Waitlisted: The unacceptable standard of mental health care in Canada

While aimlessly scrolling through my Twitter newsfeed at 3:15 in the morning, I saw a story which triggered my "ranting phase", so this will be an "opinion" piece, which I seem to do many of actually.  

The article, entitled "Teen waiting over 18 months for psychiatry appointment", published by CBC Saskatchewan, this in-depth article immediately struck a chord with me. Mainly because I have found myself to be in a similar position two years ago. As I continued to scroll through the article, I found myself becoming more enraged, simply at the fact that the health care system was clearly neglecting the needs of a 15-year old girl, who is in need of mental health counselling. Just like the same was done to me at the time.

An infographic outlining the inefficiency of the Canadian [mental]health care system. To me, these statistics appear to be grossly inflated.

This is an unacceptable standard of mental health care. I can feel this young girl's pain, as I was her. When I was 17, I was admitted to CHEO for suicidal ideations and extreme depression. While I was there they diagnosed me with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Social/Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder and OCD (which I had suffered from since I was about 11 years old). 

I spent approximately 2 months and once I was finally released they put me on a waiting list for a team of mental heath professionals at the Royal Ottawa (because I was almost 18, which seemed to be quite a big issue with them in terms of treatment options).

I started school again and continued to wait, and wait. 

Graduation came along, and so did more waiting. 

September, university, a huge transition in one's young life then crept up on me, and yet I still eagerly waited for that phone call. 

Then around November/December, my depression got worse and I slowly felt myself falling back down the rabbit hole again. The isolation, the overwhelming sadness, the thoughts of dying. Everything was crumbing around me and I had no one to help me (except for my parents who were over 4 hours away). During that time I went through a lot, my anxiety spiked due to the new changes and people, a relationship (which didn't go over so well; lying, abuse, staking, ect...), grades dropping like bombs in the sky. I informed the doctor I was seeing at the time about my depression and suicidal/self harm ideations, and they referred me to their psychiatrist. This didn't prove to be any better. All they did was put me on new medications, which made me feel even worse (without even consulting with my family physician about my medical history) and later told me that they had a five visit policy, meaning that you could only receive five hours of counselling throughout the school year. I ended up seeking the help of the crisis counsellor at the university, however all they did was tell me to call the crisis hotline. Now, for someone with severe anxiety issues, talking on the phone is a huge trigger (at least for myself, I cannot speak for others.) It makes the feelings even worse, so at that point it's better off suffering in silence.

In March I had to move back home (and drop out of university) due to health issues and because my family and friends became extremely worried about me due to the fact that I cut off communication and had not been heard from in months (to the point where they were making public pleas for me to come home). At that moment, we all realized that something needed to be done (for good). 

During that time, I was seeing a psychologist with the clinic I went to. However, they abruptly informed me seconds after walking out of a session that I was no longer eligible to receive treatment, due to the fact that my family doctor transferred clinics. At that point my doctor took the initiative to make the call to inform them that I was in crisis again. 

16 months it took to finally receive that phone call. Too long in my opinion. No one should have to wait that long for mental health care. Megan and myself are only a fraction of people suffering through the same ordeal. The rise in suicide rates across Canada just confirms this. 

Mental health is an extremely important issue, just as important as one's own physical health. More important than the millions of dollars the government spends on tearing up and rebuilding (nearly) perfectly functional streets, cutting thousands of public sector jobs and building environmentally harmful pipelines (big priorities indeed.)

Now I don't consider myself a political person, in fact I don't even follow politics, but when it comes to issues like these, it even ruffles my feathers. Even an average citizen like myself can see how wrong this is. 18 months, how long this young girl has suffered with mental health issues. You wouldn't make a patient suffering from a stroke wait that long, or a heart transplant patient wait for a functioning organ essential to sustain their's and human life (oh wait, yes we would...) There's the Canadian health care system for you ladies and gentlemen! It's free, but only if you live long enough to see a doctor...

One of my inspirations for wanting to become a psychologist is because of this very issue. I have lived it and have been a member of this corrupted system. I want to do something to fix this unacceptable standard of health care, especially relating to mental health. By adding one more registered psychologist to a team, it can help dozens of patients in need. Think about that for a minute. Now, if only the federal (and provincial) governments would have this same realization and think about making changes to the system. 

Now, this article focuses specifically on Saskatchewan's issue with wait listing, however I see the same problem in Ontario. In fact, this problem is most likely occurring across the nation. In fact, I know it is. 

