Mental Health Week has passed once again.
The annual national event, in its 66th year, was created to encourage people from all walks of life to learn, talk, reflect and engage with others on all issues relating to mental health.
This year’s festivities in Barrhead, held in conjunction with similar events throughout the country, kicked off with a semi-organized walk down Main Street May 1 in a show of support, where individuals carried signs and visited businesses, engaging members of the public in informative, mental-health related conversation.
It was thought provoking and inspiring.
Unfortunately, however good our intentions are, more action is still required.
Many people are not as informed as they could be.
Mental health is a growing concern in Canada.
Statistics Canada reported that 2.8 million, or 10.1 per cent of all Canadians had symptoms consistent with at least one of six mental or substance-use disorders in 2012.
But the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) say the numbers are actually worse.
They claim one out of every five Canadians struggles with a mental health or addiction issue yearly and that 70 per cent of all mental health issues have their onset between childhood and adolescence.
For Barrhead residents however, there are outreach programs and services available.
On Main Street, for example, we have the Ripple Connection Support Centre.
Located down an alley between Flower Lane and Best Friend’s Pet Supplies, the Ripple, as it is locally referred as, offers a wide variety of mental health services including counseling.
The Barrhead and District Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) has counseling service available and the Barrhead Community Awareness Resources Education Services (CARES) organization is focused on dealing with bullying, abuse, and the impacts of drug and alcohol-use.
Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) and Barrhead Elementary School both have counselors available, should students need someone to talk to, and in addition, BCHS also has a school resource officer, RCMP Const. Robert Hynes, and a family-school-liason worker, Trudy Gammel, through FCSS.
The point is that whether it is depression, anxiety, or another mental-health related ailment, services are in our community and there are locals trained to help us.
