A discussion hosted by the Mental Health Commission of Canada welcomed six panelists to Algonquin’s AC HUB on Oct. 17 to talk about the massive gaps in mental health services.
Emerging adults was a big topic for the panelists, addressing how those gaps affect young kids who are about to age out of the system.
Corinne Sauve, one of the panelists, had some personal experience with that term. She works in the youth homelessness sector and was once homeless herself.
“That shift in language is more than just words. I think it speaks to a problem that we see in service delivery when we speak about youth. Usually agencies will have services provided to young people until a certain age,” she explained.
“As service workers we need to open the door for people who need help,” said Dr. Kim Corace, one of the panelists.
Doug Stringer, manager of the student’s wellness centre at Algonquin and one of the panelists, suggested a peer lead model system while also stressing the importance of community building.
“Shame’s a barrier that stops people from sharing,” Stringer said.
Alicia Raimundo, another panelist, brought up the idea of low barrier services need to help youth in need. Many services like therapy require the help of a parent figure, and low barrier services are things that a person in need can do with minimal help from anyone else.
She suggested alternatives such as text lines to enable people in need to message to get support.
Panelists shared their personal stories and one showed the crowd their tattoo which read “I am enough and that is revolutionary.”
A question asked by an attendee got the panelists thinking. She asked them what they thought was the best way to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health issues, to which Sauve replied “Be brave enough to talk about your own experience.”
The Mental Health Commission of Canada was established in 2007. Their mandate was to create Canada’s first mental health strategy, advance knowledge exchange in mental health and to figure how to best help people who are homeless and living with mental health problems.