People become so desperate or so ill that they get to the point where they lose control. They represent it in many ways, but the most common seems to be suicide (a solemn and pointless act, when putting it into perspective, considering our claim of having "one of the best health care systems in the world") 

Others take it out externally, on the public. Now I make it extremely clear, I am not one of those people who believe that mentally ill individuals are responsible for crimes. The Greyhound bus decapitation and most recently, the Moncton shootings were cases in which the accused called upon "the defence of mental disorder", therefore deeming them "not criminally responsible (NCR)" for their crimes. Now, these are clearly a fraction of these criminal cases, and are not reflective of the link between mental illness and crime as a whole. However upon reflection, perhaps if these individuals were given proper treatment, those crimes could have been avoided. 


When one steps back and looks at the whole picture, it makes you think about the relative simplicity of the potential solution of this issue. What is it? Well, it's a collection of simplistic ideas combined into a prospectively successful aggregation/collective:

- Address the issue, don't deny it
- Increase the number and encourage the enrolment of mental health workers in Canada
- Decrease wait times (resulting from the above point)
- Provide immediate crisis counselling for patients waiting for a permanent psychologist/psychiatrist
- Remove the "10-session policy", because this results in a never-ending circle of crisis
- Enforce stricter procedures regarding crisis intervention and patient care (referring to the recent suicide at the Civic hospital in Ottawa)


These are just some of the ideas I came up with within the span of 30 seconds, so I'm sure the individuals in charge of these issues can come up with even more, and enforce them (if the motivation and attention is brought to the issue) 

News media is just the start, but in a world of technological innovation and impassioned individuals, I am hopeful that we, as a collective society, can do something to solve this issue and draw the government's attention to these matters. Matters which are important to the smooth functioning of a cogent nation as well as to the well-being of its citizens.



You can find the original story here.

Cracking Down on Music Crime: SOCAN Pays a Visit to Ptbo

SHANNON LEBLANC | MARCH 10, 2014

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) have sent in External License agent, Philippe Girouard, to Peterborough to crack down on music crime and to catch music lawbreakers in the act.

Local businesses are being put under the pressure of ensuring that they abide by standard music laws and to ensure that their SOCAN licenses have been renewed.

The Canadian Copyright Act recognizes three main rights: 1. The right to produce or copy the musical work, 2. The right to reproduce the musical work, including mechanical rights and synchronization rights, and 3. Performing rights, which are the rights to perform a work in public and the right to communicate to the public by telecommunication.

Artists and songwriters join SOCAN to help preserve their musical integrity and to prevent copyright infringements.

SOCAN charges a rate of $0.1146 per square foot, with the minimum fee being $94.51. Each license is valid for one year. By then, each business is expected to renew their music license and produce payment before the Jan. 31 deadline.

The fee for Tariff 15A, which covers “the playing of background music in retail stores, restaurants and other similar establishments,” is based on the square footage that’s accessible to the public, not on the overall square footage of the establishment itself.

The fee for Tariff 20, which covers “karaoke bars and similar establishments,” is based on the number of days on which an establishment operates.

Tariff 3A, which covers live music, states that “the fee payable by the establishment is three percent of the compensation for the entertainment paid in the year covered by the license subject to a minimum annual fee of $83.65.”

According to Script 264 of the Canadian Bar Association’s Music Law Copyright and Trademarks, it states:

“To publicly play or perform music that’s been created or recorded by another songwriter or musician, you, your label or the venue are legally obligated to pay a fee or royalty … You also have to pay royalties if you record cover songs, whether you manufacture CDs or simply sell the song over the Internet.”

But how would you know if an artist is registered in the database? Well, SOCAN utilizes a public repertoire search function on their website “containing information about musical works in SOCAN’s repertoire which includes foreign works that SOCAN is authorized to license.”

However, you would need to know the title of the song or work in order to determine whether or not it is registered with SOCAN, which is an inconvenience in itself, especially if a business has a playlist containing several hundred songs.

If a business were to schedule a live performance, the artist would need to send them a line-up of every song.

In relation to the confusion surrounding fees and tariffs, a SOCAN spokesperson clarified that if a business plays music in the form of radio, it is exempt from fees.

However, if a business plays music via Internet radio, such as Pandora, SiriusXM Internet Radio, or Live365, a fee would apply, amounting in the minimum amount of $94.51 as stated above.

