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Articles by Alex Barankevych
In memoriam: Dr. Manon Charbonneau
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the passing of Dr. Manon Charbonneau, a clinical psychiatrist, a cherished former board member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada from 2013-2019, and an unwavering champion for the Mental Health First Aid program in Quebec. Manon Charbonneau’s dedication and tireless efforts in advancing mental health literacy and support have left an indelible mark on communities across Canada and beyond.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences launch a national demonstration project to advance schizophrenia treatment and care delivery in Canada - Mental Health Commission of Canada
(OTTAWA, ONTARIO) The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) are collaborating on a nationwide demonstration project to advance treatment, strengthen care delivery, and improve outcomes for those living with schizophrenia. Over 18 months, participating health-care sites will receive customized resources and support to expand the implementation of Ontario Health’s (OH) Schizophrenia Quality Standards (Standards).
How to find a 2SLGBTQIA+ mental health service provider
By Jessica Ward-King It’s been a while since I’ve dated (my wife and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in August), but I still remember the horrors – and yes, it was online even back then. Search through dozens upon dozens (hundreds?) of profiles to try to find one that looks like it might match what you want, then message to see if they match you too…then the actual date to see if you ACTUALLY match each other – it was exhausting.
Bread and butter: money and mental health
By Jessica Ward-King Butter just cost me $8. And I live in a major urban centre – I don’t even live in a rural or remote area of our vast country where I am sure that butter costs exorbitantly more. And you know what else just cost me more money? My medication, therapy (if I can even afford that at all), gas to get to the doctor to start with, pretty much every form of self-care – everything costs money, and everything costs more and more of it these days.
Plain language: it's not just for kids anymore
By Nicole Chevrier An accessible and inclusive workplace contributes to good mental health at work. Using plain language in your communications is a good place to start. The sheer volume of information confronting us each day is astounding. We are awash in emails, documents, and messages. We parse through our inboxes and look for the telltale signs of timewasters so we can prioritize what we will actually read.
Tips for Helping Children Cope with Change Original
By Lynn Harley It has been said that the one constant in life is change, and the following quote by Arnold Bennett affirms that: “any change, even change for the better is always accompanied by discomfort.” Navigating change and life transitions can bring fear, doubt, and anxiety. For young children, the addition of a new sibling or care person, entering daycare, school, or big changes such as parents divorcing or a move to a new place are a few that come to mind.
How to protect your mental health at work
By Nicole Chevrier How do I tell my work I need time off for mental health? How do you tell your boss you’re struggling mentally? Can you call in sick because of mental health? Would you feel comfortable answering these questions? Work is such a big part of our lives. And stress is a part of life. But when workplace stress reaches beyond normal levels and becomes unhealthy, we need to do something about it.
When it’s time to hand in your notice to go in search of yourself
By Suzanne Westover When I left my job at the height of the pandemic, it wasn’t after months of quiet quitting. Nor did I do a happy dance. I didn’t see myself reflected in the media narratives about quitting one’s job. I wasn’t like the flight attendant who went viral by dramatically announcing his departure over a loudspeaker before throwing himself down the emergency slide in an inglorious exit.
Everything you always wanted to know about therapy but were afraid to ask
Everything you always wanted to know about therapy but were afraid to ask By Yvette Murray Choosing to go to therapy may feel scary and overwhelming. Some may even have the belief that a therapist tells you what to do to ‘solve’ your problem. Therapy over the years has been stigmatized, but as we become more aware of mental health, the stigma has lessened.
You are not alone - let’s talk about suicidal ideation
By Jessica Ward-King This blog post discusses suicide. I’m going to go to a bit of a dark place, and I would invite you to follow me there because it is important. I have had (and the way bipolar disorder goes so cyclically, likely will have again) suicidal ideation, and I would like to tell you what it is like.
