How a year of COVID-19 has impacted our mental health
Experts are sounding the alarm on an impending fourth wave of the pandemic — a wave characterized by psychic trauma, burnout, mental illness and economic injury that is projected to be the largest, most enduring health footprint of COVID-19. “I think we’re seeing the...
Just one strong emotion away: Conspiracy theories and misinformation
AUDIO | Misinformation is not new, and propaganda has been part of political communication since the dawn of politics. While misinformation can be spread by government and corporate public relations officials, celebrities and international bad actors, it is enabled...
Achieving human potential is true prosperity
Dr. Trevor Hancock is a retired professor and senior scholar at the University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy, a public health physician, health promotion consultant and columnist for the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper. Dr. Hancock spoke...
“There’s a lot that needs to be done”
Eli Cooley-Morris was baptized in the Downtown Eastside’s landmark First United Church in 1988. He died next door at the Hazelwood Hotel nearly 32 years later, another victim of B.C.’s poisoned drug supply. His father, Rev. Barry Morris, was the minister at the church...
Susan Inman: Why the B.C. children and youth rep’s report is alarming
The recently released and widely publicized report on involuntary hospitalizations from B.C.’s children and youth representative seems meant to alarm us. The report, Detained: Rights of Children and Youth under the Mental Health Act, is alarming, but for very...
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VIMHS NEWS
Mental Illness Awareness Week 2020: Navigating Mental Health during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) has announced the five Canadians who have been named as the “2020-21 Faces of Mental Illness.” The announcement came just before the start of Mental Illness Awareness Week, which will be held from...
20 bridge housing spaces now open in Campbell River, managed by VIMHS
Vancouver Island Mental Health Society has officially opened 20 spaces offering "bridge housing" in Campbell River. Bridge housing provides homeless citizens with a bed, showers and meals, as well as many of the support services found in permanent supportive housing....
Campbell River housing project in former restaurant nears completion
The new bridge housing project going into the former Rosebowl restaurant has had over four times as many applicants as it can take. The facility is expected to be open in approximately two weeks, according to Taryn O’Flanagan, the executive director of the Vancouver...
MEDIA SCAN
Bell Let’s Talk Day is Thursday, Jan. 28
We’ve known for a long time that it’s almost always better to talk about mental health than to keep quiet about it. We should continually be looking for ways to have conversations about how we are doing, how we are feeling, and ask those questions of those we care...
Cowichan makes strides towards help for unhoused youth
The year 2021 could be a “really good year” towards addressing the challenges facing unhoused and vulnerable youth in the Cowichan region, predicts Cindy Lise, regional facilitator for Our Cowichan Communities Health Network. Unhoused and precariously housed youth...
‘Shadow pandemic’ of young people with eating disorders a challenge for health networks to treat
More children and teens are suffering from eating disorders than ever before, according to Canada’s largest pediatric hospital, as social isolation caused by school disruptions and limits on extracurricular activities takes a toll. Children as young as 9 and 10 are...
PEOPLE FIRST MEDIA
Achieving human potential is true prosperity
Dr. Trevor Hancock is a retired professor and senior scholar at the University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy, a public health physician, health promotion consultant and columnist for the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper. Dr. Hancock spoke...
Iliajah Pidskalny cycled from Saskatoon to Vancouver to stop the harm
Iliajah Pidskalny, an award-winning Geology graduate from Saskatchewan, set out on January 1, 2021 -- on his bicycle and carrying a tent -- and he cycled from Saskatoon to Vancouver, arriving on Friday January 29. Iliajah cycled to raise awareness of the ongoing --...
When a lesser god expires: Remembering Leonard Williams
Leonard Williams lived on the streets of Nanaimo, British Columbia, for an estimated 30 years. He was kind, gentle, and lived a life of gratitude. But early in the morning of Dec. 26, 2020, the 59-year-old’s lifeless body was found in Nanaimo’s Old City Quarter. A...