If a business plays the music of a local musician whose music hasn’t been registered with SOCAN, they are exempt from fees. However, if the store plays a song that is registered in SOCAN’s database, then a license is required for that business.

Even recreational facilities operated by the municipality of Peterborough, including Trent, are subjected to paying fees, as stated in Tariff 21. So, if Trent were to put on an event where music, prerecorded or live, were to be used, such as #introfest or the 2014 Fashion Show, they would need to register for a SOCAN license.

It isn’t clear if Trent has registered for a license as the TCSA could not be reached for comment.

A license is not required for stores or workplaces playing music through a satellite provider.

SOCAN is vague about how money is used, stating that the distribution of license fees consists of 86 percent royalties and 14 percent going towards operating costs.

As of now, there are no reports of any businesses being found guilty of music misconduct and playing without a license, but as Judy Byrne from George Street’s Hi Ho Silver stated, “I was waiting for it,” along with other Peterborough businesses, who, when questioned, were not aware of the licensing agent’s visit.

In a short interview, Communications and Marketing Specialist for SOCAN, Leigh Kenderdine, outlined the aspects of SOCAN’s mission statement and the impacts their regulations have on local businesses.

When looking into the distribution of licensing fees, I noticed that 14 percent goes towards operating costs. Would it be possible to get a general breakdown of the operating costs?

SOCAN performs an extremely complicated task for member songwriters, composers, and music publishers. This work requires extensive information technology and specific expertise, and the benefit to members is that SOCAN identifies tracks, collects, and administers royalties far more thoroughly and conclusively.

The preliminary results for the 2013 annual report showed that:

• A record year for total revenue, $276-million brought in for members, an increase of approximately nine percent over 2012.

• International revenue of $51-million, the first time that SOCAN members have surpassed the $50-million mark for royalties originating from outside of Canada – an increase of eight percent over 2012.

• A record $240-million was distributed in 2013 to members, a year-over-year increase of nine percent (excluding years with extraordinary arrears payments to members).

• Internet streaming revenues of $3.2-million were distributed to members – another first.

As SOCAN’s media liaison, I would like your take on how you believe SOCAN music regulations are affecting small local businesses who may not necessarily be able to afford the licensing fees, in addition to how you believe that SOCAN is protecting the music industry as a whole.

When a business uses music, it is adding value to its business through the use of work of music creators and publishers. The person(s) who composed, wrote, and published the song are entitled to be compensated for the time, effort, and money they put into the creation of that work.

According to the Copyright Act, any public performance of copyright-protected musical works requires a licence. When a song is played in public, music creators (not just the performers) are entitled to be compensated – it supports their livelihood. Without SOCAN, businesses that use music in public would have to get permission from every composer, songwriter, lyricist, and publisher for every musical works they intend to use, and they would have to pay each of them directly. This permission is not granted when you buy a recording, whether it is through a CD, MP3 file, etc., which only allows you to privately use the purchased music. SOCAN simplifies this complex process for businesses through licences.

How significant is that cost for a small business? 

The cost to obtain a SOCAN license is relatively inexpensive. For example, the average small business is 800 to 1600 square feet.  A SOCAN licence for background music in businesses of those two sizes would be $94.51 per year (minimum fee) and $183.36 peryear, or $0.31 per day and $0.59 per day assuming the business is open 6 days per week, respectively. To put things in perspective, if the small business is a coffee shop, that cost is approximately the same cost of a single wholesale carton of 12oz paper coffee cups and tops, which is approximately $100. If the small business is a retailer and they use 13” by 10” white or brown paper bags with their logo, the cost of their SOCAN license at $0.59 per day is approximately equivalent to the cost of one paper bag per day at $0.56 each.  If that paper bag is coloured, that cost increases to $0.98 for a single bag in bulk, which is 75 percent more expensive than the daily cost of a SOCAN license.

Based on a Leger study that was performed by SOCAN in 2013, 72 percent of business owners feel that playing music is important to their customers’ overall experience. If you couple that with the fact that 55 percent of business owners think that customers would complain if music wasn’t used, and 44 percent also believe that not playing music would drive their customers to the competition – music is an important part of creating an atmosphere to attract customers.

Ultimately, SOCAN’s strict regulations and hefty sanctions play a big role in developing an equitable, stable, and compensating system of music in Canada.

However, the impact it has among the Peterborough business community, especially considering the city’s already unstable economy, is unknown at this moment.

