member is or will be suffering, actually I would conclude they are working on their personal mental health via the $900 thousand dollars in complementary Olympic event tickets courtesy of all their service cuts. The BCLiars Party is a blight on BC.

Kevin Falcon

What? Let reality intrude into our billion-and-a-half-dollar per week party? Shame on you Rafe!

I am not surprised

I am not surprised to see more cuts to mental health. I myself am a consumer. I feel like I live with this big secret all the time because you have to be so careful who you tell because there is so much stigma attached to mental illness. That is why it is so easy for the government to make these cuts because most people don't think that money needs to be spent on mental health because they don't understand the issues. I know alot of people think we should open up places like Riverview again but I disagree with that method of treatment because the institutions were just a way of making mental illness disappear entirely from site but did nothing for the consumers but make them into total dependents. The cuts we see only make it that much more difficult to be treated where we live and be part of our communities. If one wants to see what the institutes use to be like then they should watch, "One flew over a cuckoo's nest." because that is exactly what they were like. If this government wanted to go back to the institute model they would under fund it so bad it would be just like that again. Out of sight, out of mind.

Coastal Health cuts to Hospital Records departments

are very dangerous. Doctors need to see patient records immediately when one enters a hospital. At UBC, the records office is so backlogged that it takes 30 days to receive records.
I was hospitalized in Feb. at another locale. The information on drug allergies was received by the department the day after I was discharged. I was allergic to ALL drugs previously prescribed!
Terrific! Only in Canada, eh?
The US system requires that patient allergies be listed on the front page of a patient's records.

Structural Adjustment continues unabated

The Powers that Be continue to decimate our province, tearing apart the structures that undergird our tenuous civilization here in BC.
For the almighty buck for those who get a share of the spoils. But is it really a victory?

Fraser Health Authority is notifying it's mental health workers that the cuts are starting. Child protection job losses. Workers in other health settings and regions losing their livelihoods and jeopardizing crucial services to the people of BC. Cuts to community support workers. You name it, anything that smacks of social safety net has become superfluous. For what?

The Olympics are one answer, but there are others, such as those mentioned above. Dismantling of the public health care system.
Unbridled, vicious greed.

We are seeing a flagrant abuse of the public interest across the board here in BC and we are plunging our people into mass social dislocation to our great detriment.

Our own government is creating an underclass of homeless, socially excluded people who are plunged into a type of survival most of us sitting in our warm houses with food in our belly will never know.

Re: Riverview. They keep the numbers very close to their chests. I'm sure there aren't as many as 500 people there still. They have buildings sitting there empty while the winds howl, the rain falls on those with no roof over their head. People wonder where the funds have gone for acute care tertiary beds, they haven't be created. So yes, that is helping fuel the homeless situation in the DTES.

And yes, some people know that they must commit crime to get the state to meet their needs. Instrumental crime is quite likely on the rise as the last resort. But then they are dumped back out onto the street again to start the rollercoaster ride all over again.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That is the government we have in BC. I didn't elect them, I did what I could to warn people (since 2005 in fact) and I will continue to do what I can to fight the slaughter of the people of BC. What is happening is an atrocity of state oppression and gross abuse of power by our sitting government.

"Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me."

What are we all doing about it? There are more of us than there are of them. On the count of ...

cuts to mentally ill

I am a local psychiatrist, current rumours are horrible. Huge cuts for all the non profits that deal with the mentally ill. These are really problematic as the non profits run a very tight ship and have limited ability to do cuts without affecting clinical programs.

Expected cuts at VGH are a minimum of 30 psych beds. When Riverview hospital was being downsized, all health authorities were supposed to get new state of the art purpose built facilities. Some of the health authorities got these i.e new facilities in Victoria, Kamloops etc. Vancouver is going to put these very seriously ill patients in a building that should have been long time condemned, or maybe instead renovate some old wards at UBC, no properly designed new homelike facilities like promised. Why? no more money, so once again we have very substandard facilities for the mentally ill. Royal Columbian has a psychiatric ward that also does not meet any semblance of acceptable standards. VGH the same.

Strathcona mental health team which serves the most ill people in the province has double the caseload that is the acceptable standard.

