Reactions

Interesting.

I have no idea where this project will go. I'm just moving forward as best as possible. Already I have received an email from a reader who read my piece on what is it like to be mentally ill in Calgary and the reader confessed that they were about to cash in their chips. They read my piece and were moved to write to me. I'm very touched and honoured. I replied, after reading what they wrote, and that things always get better. I know it's tripe and things can always get worse, but eventually, they pick up. Really bad situations don't last that long. If you really feel like it's the end, I wrote, then get to a hospital -- fast.

A very good friend of mine a number of years back was seriously considering ending it. It's the big "S" word. I set off to get to her and told her to get to the psych ward as fast as possible in the meantime. By the time I got there, she had taken the couageous step of walking up to the emergency intake counter and demanding to see the psychiatric emergency response team.

"I want the psychiatric emergency response team right now or else I'm going to kill myself!" she said.

"Man," she said later, "do those guys ever move fast!"

Of course she was pumped up with meds, secured to a bed, counselled, visited by a shrink and had a program of future therapy lined up for her. This all happened in about an hour or so. She was in the hospital for less than a week, I think. She started straightenning out her life as far as financial assistance was concerned and sticks to her meds and regularly visits her shrink for sessions. That was a few years ago. She's on her feet now and would be, what I would call, recovered. There is hope for everyone.

Now, I'm not a shrink or qualified in any way to deal with mental illness. I have had a little conselling training which is totally inadequate. If you like you can email me and I'll try to email back. If you are seriously thinking of ending it or you are hearing voices, (and you know what I mean by that), then get to a hospital. Don't self-medicate or think you can cure yourself or that you're not worth saving or no one cares. We actually have a very good health system if you can get into it. It's stressed past the breaking point but filled with awesome dedicated people, so don't abuse it. But if you're face to face with the big "S" or you're hearing voices run, do not walk, to the nearest clinic or hospital.