Slow down and boost your mental health
By Nicole Chevrier Do you feel like you always have to be doing something? Do you find it difficult to let go of your to-do list and just relax? I needed to go through burnout to learn that there are drawbacks to being a ‘high achiever.’ The pursuit of excellence comes at a cost. Relentless busyness is not good for us. Do you ever notice the pressure to ‘be your best self,’ whether in your job or as part of your persona on social media?
What’s in a font?
By April Yorke Years ago, my Roman Civilizations professor began the course by having people shout out things from the Romans that we still use today. Students called out things like cement, roads, and the [Julian] calendar. After a while, he told us to think smaller. No matter what we said, it wasn’t small enough. Smaller, smaller, smaller. So, what’s the very small thing we can thank the Romans for? Our alphabet. If you’re reading this, you probably use the same alphabet as me – the Roman alphabet.
How to be an ally to people living with disability
By Nicole Chevrier July is disability pride month. This means a great deal to me because, for the first time in my life, I am disabled. I developed a debilitating and chronic post-viral condition after contracting COVID-19. My life has changed dramatically and has become, well, unrecognizable to me. I used to hike, walk, and dance. Go out and meet friends. Travel. Now I use a walker. I have a disabled parking sticker. I struggle to do a lot of things that I used to do. And I am not the only one.
We are not the villains in the movies
A friend of mine is struggling with her mental health. Something happened recently that sent her life into a tailspin, and she is having trouble coping. She can’t stop crying and is barely eating and sleeping. She has lived with depression for a long time, and it’s been manageable, but now she is at an all-time low. I’m worried about her. I’ve been talking to her about it, and I suggested she get some help from a therapist, but she isn’t ready.
We hesitate to mention mental health and 2SLGBTQIA+ in the same breath
By Jessica Ward-King It took me a long time to tell my Catholic parents that I am a lesbian. I remember coming home from university one Christmas with my heart in my throat. This was going to be the time. I wanted to do it over the phone so that I wouldn’t have to see their faces, so that I could hang up and cry into my pillow, but I couldn’t do that to them. So, I first sat down with my mother by the fire, over a cup of eggnog, and just…said it.
You can make a difference
By Nicole Chevrier If you or someone you care about has ever been touched by mental health concerns, you know how much mental health and recovery matter. If you have ever asked yourself, “What more can I do?” this could be the right time to get involved in making a positive impact. Join us in our mission to create a better tomorrow for all Canadians.
How to support a loved one with chronic illness
By Nicole Chevrier Sarah is 32 years old and has two young children. She used to be a primary school teacher. Sarah loves kayaking, hiking, and running. She ran her first marathon two years after her first child was born. But she doesn’t do that anymore – not since she developed Long COVID, also known as Post-COVID condition, due to a COVID infection two years ago. There are many things that Sarah doesn’t do anymore. She has stopped working, exercising, cooking, walking the dog, and driving.
5 Tips for Starting a Conversation with Your Friend About Mental Health
It can be challenging to talk about mental health with friends and loved ones, as there is often a fear of being judged or misunderstood. In this post, I will share five tips for starting a conversation with your friend about their mental health. Before we dive into the tips, let’s take a moment to discuss why it’s important to talk about mental health. Mental health issues are incredibly common, yet they are still heavily stigmatized in our society.
Take care of your mental health during summer break
By Nicole Chevrier Who doesn’t love summer? Longer sunny days, outdoor activities, cottaging and camping, sports, social events, and relaxing and enjoying life. And for students, no homework. What could be better? Summer trouble For some children and young people who live with mental health concerns, summertime can be challenging. The disruption in routine and a loss of structure can affect anyone.
How to write a brilliant blog post in 10 steps - Mental Health Commission of Canada
How to get started Choose a topic: Before you start writing, choose a topic that interests you. Research popular topics and see what other bloggers write about. Hint: health, wellness and mental health are popular topics! Do your research: Before you start writing, do some research on the topic you have chosen. Read articles and books on the topic to make sure you have a good understanding of it. If you are interested in mental health, using Google is a great way to start.
