A Pathways member recently sent a letter to MLA Susie Chant to rally support for Bill 205 and to spotlight the crucial role of family caregivers, and share powerful insights from Susan Inman.
We note that while the author shares personal experiences and political views, Pathways remains neutral and does not endorse any political party.
Dear Susie Chant,
MLA for North Vancouver Seymour
I was delighted to hear that you were able to attend Pathways Serious Mental Illness Society’s annual fundraising/awareness campaign, Circle of Strength. Thank you for keeping informed on the challenges so many families experience as they navigate the mental health system. We appreciate your openness to learning more about the ideas of family caregivers for people with disorders like schizophrenia and about how to improve outcomes. The significant efforts of David Eby and Daniel Vigo have heartened my community to bring a much more truly humanitarian lens to responding to these disorders.
Further on behalf of Pathways SMIS Advocacy Committee, I registered online to demonstrate Pathways’ support for Bill 205. I will also mention that it is my impression that political parties do not seem to take part in many, if any, bipartisan legislative efforts, and I, as a longtime NDP member, do support this Bill. We have been in touch with Sturko in the past to urge her colleagues to also consider input from their constituents in deciding whether to vote for legislation introduced by the NDP.
I am pasting in links, below, to articles about mental illness policies which Susan Inman, a dedicated family advocate, has written in recent months. The final link is to a project Susan will be presenting at the upcoming conference of the Canadian Network for Research on Schizophrenia and Psychosis. This project involved inviting other family caregivers to write about a topic they wish researchers would pursue; the list of articles in this link includes more research about sharing information with family caregivers for people with severe mental illnesses. This project’s findings are on the website of the much-needed new national voice for families, the Family Alliance on Severe Mental Illnesses (FASMI); I am a member of this group.
Further Pathways SMIS will be co-presenting along with BC Schizophrenia Society and BCMHSUS at the Canadian Psychiatric Association Annal Conference. We will keep you informed.
For an in-depth dive into Bill 205 and its implication for people like my son who was unaware that he was living in psychosis, unaware of reality and truly a danger to others and himself.
From Coercion to Care: The Current Charter Challenge to BC’s Mental Health Act