Canadian Greenpeace Activists in Russia Still in Custody

November 4, 2013

A once contained issue has now brought the attention of thousands of people across the world putting more pressure on the Russian government about its harsh criminal penalties and corrupt justice system.

International tensions with Russia grow even stronger after their latest issue involving the arrest and prosecution of 30 Greenpeace International activists.

Now, the pressure is mounting on Russia as the fight to Free the Arctic 30 continues into its 40th day.

Back in September, 30 Greenpeace activists, including a free-lance photographer, videographer, and crew members, were arrested by the Russian government following a demonstration against the Arctic oil drilling project, Gazprom.

The Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, was illegally boarded by the Russian Coast Guard following two prior arrests made when two crew members had attempted to climb over the platform of the Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Pechora Sea.

Among those arrested are 36-year-old Alexandre Paul of Montreal, Quebec, and 48-year-old Paul Ruzycki of Port Colburne, Ontario.

Now, one may wonder the reason behind this huge debacle, and how it sparked so much outrage from the public. According to the Russian Coast Guard, a survival pod that was being used in the protest appeared to resemble a bomb, and as a result, they boarded the ship to neutralize the supposed threat.

According to Faiza Oulahensen, an activist aboard the ship when it was seized, violence was being used aboard the ship. The Coast Guard detained the activists with guns and knives, and fired several shots even though they were within their rights to be in the waters in the first place.

“They were hitting people, kicking people down, pushing people,” Oulahensen alleged.

Luckily, no one was injured or killed during the arrests. However, this appears to be a clear example of a “shoot now, ask questions later” mentality.

Oulahensen also wrote a letter to a journalist from de Volkskrant, a local newspaper in the Netherlands, accounting her experience in prison.

She is being “held in a dirty cell, alone, isolated from the rest,” she says, and is “only able to catch a glimpse of other Russian prisoners in the corridor.”

“Once in a while, a rat crawls across the floor. I’ve lost weight and am not sleeping too well, but I am still holding my head high,” Oulahensen accounted. She complained about having been denied the right to call home and not receiving most of the books and letters people were sending her. “I crave letters from my family, friends, and colleagues.”

Her description of Russia’s prison system is quite vivid, and she stated that her daily exercise consists of “walking around in a dark concrete space of about 5×5 meters, where you’re lucky if you can see the sky through the cracks in the rotten and leaky roof.”

In response to the arrests, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated, “I don’t know the details of what went on, but it’s completely obvious they aren’t pirates.” However, Putin backs up the Coast Guard’s defense, claiming that they had no way of knowing who they were.

He was referring to the attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi last month by the Al-Shabaab.

Bail hearings have already begun for the activists, but so far, reportedly all of their requests have been denied. The Arctic 30 are currently being detained in Murmansk, where they will be held until November.

As of now, only one member, Andrey Allakhverdov from Russia, was charged with hooliganism. The group was initially facing 15 years of terrorism and piracy charges, but as of October 24, the charges were formally dropped down to hooliganism, which in Russia, holds a seven-year sentence.

Although the charges have been lessened, there is arguably still a threat to their freedom of expression and demonstration.

The incident sparked media attention around the world, with articles being published in EcoWatch, CBC, and The Independent. Over 10,000 people have showed their support for the release of the Arctic 30 at more than 100 events hosted in 36 different countries, including Germany, Italy, Thailand, Mexico, and the Netherlands. In addition, more than 1.6 million people have signed the petition addressed to Russian embassies around the world calling for the release of these activists. Some have even gone as far as climbing the Eiffel Tower in protest, like Greenpeace activist Cyril Cormier did on Saturday.

However, what really grabbed the public’s attention was the fact that 11 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Desmond Tutu (South Africa), Betty Williams (Ireland), Oscar Arias Sanchez (Costa Rica), Jody Williams (USA), Adolpho Perez Esquivel (Argentina), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia), Tawakkol Karman (Yemen), Rigoberta Menchu Tum (Guatemala), Mairead Maguire (Ireland), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), and Jose Ramos Horta (East Timor) all wrote letters to Putin showing their support for the Arctic 30.

In Canada, various events have taken place in support of the release of the Arctic 30 as well, including in Toronto and Montreal on October 5. Greenpeace is also urging Canadians to join the #FreeTheArctic30 campaign by signing the Free Our Activists petition to the Russian Embassy, joining the Volunteer Arctic 30 Rapid Response Team, and spreading the word through social media and community events.