Navigating Parenthood with a Mental Illness
By Samantha Bennett As a parent, it’s common to experience stress, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed at times. But these challenges can get amplified for parents also managing a mental illness. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder before the birth of my children. I walked into parenthood knowing it would be just a little different than the experiences of some of my peers. Understanding mental illness and its impact on parenting Mental illness can affect all areas of life, including parenting.
Peer support changed my life
By Jessica Ward-King I parked my car blocks away, terrified that if anyone saw me near the building they would know that I was one of the “crazy” people attending the meeting. I walked slowly, almost turning back to my car 3 times before I made it to the door. What kind of people would I find inside? I put my hand on the handle, took a deep breath, and entered.
My diagnosis: What I didn’t expect was grief
By Samantha Bennett I had admitted something was off. I received the referral, got the appointment, and did the screening questionnaires and interviews, which led to a diagnosis. I finally had a reason for why my mood yo-yoed up and down over the years. I had an explanation for the high episodes and deep depressions that cycled almost like clockwork. I had a name to apply to what I had been experiencing since my teens – Bipolar Type 2.
No more doom and gloom: How we’re using photography to inspire hope
By April Yorke Images of mental health If you’ve ever seen a news article about mental health and mental illness, you can probably still picture the stock photo that went along with it. You don’t even need a link from me to refresh your memory. Someone is sitting alone in the dark. Maybe with their head in their hands. Maybe peering out a window at the rain. You know the photo. You probably also know what’s wrong with the photo.
Must-read mental health blogs for 2023
Discover the voices of lived experience and get access to resources, information, tips, and tools to support your mental health. UVic Student Mental Health Blog https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/studentmentalhealth/ Dedicated to promoting positive mental health and reducing stigma. UVic students share their personal stories and tips for maintaining wellness. Learn ways to increase your happiness and wellbeing and decrease your stress as you navigate life as a student.
Unrooted - I owe it to myself to see my own dreams through
By Aishah Khan It seems I’m always trying to forge belonging, or fielding a gulf between myself and the community I grew up with. I feel deeply disconnected from my childhood friends and peers, cultural background, and family. My home base. My roots. This past year, I had a plan. I would return to school, find a job, and “settle down.” I would make myself belong. I guess the way of the world doesn’t cow to our carefully calculated plans. I couldn’t find a job, and I decided to embrace the ether.
Move to boost your mental health
By Caelie Townsend Physical activity is not just beneficial for maintaining a healthy body, but also for improving mental health. In fact, research shows that exercise is one of the most effective tools to manage mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Even modest levels of physical activity or low-intensity exercise are beneficial. Key benefits of physical activity for mental health: Reduces stress and anxiety Physical activity is a natural stress reliever.
The door creaked open and invited me in
Supporting healing for veterans navigating the transition to post-service life NANCY The door creaked open and invited me in. I wrote that line in November 2022, while facilitating a Writers Collective of Canada (WCC) workshop, as part of the Healing Unseen Wounds: Her Story* series for woman-identified people who served in the Canadian military. WCC** is a charitable organization that inspires exploratory writing in community.
The door creaked open and invited me in
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Supporting healing for veterans navigating the transition to post-service life NANCY The door creaked open and invited me in. I wrote that line in November 2022, while facilitating a Writers Collective of Canada (WCC) workshop, as part of the Healing Unseen Wounds: Her Story* series for woman-identified people who served in the Canadian military. WCC** is a charitable organization that inspires exploratory writing in community.
The new frontiers of ability
By Ainsley Huard Imagine, if you will, that you woke up one day and your life was completely unrecognizable. It could happen, for so many reasons, good and bad. What then? Do you fall apart or keep going? Or do you re-imagine what’s possible? Letting go of the familiar A serious illness has changed my life. I can no longer do many of the things I love to do. To adapt I have had to change how I live. I can still walk but not very far. The new snowshoes I bought are now in storage.
