Peer support workers essential in preventing overdose, drug poisoning deaths
Peer support workers play an essential role in supporting people with substance use related challenges. They offer judgement-free care, and personal connection for people experiencing substance use challenges and who may feel isolated and vulnerable. Peer support...
Analysis: People living on the streets are struggling. Their neighbours are too.
A lack of investment in the necessities of life, from health care to housing, has left residents of Nanaimo to 'pick up the pieces.' When I sit down to write a series, I typically try to break the issue down into a simple outline that often takes the form of...
Month over month, people in BC continue to lose their lives to the poisoned drug supply in record numbers
Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, has released the following statement regarding the BC Coroners Service’s report on illicit drug toxicity deaths for April 2021: “Month over month, people in British Columbia continue to lose their lives to...
Solving the problems in mental health care
Dealing with a mental illness is challenging enough, but more often the biggest challenge is in accessing timely help and getting the right treatment. Veteran mental-health leader Dr. David Goldbloom knows this problem well and addresses the solutions in his new book,...
Take Daybreak Rotary’s 25 for 25 Challenge and support local organizations
Vancouver Island Mental Health Society is one of 25 organizations participating in Nanaimo Daybreak Rotary Club’s 25 for 25 Challenge — a month-long event marking Daybreak’s 25th anniversary. Daybreak Rotary is putting out a challenge to all of Nanaimo, virtually due...
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VIMHS NEWS
#GetReal about how you feel: Mental Health Week in Canada May 3 to 9
Mental Health Week is a Canadian tradition, with communities, schools and workplaces rallying to celebrate, protect and promote mental health. The core objective of Mental Health Week is to promote mental health because mental health is something we can promote and...
New supportive homes open at Q’waxsem Place in Campbell River
Construction has finished on a 50-unit supportive housing development in Campbell River that will provide homes with 24/7 support for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. "This housing will make a significant difference for people in Campbell River who are...
New affordable housing with mental health and addiction supports opens in Nanaimo
A three-story complex of low-rent housing has begun welcoming residents in Nanaimo. The doors officially opened on 285 Rosehill St. at Terminal Ave on Dec. 1, providing 23 studio apartments. Owned and operated by the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society, the...
MEDIA SCAN
Solving the problems in mental health care
Dealing with a mental illness is challenging enough, but more often the biggest challenge is in accessing timely help and getting the right treatment. Veteran mental-health leader Dr. David Goldbloom knows this problem well and addresses the solutions in his new book,...
Campbell River students welcome homeless to the neighbourhood
When a $10.4 million supportive housing project for the homeless was announced in Campbell River, it wasn’t completely popular with local residents. “Neighbours were concerned, businesses in the area too, and a lot was mentioned about the neighbouring schools in the...
‘An immense toll’: 498 deaths from poisoned drugs this year in B.C.
Nearly 500 people in British Columbia have died of poisoned drugs in the first three months of 2021 alone, signalling no slow in fatalities on the heels of the province’s most fatal year on record. March saw 158 lives lost across the province, 40 per cent more than...
PEOPLE FIRST MEDIA
New approach to community safety and well-being fuses a number of best practices
AUDIO | Communities across Canada are facing multiple challenges these days, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid overdose and poisoning crisis, increasing homelessness and rising crime rates. Steve Woolrich is a crime prevention practitioner and principal...
Anxiety is like an open app, running in the background and draining my battery
AUDIO | Brad Furlott lives in Toronto and, as he puts it, is “mostly retired.” He’s part of a writing group and has had three of his stories published by The Globe and Mail under their First Person series of personal stories. Brad’s latest story -- Anxiety is like an...
B.C. high school student calls for more in-depth mental health education
AUDIO | When the British Columbia government announced a $2-million boost to mental health supports in schools in September, it piqued DJ Gill’s interest. Like many students forced into online classes last spring and facing restricted in-person classes since...