Evidence based treatments that are proven to be effective are not offered in BC. ACT teams ( Ontario has 70 or so) is evidence based treatment, Vancouver has NO real ACT team that fits accepted standards except for the one paid for by the Federal Government. ACT teams save us money by reducing hospital use, but do we have them, of course not.

Supported employment, also a very evidence based treatment for the mentally ill, which also end up saving money, there is no program like this run by vancouver coastal health? why, because they don't know what they are doing and seem unable to provide programs that are known to be effective.

What we need to do, get rid of the current management that really does not know what it is doing. Fund programs such as that being done by the mental health commission of canada (housing first ACT teams) and ONLY fund evidence based treatments. This would involve some very unpopular cuts, but would likely end up giving us better outcomes, save us money as people with mental illness will do well, and then we can fund some of the fluff.

cuts to mentally ill services

I agree with Rafe Mair on everything in this article. About 9 years ago I received care for depression and eventually found the right anti-depressant for my condition. As well, I received great help from my psychiatrist with the use of psychotherapy. I talk about my medical condition whenever I can. Mental illness should be viewed as no different than having a broken leg.The only way to remove the stigma that prevents people from seeing their doctor is to talk about it openly.

Right on MGS

There are other cut backs on the Island that effect families, in fact anyone who uses their local crisis lines will find it gone soon. The local Crisis line has been informed the funding of the 24/7 crisis line will not be continued after the present contract runs out.

Cutting the funding for these and having one central line somewhere is dangerous. The well trained people who answer the phones know their communities, the service providers, and the area they service. This important fact has saved many people who have called for help.

A call my be a child calling needing help for their family during a medical emergency. Some calls are for help to deal with family violence while others call because of isolation.

Again the liberals are hurting those who need it most. But then bullies usually do.

I was in a line up at the grocery store and heard someone call Campbell Premier spite.

bcliberals_suck

The Harper Govt is taking care of the mentally ill, homeless, and anybody that doesn't fit their fundamentalist right wing agenda, by doubling the size of our penal facilities and gradually eroding civil liberity slowly as the often quoted "slowly boiling the frog in a pan of water." Of course he has lots of help from the so called B.C. Big Buisness Party.

MENTAL HEALTH NOT PART OF "HEALTH CARE(?)"

First things first.
I was taken aback to read in last Fridays Chilliwack Progress 2 Items:
1) Chilliwack Hospital to close one of its three operating rooms, because the Fraser Valley Health(?) Authority ordered them to save money .....-
2) The Chilliwack Hospital wants another one million dollars through donations to construct more "state of the art" facillities.
I ask you: What in "Sam Hill" are they all thinking? How about some coordination here!
Some years ago I remember the newly elected Campbell bunch firing thousands of highly qualified nurses in a bid to save money. I resolved right then and there never to become a nurse, because my expertise would not be recognised and at the drop of a "whim" I'm out of a job and my self esteem takes a nose dive!
Enter mental health. The loss of selfworth is the cause of bone cancer. When it finally gets resolved, the body heals itself through leukemia!
A brilliant doctor of internal medicine has identified ALL causes of disease and by employing a hitherto unknown, powerful tool is able to see the reasons for (hu)man's ills and also possible cures, should the perceived conflict be resolved.
His knowledge is being actively suppressed. And I know why: THERE IS NO MONEY IN IT!
He says: What the World needs are lots of intelligent physicians with heart, but what we currently have are lots of greedy "quacks", who do everything wrong! (like treating leukemia as a disease; the beginning of the end).
Check it out: http://learninggnm.com .
This goes double for politicians of all stripes.
We, the people, need to start coming together on all important issues and the most important ones are economists and their greedy thinking who have robbed us of the quality of life!
We need to set priorities in fostering Quality of Life and stand in awe of Mother Nature instead of fighting one another for everything.

MGS - YOUR COMMENT IS BRILLIANT!