Mental Health for Older Adults: 5 Practical Ways to Boost your Mood
Mental health is a vital aspect of your overall health. As you grow older, you can experience changes in your physical health, social connections, and daily routines that can significantly affect your quality of life, your mood and well-being. I have been working as a registered nurse in geriatric nursing care for nearly 40 years. In this post, I will share six practical ways to help you boost your mood and support your overall mental health as you age. Regular exercise can be a game-changer.
I didn’t imagine that mental health was affected by the colour of one’s skin. I was wrong.
By Jessica Ward-King I am a white woman, but my wife and son are not. And I have seen in the past 17 years that I have loved them, that things aren’t the same for them. As a white woman, even though I wasn’t born into particular privilege in terms of class or status, I was nonetheless born into the privilege of race where most medical and mental health practitioners look and think like me. As a white woman, doctors do not withhold medication from me.
Be kind to your mind: 3 top-rated apps for mindfulness and meditation
How would you rate your ability to focus right now? More importantly, how are you feeling? After bathing in anxiety for a few years, are you feeling a little frayed around the edges? Are you making enough time each day to relax, reflect, and renew yourself? My hunch is that almost everyone I could ask would tell me that they are struggling with managing stress and want to feel more relaxed. But wellness is so much more than that. “Wellness can often be confused with health, wellbeing, and happiness.
See me as a person, not a diagnosis
By Jessica Ward-King, B.Sc., Ph.D. “You’re so brave.” “You’re such an inspiration!” “You’re so strong – such a fighter.” We say these things to people living with illness and disability all the time, but have you ever thought about what they might be hearing? Bravery is defined as “strength in the face of pain or grief”. And, perhaps to some people, a disability like mental illness is a very painful thought.
I searched for families like mine - and if possible, hope. They were here all along
By Ester Eisen Stigma leads me to write this under a pseudonym. Why? Because my child is kind, caring, generous and resilient, among many other great qualities. And they also have mental health issues that have caused them to behave violently. Fortunately, there’s been some progress dispelling the myth that everyone with mental health issues is violent. But where does that leave people whose mental health issues may include violence? Recently I took MHCC’s training on Mental Health First Aid (MHFA).
The power of connection: Living well with chronic illness
By Angela Psimenatos I was born with hydrocephalus and spastic cerebral palsy, permanent neurological disabilities that affect information processing speed, coordination, speech, balance, and walking ability. I have chronic pain from increased muscle tone. I consider myself fortunate as I can walk and have achieved some significant milestones. In 2011, I acquired chronic facial pain following a viral infection.
Blogs of the year
The power of our voices It’s a new year. We are celebrating our stories, and our lived and living experience by showcasing our most engaging posts of 2022. Hiding my struggle with depression I have high-functioning bipolar depression. This is not a diagnosis that you will find in the DSM-V, but a popular term we put to the kind of life that I am describing.
Delaying Cognitive Decline: 6 Stimulating Activities for People with Dementia
By Nancy Mitchell Living with dementia, people are often stigmatized by mental decline and the perceived inability to do anything about it. What if I told you that there are certain tried-and-tested stimulating activities to delay mental decline? Working as a registered nurse in geriatric nursing care for nearly 40 years, I’ve been implementing different strategies into my practice. Among my top priorities has been identifying and implementing activities for delaying cognitive decline.
5 movies to help you talk to your kids about mental health
By Jessica Ward-King Even children can struggle with mental health challenges. But how do you explain mental health to children in an age-appropriate way? It’s got to be engaging, it’s got to be fun, and it’s got to be relevant. My 10-year-old son gets a lot of mental health messaging from me, his “StigmaCrusher” mom, but I’m “just his mom” so I lean on the power of media.
How to help your child cope with eco-anxiety
By Nicole Chevrier “I have spent most of my teenage years living in a state of climate anxiety or as some call it, eco-anxiety. I should be dreaming about my future instead of having nightmares. I should be spending my time reading, writing, and skating – enjoying my youth. What am I anxious about, you ask? Most of Belfast will be uninhabitable by 2050 due to rising sea levels.
