Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of housing instability for women and children in Canada
In Canada, intimate partner violence is the leading cause of housing instability for women and children. Approximately 30% of Canada’s homeless population are women, 91% of whom have also endured some form of violence or assault in their lifetime. Organizations...
Single mom struggles to find housing in Campbell River
Kandi Keller has lived most of her life in Campbell River. She’s been a single mom for 16 years and was steadily employed until health issues left her on disability supports. Kandi recently faced another enormous challenge -- the loss of the family’s rental home --...
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...
If we say mental health help is on its way for Indigenous people, we’d better mean it
The country was horrified when the remains of 215 children were discovered in an unmarked grave at the site of a residential school in Kamloops, B.C. This gave Canadians pause about what kind of country they live in; it also brought a terrible sinking feeling, a...
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...
Recent Posts
For People First Media audio, please follow the link to the post.
VIMHS NEWS
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...
16 Days of Activism campaign aims to eliminate gender-based violence
Orange the world – it’s the message being spread during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. The campaign begins on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs until December 10, World Human...
Here’s our VIMHS Currents newsletter for November 2020
It’s that giving time of year…VIMHS updates from Campbell River and Nanaimo…Stats, infographics, and the continuum of housing…COVID stress syndrome…Mental health challenges among women and girls who are homeless…and more. Download a PDF copy of our...
MEDIA SCAN
‘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...
Two-thirds of B.C. youth struggling with mental health during the pandemic, new research shows
Two-thirds of children and youth in British Columbia are struggling with mild to moderate mental health challenges during the pandemic, up from one third before the arrival of COVID-19, says new research from B.C. Children’s Hospital. “This information is going to be...
Not depressed, but not flourishing: How ‘languishing’ became the dominant feeling of 2021
Fourteen months after COVID-19 first thrust the world into lockdown, many of us feel like a plant drooping in a pot: devoid of water, wilting, withered and weak. Our motivation has dulled and a constant state of blah-ness has taken over. “It’s the middle ground...
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...