Among the tremendous support, though, there is some controversy among the general public over the issue, with a large number of people online arguing that the Arctic 30 should be charged. On the other hand, many legal experts around the world think otherwise. Here are a few statements from various members of the public:

“Piracy requires premeditated action of the attackers to take over others’ property for their own selfish interest. This means that the qualification of the actions of the environmentalists as piracy is inadequate both under Russian and international law.”

-Viktoria Zhdanova, head lawyer of the Inmarine law firm, Russia (back when the charges of piracy still stood)

“According to the Russian penal code, however, piracy presupposes a threat of violence, which the officials have since had the chance to clarify. I do not believe that either the vessel or the activists were found to carry instruments suitable for acts of violence.

“For this reason, the piracy charges have lost their basis, and the court should have rejected the demand to keep the activists in custody.”

-Martin Scheinin, Professor of International Law and Human Rights, European University Institute)

“Is Hooliganism linked to Canada’s ‘mischief’ law and the pending penalties for one’s mischievousness would or could equate to a seven year term in the slammer so to speak? Or that of the usual slap on the wrist with a conditional free pass to go home?”

-Anonymous

“One gets the impression that the Greenpeace crew is more committed to ‘adventure crusading’ than to actually changing our energy sources.

“Russia is the world’s number one oil exporter, but is ranked 148th for freedom of speech. So expecting an unobstructed right to protest on a Russian oil rig is simply unrealistic. If Greenpeace wanted provoke arrest, then they should demonstrate their respect for the rule of law by submitting to the punishment. Rather than seek acquittal or commutation, Greenpeace should embrace the harshest penalties and so provoke a larger global outcry.

“At best, Greenpeace’s civil disobedience only offers delay.”

-Anonymous

My Birthday Volunteering Experience

April 28th, 2012

Okay, so I have only gotten around to writing this now on account of my busy school schedule. But since it’s the weekend I thought it would be a good time to post this. As most of you probably don’t know, my birthday was on the 27th of April and for my birthday I decided that I was going to go on a huge volunteering spree. I know, what a weird thing to do on my birthday right, Well, I‘m kind of different that way and find that since people are helping me celebrate and make this one day special for me, I would do the same for others.

The first event which I took part in was the 30 Hour Famine, which was held at our school. This event was run by the Vice Principal Mrs. Wilcox and my English teacher Ms. Wilcox.

During the event, I felt a little out of place and socially awkward. In fact, for the first 2 hours, I was doing homework (yeah, what a fun and exciting thing to do.) Soon after, some of my friends came over and offered me to play “Taboo” with them. I had no idea what Taboo was or how to play for that matter, but I still joined them. It proved to be very fun and amusing. This continued for about an hour until we decided to go play basketball in the gym for a little while. Soon after, we were informed that dinner was ready, dinner meaning a cup of rice. After all, it was a famine. We made our way to the kitchen, where Ms. Wilcox was standing serving rice to the other students. My friend Kia and I stood patiently until we were informed to come. We both stood there awkwardly while she waited for us to present our cups. Both Kia and I, being the polite people that we are offered the other to go first. “Go ahead Shannon” she said. “No, you go Kia.” I responded. This went on for approximately 10 minutes while the teacher stood there and laughed and said “This is amusing.” Finally after a long debate, I won the debate and forced Kia to go first. This proved to be quite amusing for everyone involved.

Next, we moved on to play some video games. Someone had brought in Guitar Hero. Since I have played that game before, I figured that I would try to play again. After carefully asking if I could play (yes, social awkwardness shows here) I took on the role of guitar. After about 2 hours, a group of us continued to play until we got carpal tunnel. However, a weird and strange occurrence happened. Our English teacher inquired if she could play with us. To be honest I’ve never heard of something like that, but either way we let here join in. She took on the role of vocals, I stayed on Guitar and another peer of mine took on drums. After we readjusted ourselves, we began to play again. At first she looked a little bit awkward and uncomfortable, but then she got into the mood. She actually had a pretty good voice to say the least.

