I first noticed Youth Mental Health Canada on Facebook. They provide much information that is relevant not only to mental health issues for our youth, but also to the general population as well. Here are some stats about youth and mental health: 11 people die in Canada every day by suicide.; youth are among the highest risk populations for suicide. It is estimated that 10-20% of Canadian youth are affected by a mental illness or disorder – the single most disabling group of

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts and he created a mindfulness meditation entitled "Loving-Kindness." Whether you use it as a meditation or as a daily mantra or prayer, I especially love its sentiment: May I be happy May I be healthy May I ride the waves of my life May I live in peace No matter what I am given May you be happy May you be healthy May your ri

Richard Braudo, a Toronto lawyer and management consultant, has suffered for years from bouts of debilitating depression. In what appears to be a genetic component to mental illness, Braudo lost a brother to suicide and was eventually diagnosed himself with treatment resistant bi-polar affective disorder. In a YouTube video featuring Braudo, he talks about his experience with mental illness: "It's not just that I've survived, it's that I've had a quality of life.....in some w

My friend Nathalie once shared this poem with me and every so often I look it up and remind myself of its timeless and wonderful value. Desiderata Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in t

I have just finished reading "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff. Perhaps the most unparalleled book I have read about addiction, " Beautiful Boy" is a bird's eye view into Sheff's personal account and journey through his son's addiction and steps to recovery. Two quotes that I especially appreciated touch on how addiction permeates self and families: "I probably don't have to tell you that this is a disease that affects families too," the speaker, a program counselor begins. "

The year after I was first separated, the year I was "alone," I was also working on getting myself to a place where I would be ready to date again. It was important to me that I reflect upon what I wanted in a future relationship, and so naturally I turned to Dr. Phil :) Actually, I was sitting in my colleague Gurlie's office and noticed the book "Love Smart" by Dr. Phil McGraw so I asked if I could borrow it. One of the exercises that I resonated with was one in which Dr.

Sometimes I have to send an attachment email from my home account to my work account. In the text portion of the email, I greet myself with "Hello Beautiful!" I kind of forget I do it, and then I am greeted with a lovely sentiment when I open the email :) When we think of self-care, our first thoughts often go to a day at the spa, or an afternoon off. Although that is a necessary part of our regime of self-care and acts as a healthy escape, we can also have bits of self-car

I recently finished the memoir "educated" by Tara Westover and it was a fascinating example of childhood conditioning and the subsequent creation of core beliefs that followed and plagued Tara throughout her young adult life. A quote in the book that I resonated with takes place between Tara and a professor who was instrumental in getting her accepted into a study abroad program at Cambridge in London (of which Tara does not feel worthy): "You are not fool's gold, shining

I have been working with a client recently who has come to counselling to get help processing her emotions as she cares for her mother in the final stages of Alzheimer's. As part of her healing, she has begun writing again and this week she brought in this beautiful poem; she has given me written consent to share it: WHEN YOU MOTHERED ME I go down for my visit with you every day, and we spend time alone, you and me And I cuddle, and care for, and remind you you’re loved, Just

In a recent article entitled "Yes. I live with dementia. Let me help you understand" by Megan Gillis and featured in the Ottawa Citizen , Gillis introduces us to Keith Barrett, a 59 year old man diagnosed with early onset dementia two years ago. Barrett has become part of the Alzheimer's Society's newest campaign to help try and rid the stigma that tends to accompany dementia. "The campaign — “Yes. I live with dementia. Let me help you understand.” — aims to change attitudes

In a recent podcast Clear and Vivid with Alan Alda entitled "Christian Picciolini on Escaping the Neo-Nazi Movement and Helping Others Leave it Behind," Picciolini speaks of his desire to leave the movement even though he was a leader of a group at the time. He recalls opening up a record store as a way to distance himself from the group, and it was the compassion of his customers, many of whom were Jewish and African-American, who helped him realize his full potential: "On

Building upon yesterday's blog post which featured the book " How Can I Help? A Week in My Life as a Psychiatrist" by David Goldbloom and Pier Bryden, he talks about the role a psychiatrist can play in the lives of their patients and I found it to be relevant to all helping professions as well. He quotes Edwin Trudeau, a nineteenth-century physician as saying, " The role of the physician is to cure rarely, relieve often, comfort always." Goldbloom also quotes his pediatric

I just finished reading "How Can I Help? A Week in My Life as a Psychiatrist" by David Goldbloom and Pier Bryden . Dr. Goldbloom brings the reader through a typical week in the life of a Canadian psychiatrist, from both a personal and professional perspective. I considered the book to be very fascinating; he touches upon some facts about mental health and although they are from 2016, I found them to be quite relevant today: O ne in five. That's the number of Canadians each ye

I obsess about causing harm to others through some unintentional act. I worry that I have hurt someone with my sloppy or ineffectual words and will cause them to become seriously unhappy. Or that I have left a cigarette burning in my house or an appliance on and that my house will explode and wipe out the whole neighbourhood. This causes me to check things more than once before I leave the house, and then to go back into the house to check again. — Mary W. This is the quote t

The year my girlfriends and I were turning 40, we took a long weekend to Anna Maria Island in Florida. Before the trip, my friend asked me to bring her a book that she could read; I quickly tucked a coming-of-age type story into my travel bag and handed it over at the airport. Flight went well, we landed and headed to the cottage, courtesy of our driver, Ernie. At some point before the end of the evening, Kim realized she had left her book on the plane. The next day, we head

What a gem to be found in this little poem about the perils of worrying: I Worried by Mary Oliver I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers flow in the right direction, will the earth turn as it was taught, and if not how shall I correct it? Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven, can I do better? Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows can do it and I am, well, hopeless. Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it, am I going to get rheumatism,

Starting therapy can be an intimidating process for people. Part of my job is to normalize this process for the client; to earn their trust in order to be a collaborative part of their healing and to create a space for them that becomes theirs to share their story. Very often, the language we use as therapists can be a contributory factor and can soften the process. Here are some of my top examples: "Sounds like we need to spend a bit of time unpacking this one." "When we tea

For a full year after my ex-husband and I separated, I was alone. I had made two goals for myself in the after months; my first one was to keep my girls protected by making sure their emotional needs were being met and the other was to let my ex go. I knew instinctively, that after being with him for 23 years, I was going to need to healthily detach from him before moving forward in another relationship. Being alone is not easy; we are a relationship species, driven to conn

A recent article on CBC led me to a podcast entitled "Ear Hustle." Ear Hustle, known as eavesdropping in prison lingo, is a podcast featuring Earlonne Woods, an inmate at San Quentin Prison who teams up with Nigel Poor, a visual artist, to bring stories of prison life to the outside. In Episode 2, entitled Misguided Loyalty , Tommy Shakur Ross opens up about his decision as a teenager to involve himself in gang life. Nicknamed "the Joker," Ross's eventual choices and subse

In a recent podcast entitled "Clear and Vivid with Alan Alda: Rachael Ray on Communicating Through the Medium of Food," Rachael has this to say about the process of cooking: "The reason I like working in food is that it is such a great conduit for communication. It does things that words can't do. It can connect you with literally who you are and to the generations that we've lost. Food is more powerful than words in some way because is appeals to all of your senses." She