Listen to Me - Supporting a Friend Experiencing a Mental Health Problem
By Yvette Murray Have you ever felt at a loss of what to say or do when a friend is going through a mental health difficulty? Or do you have an answer for their problem before they have finished telling you what their problem is? Not having all the answers when supporting a friend experiencing a mental health difficulty is not necessarily a bad thing. Resist the urge to fix.
Top 10 resources on men’s mental health
It’s Movember, the month when we focus on men’s mental health and raise awareness and improve mental and physical health outcomes for men around the world. Some show their support with symbolic moustaches, while others lend their voice to the overdue conversation about men’s mental health. We have long advocated for increased awareness of the unique mental health realities faced by men, who are less likely to recognize, talk about, and seek treatment for their illnesses.
Envisioning the future of workplace mental health
By Yvette Murray A popular quote by Wayne Dyer goes “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. Perhaps changing the way we look at what constitutes a healthy workplace may change the fact that psychological health problems are costing the Canadian economy around $51 billion per year, $20 billion of which results from work-related causes.
Supporting mental health at work starts with a conversation
Steve Tizzard has worked on the Hibernia Platform since 1997, and for the last 22 years, in a Communications, Weather and Ice Management role. He is the founding member of the Offshore Wellness Committee, for workers in the oil and gas industry. In 2015, the Wellness Committee from Hibernia was recognized by Canada’s Safest Employers Awards for psychological safety in the workplace.
Is E-Mental Health Support Right for You?
By Jessica Ward-King Twenty-something years ago, after Y2K did not result in the collapse of the modern world, my university campus general practitioner proposed something radical: while I was waiting for an appointment with specialized mental health services, I could access a newly-developed service that would offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to me online and from the safety and comfort of my dorm room.
Forging ahead by conquering the trauma in my past
By Cam Scholey This blog post discusses trauma Until recently, I had spent much of the 55 years of my life being chased by my past, staying one step ahead of it. It’s a past I wanted to run from, needed to run from. In the 1970s, bipolar 2 was called manic depression. It was treated with lithium and sometimes shock therapy. I know this because my father was diagnosed with manic depression in the early 70s. Actually, for me, it was like having three fathers.
Rest is not the same thing as recovery
By Jessica Ward-King, B.Sc.(Hons), Ph.D. The other day I was walking down the street when my foot hit a divot in the pavement, and I went over on my ankle. I heard – or maybe felt – a snap. My ankle started swelling almost immediately.
Finding joy in the ordinary
By Nicole Chevrier Do more. Be more. Get more. Be successful. Strive. Hustle. Achieve. Be a winner. Don’t waste time. Sound familiar? Time flies. Yes, it does. All the more reason to slow down. ‘Stop and smell the roses’ is a cliché for a reason. You deserve the quiet moments to nourish your well-being. As a motivated and ambitious person, I was fully subscribed to the achiever mentality, perpetually running on the hamster wheel.
Hiding my struggle with depression
By Jessica Ward-King, B.Sc., Ph.D. I do my hair. Paint my face. Iron my blouse and press it just so. Earrings, a matching necklace. Glasses the complement the look. I’m ready for my close-up – in a Zoom meeting, of course. I am put-together and professional. Trendy, even. Successful. From the waist down I look more like I feel – stained pajama bottoms and slippers, legs unshaven. I am barely able to drag myself from bedroom to home-office. Yesterday’s coffee cup holds today’s tepid brew.
Some of us are getting left behind
By Nicole Chevrier This blog post discusses substance use and trauma What does mental health look like? I think that the answer probably depends. Mental health is not a one-size-fits-all concept. This question was top of mind for me when I recently spoke with community outreach workers of the Breaking the Ice (BTI) program at The 519, a city of Toronto agency dedicated to the health, happiness, and meaningful participation of 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
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