When we finished playing, Josh, another friend of mine had brought in Super Smash Bros. Once again, I have no idea what the game was or how to play. As you can tell I’m not the video game type, but I decided to play anyways. After a while, I kind of got the hang of it and was told “Shannon, you’re too good for this game!” To be honest, I was just hitting random buttons at that point. Suddenly, another guest wanted to join us in our “brawl”. Guess who? Ms. Wilcox! Again, she wanted to join us and play. Since we are all students of hers we said that it was okay. When we started playing again, it was evident that she had played this game before. However, a strange occurrence in which I proceeded to punch her character multiple times and then proceeded to throw her off the cliff changed the mood of the gaming experience. This was followed by the sound of Juniors voice saying “Shannon, I think you just killed Ms. Wilcox.” I then stared over at her, in slight fear that she was going to rage at me. I was met with a long stare proceeded by laughter.

After, this long gaming experience, we were told that it was “lights out”. It was only 11:00pm, but for some people that as late. We then proceeded back to the library where the rest of the students were met up.

-We were told that we were going to participate in a school wide Hide and Seek match. The twist, it was going to be played in the dark. In pitch blackness. No lights, no limitations, just a good old fashioned game of Hide and Seek. We proceeded to begin, and soon after, it turned into quite a match. The hiding places people found, under the stage, in between vending machines, even in garbage cans! It was extremely fun, even though I had to stop after the 5^th round or so. This continued on until 2:00am, where we were told that it was “bedtime”. I believe there is no such thing, but none-the-less I complied. There we all changed and ensued to set up our sleeping stations.

There we sat (Junior, his younger sister Zena, Kia, Josh and I) all sat around Kia’s laptop to watch Adventure Time. This went on for a good 2 hours. By then everyone was exhausted and basically fell into a deep slumber.

In the morning, I proceeded to wake up at 5:00am, like I normally do with the exception of 10 minutes behind. I changed into normal clothing, cleaned up my station and packed up my bags. I got ready and refreshed myself up to prepare for breakfast. When I got to the cafeteria at 6:00am, there were the other students all lined up waiting for pancakes, a sustenance of food in which they had lacked for 30 hours. Of course since I can’t eat pancakes, I waited until the end, where I was met by “Mr.Wilcox” in which he served me a custom made breakfast consisting of steel ground oats, maple syrup, fresh juice and fruit. This made me feel special and welcomed as a vegan.

After breakfast, I was picked up by my mother where I said goodbye to my friends and thank you to the supervisors. We then proceeded to head off to my next volunteering event.

The next event, which was a little bit shorter, was my annual Environment Canada CANWARN training in Nepean.  At this event, we learn about storm spotting techniques and the knowledge behind extreme weather. This event was only about 6 hours long, in which 4 of it was a 124 slide presentation presented by Environment Canada Meteorologist Peter Kimbell. He proceeded to inform us about the facts about the types and severity of weather occurrences. To be honest, it was nothing I have never seen before; I’ve known these facts since I was basically 8 years old. What are the types of clouds? What is a microburst? What is the Fujita scale? All of this was basic common knowledge to me.  Never-the-less, it was fun to recount storm spotting adventures and learn of newer techniques to storm spotting and chasing.

The last event of my volunteer spree was that on April 29, 2012 I attended the National Capital Vegetarian Association’s (NCVA) 4^th annual Veg Fest at the Glebe community center. This was no new occurrence for me, as I have been there numerous times in the past. However, this year was slightly different. This year I was given the honour of volunteering with the NCVA at their booth.

The first event in which I took part in was that I, my sister and another volunteer all dressed up in the NCVA’s mascot costumes. My sister took the carrot costume, I took the mother Earth costume and the other volunteer took the cow costume. We then headed out to Bank Street to spread the world to those who hadn’t heard. At first I was actually scared to do this, as I am not that comfortable with public places. We grabbed our flyers and signs and stood at the corner of Bank and Third.

We continued to pass out flyers to passing onlookers informing them about Veg Fest and directing them towards the action.

A while into this, a man dressed in a black vest and blue shirt walked by us and said “Nice costumes girls. Keep up the good work!” I found this a bit peculiar and strange, but no matter I said “Thank you.” My sister pointed out the fact to me that the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson was the man that passed by us. I was a bit in shock and looked down the street and

Even though we got quite a few stares (and photos taken of us as well), it was an interesting experience that changed my perspective about what volunteering truly was.

