No help for mental health

Re: Falling through the cracks

How many more people need to die before we start taking mental health diseases seriously? That is something I have asked myself every single day since Canada put in place a ‘Stay at Home Order’ due to COVID-19. 

Earlier this week I read about Cohen McLean, a young father from Kamloops, BC who died after battling with an undiagnosed mental health disease. One quote by his wife really stuck with me, “He was trying so hard to get help. Everywhere he went, he has turned away.”

Many Canadians do not realize that there is very little help for those of us who battle daily with mental health diseases. Not only do we desperately fight social stigma, but also a medical health system that does not take our cries for help seriously. For those who are lucky enough to get help, seeing a counsellor or psychiatrist means sitting on a waitlist for months or even years within a system that is already stretched and underfunded.  Cohen McLean is just one of many who will become secondary victims due to the COVID-19 and no one seems to be listening.

On March the 26, 2020, I sent an email to Interior Health staff and local Okanagan, BC MLAs during a virtual hall meeting in regards to comments made by Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu, that not enough was being done to help those with mental health diseases. I was fearful that as there was an increase of those who needed mental health services, there would also be more of us who would slip through the cracks due to an underfunded system.

Calls to the BC Crisis Line have gone up by 25%, while mental health services such as in person counselling, psychiatric assessments and outreach programs have been cut back. Quoting from my email I said “As someone who accesses multiple mental health services in our community, I am begging you to please put these issues forward. We are at a critical point where we will start losing people to more than just the virus.” However, even though I check the news every single morning, neither the federal or provincial government have provided an increase in funding for mental health services.

I am one of the lucky ones. I have a doctor, counsellor and family who advocate and support me every single day. However, I am terrified that I will be put in a place like Cohen McLean as I desperately sit on a waitlist to get a psychiatric assessment and try to access an already overtaxed medical system. There are many Canadians who have the same fears as me during this pandemic and feel as if they are being forgotten once again. My hope is through this crisis we will finally be heard instead of being another statistic after all of this is over.

Katheryn Cox, Kelowna