Today, Wednesday Jan. 30, at 7pm in the Student Union Building at Dalhousie University, Room 303, we are holding a Justice for Soli event in concert with the vigil in Toronto. Join Ashley Smith’s family on Bell Let’s Talk Day to talk about deaths in custody of people with mental illness in Canada.
Most articles about poverty focus on the obvious things, lack of money, bills that pile up, dealing with Community Services and landlords, and so on. Kendall for a long time now has covered these issues, but he also writes about about some of the less obvious hurdles in the lives of people living in poverty. Here he writes about his idea on how to deal with loneliness and social isolation that so many people who live in poverty face on a daily basis.
Announcing a new series of articles by Barbara Carter, about what it like to to live with chronic pain in Nova Scotia. “Sometimes I think we remain too silent about too many things. Often we wait for someone else to be the change we want to see.This is why I want to share some of my personal experiences with Nova Scotia Advocate readers over the next months, in the hope that it may benefit someone else, in some way.” Barbara tells me she is thinking about tackling her experiences with getting diagnosed and the role of the WCB next.
Bradley Thomas Clattenburg was killed by three police officers after he pointed a gun at them. Earlier we wrote about a resident in long term care facility who died of a heart attack while in a scuffle with a RCMP police officer. In both cases the person who died had severe mental health issues. SIRT, the agency that investigates these deaths, leaves too many questions unanswered. We need formal inquests.
The results of the 2018 Statistics Canada disabilities survey are in. More than in any other province people in Nova Scotia self-identify as disabled in some shape or form, and that’s not just because we have a large share of older people, as is so often assumed.
Raymond Sheppard continues his investigation of an Afrocentric counselling practice, what that entails and why it is urgently needed. “African Nova Scotian history has never been seriously discussed in the therapeutic process and therefore has denied African Nova Scotians an understanding of our identity. Counsellors must be aware that the effects of slavery, racism, hate and marginalization are still a part of who we are as a people.”
Raymond Sheppard on the need for Africentric mental health services: “African Nova Scotians suffer in silence, not being privy to programs and services they can identify with. With differences in heritage, culture and lineage, the time is past due for services and programs that accommodate the unique differences of African Nova Scotians.”
This weekend’s weekend video features Halifax musician, photographer, stalwart activist and Nova Scotia Advocate author Paul Vienneau as he hands out bottled water on a hot Spring Garden day. ““This helped me see that giving away water has become part of what I am doing with my life. It’s an antidepressant in 24 little plastic bottles.”
“Before Adsum helped me, my life was a bit rocky. I left home at 16 and until now, I’ve never been in a stable place in my life. I was also lacking solid support and solid relationships. Living with depression and anxiety is a struggle on its own, but without proper safety nets in place, a person can struggle with just making it day to day.” Our final first-voice story in a series of three about the work of Adsum for Women and Children.
We talk with Dr. Ellen Hickey about how in Nova Scotia we give up way too easily on people with dementia. “When it comes to long term care, all you hear is doctors, drugs, nurses. What about the rest of the team? There is all kinds of know-how that will help keep people off these drugs, that will keep them out of the doctor’s office. Isn’t that what it is all about?”