I have resolved to tell my MLA that he is fired unless he starts representing me to his "lord" instead of trying to justify what his "lord" does, to me. I am his employer, not g c.

loss

my neighbor ho has been here in this 50s style low income 60+ housing has suffered mental illness since her early 20s and was initially "treated" ith shock theraphy and heavy medication.
She remained fairly stable by being very careful about her diet education and using meditation practices.
She attributes her relative sanity to raising her children and stable housing.
When se moved to BC she ended up having to move every year and sometimes tice a year becuase landlords were renovating or the place was sold, torn down or owners were occupying.
For 2 years she lived in a van not being able to find affordable housing.
She has supported herself with seasonal employment and welfare.
This winter she found herself screaming in pain on a daily basis. Scoliosis, osteoarthritis and nerve and muscle spasms. She knew she ould not be able to do the heavy house keeping work at the resort so she applied for disability.She was refused, even tho' a doctor included the diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.
She was told by the Ministry that she didnot meet their cataegory.So she is getting by on the $610 per month and can hardly wait for until she turns 65 to get OAS and the supplement. She says she will then get about $1200 and will feel rich.
Her teeth are in terrible condition but welfare will only pay for emergencies.
She survives on soup and yogurt.

yep

Brilliantly written article - was shared with me, and I will share it with anyone who will read it. I now fully understand that it is stigma (and not just ignorance of potentially helpful medical personnel) which prevents people from getting the much needed help. It breaks my heart when I watch people self-medicate with damaging substances. As my understanding increases, my heart aches more. Now that I know people who have broken through to the other side, I know it can be done.

Victims

For years I've been writing to health ministers of the day to provide medical and mental help for the victims of predators whom we leave to decay on the streets. Instead of getting our help, they are re-victimized by our society, our system, and our government. If we allow that, what does that make us?

I think it's a good thing

I understand the worry but I see solution. We all like to complain when health service gets cut. It is a built-in complain mechanism - a cut happens and people start to panic. That's what the government want! The more of you panic the bigger the control the government will have.

So stop for a second! Think! Is there something you can do? Sure there is.

First this is your chance to get to know your body and understand how does it work. Ask yourself these questions:
What do you feed yourself with? Is it good quality food or just some cheap shit?
Do you exercise?
Do you take time to care for your emotions or do you shove it out of the way?
Many of the mental illnesses and mainly depression is perfectly cureable without a doctor. There are many support groups, find one. Change your life around and really examine what causes you depression in the first place?

Read this book: CLEAN - written by a doctor who explains how we get depressed and sick. Tae charge and stop complaining teh the government doesn't care for you. You should care for yourself.

Here are some links - check it out - and take your destiny into your hand. When health care cut happens I see opportunity for people to take matters into their own hands. There are naturopath and other wonderful healing options for you out there. Yes, you have to pay for it or if you are lucky there is some coverage through insurance but then...you can deduct it from your tax I suppose. It doesn't matter because at the end you will not depend on the sick system. I don't call it health care as it has nothing to do with making people healthy.

Read and learn and find your solution - it will change your life. I highly recommend for anyone to look at the Brainstate website that works with many mental issues such as depression. It is the future medicine that works.

Some links for you:
http://www.cleanprogram.com
http://www.brainstatetech.com/
http://www.brainsync.com

Be healthy and think healthy!

OhCanada

And what makes you the expert on everything that ails a body? Yes some things you can do yourself but not everything. That is as silly as the old expression "All you need to do is pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." as a response to Healthcare cuts that is just plain silly. What if you have no boots?

Skywalker

I've never said in my writing that I'm an expert on everything. All I'm saying is - to use your expression - is that if you have no boots you need to find someone who can help you to find one. And that is not the Sick or others call it Health system.

All I'm saying is if you only look in front of you all you're going to see is your toes.

In every situation there is a good thing. Start looking for it and stop blaming the cuts. Maybe people need to look after each other more instead of looking after themselves only.

I hope there will be more cuts in health care as there is much waste in it and basically just makes people sicker then ever. We live in the 21st century and there are more people depressed than ever, more people are overweight than ever and more people in poverty than ever. 100,000 people die each year of prescription drug use or misuse (and not from the flu).

If you think more money to health care will save you and those with mental problem or any other problem then you are the silly and naive not me.

So when there is a cut maybe people will start to look for other options. There are many but if you only willing to see your toes ...

Doing the same things and expecting different results is called insanity.