After we completed our 2 ½ hour shift outside, we received a break and time to look around at the various other booth’s that were exhibited. I saw many new (and old) booths while I was walking around. I saw some of my favourite booths, including Auntie Loo’s (who were displaying their delicious vegan confections), Café My House (sampling their amazing vegan fare), ZenKitchen (offering up their fine vegan cuisine). And finally a new favourite of mine called Gypsy and Company, featuring their unique apparel, jewelry along with delicious homemade vegan snacks. In addition, I also encountered some new exhibitors which offered up some surprises. The first was Simply Raw Express, a new vegan restaurant opening on May 12^th which specializes in raw cuisine. I sampled some of their dishes such as raw kale salad and was met my pure astonishment and deliciousness which roused my mouth for a good remainder of the event. The next booth was Credible Edibles, offering delicious vegan recipes and fare. Finally, Simply Natural Kosmetics was a booth that contained a wide range of natural vegan friendly cosmetics and beauty products. 

After our break, my sister and I moved onto our next task, which was to manage “NCVA booth 2” in the Guest speakers building. There we had to inform people about the NCVA and fill out membership forms. This occurred over a period of approximately 3 hours. In that period of time we managed to sell 7 memberships and help approximately 40 or so onlookers with questions about veganism and the NCVA.

By the end of the weekend, my feet were hurting, my back was breaking, but the satisfaction of a strong volunteering experience was loaded onto my mind. And over 30 community service hours later, I can say that I am proud to have partaken in this event and I can surely say that I will in fact do this again.

Here is a link to all the booths I have mentioned in this post:

