Tag Archives: Mental Health

Health, Indigenous Nations

Virtual mental health service improves access

the Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

COVID19 has people at home, with less frequent opportunities for connection. The isolation increases when it is compounded with the stigma of substance use or mental health issues.

“In many cases, underlying chronic, severe trauma is related to substance use and during these dual public health emergencies it becomes even more important to increase mental health and wellness supports for BC First Nations people,” explains Dr. Nel Wieman, First Nations Health Authority’s (FNHA) acting deputy chief medical officer.

In B.C., 261 people have died of COVID-19. As of Sept. 30, 2020, 1202 people have died from overdose in the province this year. 

In response to this combined crisis, the FNHA accelerated their plans to launch a virtual substance use and psychiatry service.  

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Health

Election 2020: Fixing the Mental Health System

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Experts and advocates are hoping the next B.C. government will focus on expanding preventative mental health-care services and overhauling  the aging and “outdated” Mental Health Act to protect individual dignity  in care.

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Farming

Quadra Island’s Community Garden Plots

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At first glance, lugging around heavy water containers in a wheelbarrow or pulling weeds under the hot mid-day sun may not seem a rewarding pastime during the pandemic.

Surely weathering the COVID-19 crisis is tough enough? Why add to the burden?

But for Heather Kent, the returns from her Quadra Island, B.C., community garden plot are ample — and measured by more than just what she harvests for the table.

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Family

A Practical Understanding Of Play & Some Gardening Tips

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On today’s Folk University Talk Show, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, Hayley Newell shares with us a deeper scientific and practical understanding of play. By definition play serves no practical purpose. Yet, it is anything but valueless. It lays the foundation of a child’s cognitive development, contributes to their physical health, services an opportunity to work through traumatic experiences and develop emotional resources, and helps kids practice healthy social interactions. The brain doesn’t know the different between real and imagined experiences so play can set the foundation for a great deal of future development. 

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Politics

Cortes Foundation Requests $50,000 SRD Grant

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Though the Cortes Island Community Foundation (CICF) only recently came into being, and is currently applying for charitable status. It is already an important voice on Cortes Island. In 2018/2019, CICF partnered with the Cortes Island Seniors Society to raise over $1 million dollars for the housing development widely known as Rainbow Ridge. On September 28th, 2019, the Cortes Foundation brought together more than 50 people from 30 organizations for the first Cortes Social Profit (not-for-profit) sector meeting. On May 12, the Cortes Foundation applied for a $50,000 SRD grant.

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