Heroes of Mental Health

Mental illness is truly invisible, but that doesn’t make it any less real for those affected by it. These Canadian Mental Health Association staffers and volunteers dedicate their lives to helping people with mental illness recover their lives—and thrive.

Below you will find a text version of the 12-page CMHA focused article entitled “Heroes of Mental Health” that appears in the December 2010 issue of Reader’s Digest (on the shelves now).
These 12 pages are filled with various stories of CMHA volunteers who work tirelessly to help improve the life-quality and potential of Canadians living with mental illness -- volunteers for community projects, one-on-one mentors, organizers of larger events, etc. Most of these volunteers have also been personally affected by mental-health issues -- be it a parent, a child, a friend, or even the volunteer him/herself, living with, struggling with, striving to overcome the daily challenges of mental illness.

Volunteers highlighted include Drew Jacques and Chris Hill, CMHA Cochrane-Timiskaming; Iman Grewal, CMHA Kitchener-Waterloo; Helen MacDonnell, CMHA, Moncton; Karen Murphy, CMHA, Ontario; Roy Muise, CMHA, Halifax; Steve Bournemann, CMHA, Haliax-Dartmouth, among others. A hearty thank you goes out to all those CMHA volunteers who took the time and effort to share their brave and precious stories with 6 million Reader’s Digest readers across this country!

ONE IN FIVE CANADIANS EXPERIENCES A MENTAL ILLNESS AT SOME POINT, AND MANY SUFFER IN SILENCE BECAUSE OF THE STIGMA.
For the full article, please pick up a December, 2010, issue of Reader's Digest which contains photos and additional information.
Drew Jacques, Chris Hill and others
New Liskeard, ONT.
By William Brown

Outside a Montreal metro station, a mentally ill man begs for change in the bitter January cold; barely a soul notices him, even after he freezes to death. That may seem shocking, but who among us hasn’t avoided the plaintive gaze of a stranger in need, or even dismissed a family member or friend who might need help? Perhaps the men and women celebrated in the following pages.
These people, and thousands like them, go the extra mile for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), a nationwide charitable organization. These heroes stop. They connect with those in need. They see beyond the stigma and misconceptions that plague the mentally ill.

How did they learn to see what many of us can’t or won’t? What makes them different? Here are their stories.
At first glance, mental­health support in New Liskeard, Ont., seems hard to come by: There are no full­time psychiatrists living in the community. While this lack of mental­health assistance is far from ideal, it has prompted the local CMHA to find other ways of providing support. “Our responsibility is to work with people to help them move from the dire consequences of significant mental illness to recovery, which means living life to the fullest of your ability,” says Drew Jacques, 52, team lead for mental­health services at the Cochrane­Timiskaming branch of the CMHA. “Along the way, we realized there’s value in activities other than just sitting in a room, talking.”
So Jacques, his staff and his team of volunteers did more than just talk: They created a variety of group programs and outings, all in the name of offering those who live with mental illness a safe place to gather, learn, cope and give back. Activities have included community­kitchen cooking classes, yoga and sessions that allow people to express themselves through art.
Chris Hill, 34, is among the many people who have helped to shape the branch’s activities. In addition to providing weekly counselling sessions, Hill, who played university hockey, takes clients to the gym or out for hikes. “There have been times in my life,” he says, “when I’ve gone through anxious episodes or bouts of depression, and exercise has helped me.” Hill noticed the same benefits, along with improved self­esteem, in his clients.
As a result of Hill’s success, and that of two other mental­health clinicians focusing on physical activity, the CMHA paid for the three of them to become certified personal trainers. Last year, the branch launched a pilot project, Active Recovery, adding physical fitness to the many therapeutic activities the organization al­ ready offers.
For a man such as Chris Gatenby, 39, devastated in 2007 by a failed marriage and the departure of his wife and kids, Active Recovery has been a road back from an uncertain future. “I had no way of dealing with the anger,” he says of those first few months alone. “I just kept it all in­side.” He worried about harming him­ self or others. Despite being legally blind, he started boxing and working out in a gym. This helped him channel his anger—but it was still there. One day he walked into the CMHA office in New Liskeard and asked for help. That’s when he met Hill, and his recovery began in earnest. “I’m calmer nowadays, more patient, and I’m kinder to people,” Gatenby says.
His children have since returned to the region, and he is part of their lives again. Gatenby has also found fulfillment by giving back to the CMHA branch that gave him so much. He sits on two committees and helps Hill lead exercise sessions. “It’s awesome,” says Gatenby. “People are changing—becoming stronger, more social—because of me helping them.”
For team lead Jacques, Gatenby’s experience is a great example of the office’s broader goal: to help those with mental­health problems help one another. “People who may have started as clients are now supporting each other after­hours,” Jacques says. “We actually have doctors phoning us, commenting on the good work we’re doing, saying, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it, because you’re having a tremendous positive impact.’”
• Reprinted with permission from the December 2010 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine. Copyright (c) 2010 by Reader’s Magazines Canada Limited.