http://www.simplynatural.ca/products-full-page.php

http://www.credible-edibles.ca/home.php

http://gypsyandcompany.ca/

http://www.zenkitchen.ca/

http://auntieloostreats.ca/

http://www.cafemyhouse.com/

Mental Health Awareness Week

February 12th, 2012

As many of you might be aware of, it is Mental Health Awareness Week. A mental illness is defined as: “any disease of the mind, which causes alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour, associated with significant distress and impaired functioning over an extended period of time.” A mental illness can fall into the categories of: anxiety disorders (affecting 12.2% of the population), mood disorders (affecting 8.3% of the population), schizophrenia (which affects 1% of the population), personality disorders (which affects approximately 9.1%), and eating disorders (which affect about 3% of people, mainly women). The complex interaction of genetic, biological and environmental factors is what causes one to develop a mental illness. Mental illness affects one’s educational achievement, career opportunities, and the formation of personal relationships.  The effect of having a mental illness extends throughout an individual's life.
The fact of the matter is that 1 in 5 Canadians suffer from some form of mental illness. That is 20% of all the people residing in Canada. This is a substantial number that will only continue to increase as the years go by. Mental illness does not care about gender, race, socio-economic backgrounds, etc... It targets random people at random times. 
I find that mental illness is one of the most overlooked issues in Canadian society. We place all of our focus on issues such as taxes and politics; we end up ignoring the problem at hand. The total cost of mental illness in 1993 was approximately 7.3 billion dollars. However, recent studies have shown that the cost has only increased with each passing year, going from 7.3 to 14.4 billion dollars within the last 9 years. Furthermore, the stigma attached to mental illnesses presents a barrier, not in the diagnosis and treatment, but also to overall acceptance of mental illnesses in the community.
One of the reasons why mental illness is so ignored is because many people are embarrassed or ashamed to mention that they are suffering from a mental illness. This should not be the case. I find that just because you have a mental illness does not imply that you are “crazy”, “psychotic” or “mental”. It means that your brain chemistry is abnormal, which is the result of most mental illnesses. It does not make you any less of a person by having a mental illness. In fact, it actually makes you stronger in a way. However, because of the fact that there is discrimination and stigma associated with the concept of mental illness, it results in stereotyping, embarrassment and fear of judgement.  They force a person to remain quiet about their mental illnesses, which ultimately causes them to delay seeking help for their mental illness.
A 2008 poll found that only 50% of Canadians would tell a friend that a family member has a mental illness while 72% would disclose a cancer diagnosis. This proves that the topic of mental illness is sensitive amongst most people and produces debates.
Mental illness has also targeted teenagers and youth in particular. The onset of most mental illnesses occurs during adolescence and young adulthood. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds, accounting for 24% of the total number of deaths.  In 2007, 508 youths committed suicide in Canada, with many more attempting it. This number is both frightening and unacceptable. No teenager, or person for that matter, should ever have to go through such a painful ordeal. This mainly reflects these statistics because of the fact that there are not many programs that support youth that have mental illnesses that teenagers do not have anyone to turn to. In addition, studies have shown that more than 90 per cent of people, including youth who try to take their life have a pre-existing mental health disorder such as depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. Other factors which contribute to suicide and mental health disorders are issues with home/social/school life, trauma and substance abuse problems.
In the two cases of Daron Richardson and Jamie Hubley, it reflects two teenagers who took their own lives as a result of bullying. A force that has played a big role in shaping today’s youth into who they are now. It affects a child so deeply that it affects their sense of self and how they are perceived in the eyes of society most of the time for the worst.
Daron Richardson (daughter of former NHL hockey player and Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson) was a 14 year old girl who was perceived as a normal teenager. She was smart, popular and a talented artist. However no one knew that behind all of that, there was a girl that was so scarred from being bullied that it had taken over her life. As a result in November of 2010, Daron took her own life. 
Another teenager who went through a similar experience was a boy named Jamie Hubley. He also took his own life just months ago. The only difference between the two was that unlike Daron, Jamie was being bullied on account of the fact that he was gay. Every day he struggled with depression and the pain of being bullied. People at school tormented him day after day, until on October 14, 2011, Jamie committed suicide. 
These kids were not any much younger than me. It just scares me that anyone can have this happen at any time, without any sort of support system to help them get through the ordeal. Now, because of this rapid increase of suicides throughout the past five years, there have been more programs developed such as Youth Net and The Zone for teenagers in crisis.
Mental Health Awareness has always been an issue very close to my heart, as I myself do suffer from depression, as well as Social Anxiety Disorder, OCD and mild Selective Mutism.
 I know how hard it is to live with mental illness. Every day is a struggle, a battle, a fight. Mental illness is so powerful, that it can take over your life in an instant. You feel so alone and scared that you don’t know who or where to turn to.  As a matter of fact, I have on multiple occasions had thoughts of suicide and self-harm. I had every reason to at the time; however the only thing that stopped me from doing so was the fact that I had people around me to support me. This included my family and close friends. I now look back and think if I had committed suicide, how it would affect the people around me, even those who I did not know very well. I then considered what I would be missing out on: my High School graduation, University, having a family of my own. All of these things were the reasons why I wanted to keep living, so why did I even think that suicide would rid me of all my problems. It would only cause them. 
In addition to this, in the summer of 2011, one of my (and my mother’s) dear friend’s committed suicide. He was only 40 years old. We worked together in an animal rescue deployment. We worked with him for approximately 3 months helping rescue animals and rehabilitating them. My mother in particular worked with him the most. However, one day we received a horrifying call informing us that he had taken his life. At that moment it felt as though my life had just stopped in its tracks. It is one of the worst feelings you could ever feel. It fills you with feelings of shame, guilt, anger and sadness. You feel guilty that you were unaware of what was happening. You feel shame that you couldn’t help them when they needed it. You feel anger as you think “Why did you do this to us? Why did you leave us?” Finally, the sadness and ever longing sorrow lingers in your soul for months, even years after the fact. This is a feeling that no one could ever get over or recover from. 
Also, people who I knew directly had also had people they knew recently commit suicide.  It`s just so hard to believe that someone could be so depressed that they would be serious enough to take their own life. This just proves how powerful the forces of mental illnesses, in conjunction with external factors such as bullying and traumatizing social experiences can really be.
One benefit about this is that most mental illnesses are treatable. Forms of treatment include medications such as anti-depressants, behavioural therapy and hospitalization (in severe cases). However, not all treatment works for everyone. This is why visiting a family physician or nearest mental health clinic is necessary before undergoing any treatment. 

And remember this, if you are in a crisis and feel like everything is working against you. You are not alone. There are people who are there for you, even if you do not think so. You are stronger than you’ll ever know.  

Here are some resources that you can turn to for help (mainly if you are in the Ottawa/Quebec area):

• Kids' Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868
• Youth Services Bureau's 24/7 Crisis Line (Eastern Ontario): 1-877-377-7775 Email: crisis@ysb.on.ca
• Ottawa Crisis Line: 1-866-996-0991
• Quebec Crisis Centre: 1-866-277-3553
• SuicidePrevention.ca
• Ottawa Distress Line: 613-238-3311
• Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868
• Child, Youth and Family Crisis Line for Eastern Ontario 1-877-377-7775
• Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre: 613-741-6025
• Mental Health Crisis Line (for ages 16 and up) 613-722-6914
• Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa 613-260-2360
• http://www.doitfordaron.com/mental-health-resources
• http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/family_resources.asp?cID=4808 



*Statistics and Definitions from the Canadian Mental Health Association