The health system needs a different mindset and different approach to solve its problem and that is not money.
When doctors and society will understand that everything is connected and you can't treat just someone's brain or liver and expect the person to be healthy then will we see change because people will demand it. Until then - most will cry for more money.

You're joking, right?

In every situation there is a good thing.

The people who are in mental health difficulties now are NOT going to be able to 'look' for other options.

That's why Falcon can ignore them.

As for everything being connected - spare me, if want to hear that kind of tommyrot I'll tune in to Oprah and learn about the 'secret'.

Sorry, but I'm with Skywalker on this one. Anyone who says this:
"I hope there will be more cuts in health care as there is much waste in it and basically just makes people sicker then ever" is dangerous, if not to her or his own health, then to everyone else's.

I'm not joking G West

Yes, everything is connected - and you can tune into Oprah if you want. We are connected to this planet and you can ignore it or you can choose to wake up.

As I said before - you can't do the same things years after years - like pouring money into this ill machine - and expect different result.

I do feel for those who are mentally sick but more money isn't going to fix their problem.

A major change is needed in the system - got it? And that change isn't going to come from the government. It is going to come from people who want result not just drugs to fix things temporarily.

Which planet do you live on, Oh Canada

Obviously you have not the slightest idea about mental illness and it is so easy to spill out such nonsense about what is best for everyone. People like you are the reason for our health care problems. Mental illness can strike at any age and it encases twenty five percent of our population. Some cases are more pronounced than others. You are the people that cause stigma to be so bad. You never know when you will be touched by someone near you ends up with a mental illness. I am glad you are not a part of my family. I do well with my illness but I do need help with it.

I live on Earth Weaser

Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'm to mine and you're to yours.
What I know and what you know is another topic.

People like me is not the reason to our health care problems. It is people who are close minded and think more money will be the solution - blame them. Blame everybody - that is the easiest thing to do.

Mental illness doesn't strike at any age - that's a hype, but you are entitled to believe in it.

It's always good to educate ourselves. I highly recommend you to check out the video and website and learn. There is no harm in it. It may even help you. Both are professionals; a medical doctor and a scientist.

http://www.cleanprogram.com
http://www.brainstatetech.com

Good luck and take care.

Strange "logic".

A government cuts funding for a particular health service and you can trust some liberal lackey to come up with that old cliche that you can't solve a problem by throwing money at it. Who thought up such utter crap. Every solution for services, even the creative ones, involve at the least a redirection of resources(read money) if not new money. So yes a solution is not found by cutting finds to the mentally ill. Only in some fantasy world do services magically appear because some Pollyanna has a pure heart.

You really put your foot in your mouth this time ohcanada or as they say "put your mouth in gear, before your brain.". I don't know if you are enamored by the liberal mouthpiece Falcon or what but your defense of his cuts is really strange "logic".

Oh Canada just wants me to "snap out of it"

Unfortunately, the comments by Oh Canada are not uncommon responses from people when you tell them you have a mental illness. Including some medical people. These responses come from ignorance.
I am very fortunate in that I have a psychiatrist treating me but my GP doesn't think my chronic depression is actually an illness. Really. Unlike Rafe, I am not interested particularly in educating people to understand mental illness, because I believe they'll never change their ideas about it unless they or someone they're close to actually has it and has to deal with it (it being a mental illness) on a day to day basis. Then I will help; but I'm fed up with trying to deal with people like Oh Canada who know better than my doctors and myself what's wrong with me. It's not all about eating green vegetables.

Oh Canada

You have probably never had any contact with anyone with a mental illness. It is not just hype that anyone can get it any age. My sister died from a brain tumour because some idiots said she just needed to eat her greens and she would be better. Mental illness can strike hard and strong sometimes. Not all time but sometimes. You have no idea the impact it can have on people but with the right treatment it can be managed. However, that treatment is different for each person and mental illness has many different faces. Mental illness is not going to go away by ignoring it. Too many people are suffering because there is not enough help available.

Three more years ...

of trying to diagnose what is wrong with thick-as-a-plank falcon and witnessing first hand the dismantling of our health care system and a lot of folks will just accept the prvatized system campbell has in store for us.