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Mental Health problems affect residents of
the South Shore regardless of age, sex or income. The Mental
Health Program provides a number of services to individuals and
families across all ages. The Program offers individual,
family, and group clinical services, as well as group
“education” opportunities.
REGULAR CLINIC HOURS:
Located at the Dawson Centre Level II,
197 Dufferin Street, Bridgewater.
8:30 to 4:30 pm
Monday – Friday
(excluding Holidays)
Satellite Clinics: Queens Health Centre 354-2721
Chester Medical Centre
275-2373
WALK-IN CLINIC: Effective
March 21 until further notice, the walk- in clinic will not be
open on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
8:30 to 4:30 pm
Monday to Friday
Early Response Service
527-5228
Evenings/Weekends/Holidays:
Emergency Services via Hospital Emergency Departments
(SSRH/QGH/FMH)
Emergency Services in consultation with On-Call Psychiatry (SSRH)
EDUCATIONAL GROUPS
Come and gain valuable information and skills from a series of
rotating educational sessions. Choose one session or attend them
all. Free materials provided.
Click here for a detailed schedule.
Sessions
are being planned for the Bridgewater area this
winter/spring and for Chester area this spring/summer.
The
Topics are:
AURICULAR ACUPUNCTURE CLINIC (Brochure)
Auricular acupuncture is a relaxation technique helpful with
anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties
including addictions. Participants report better sleep, more
energy and better focus and concentration. Others find they are
less agitated and tense, feel calmer, and relaxed. Auricular
acupuncture is also successful in treating cravings with
withdrawal from tobacco and alcohol. FREE! NO REFERRAL
NECESSARY. Brochure
Clinic Hours
Dawson Centre Level II, 197 Dufferin Street, Bridgewater
Monday 1:00 pm
Friday 1:00 pm
South Shore
Regional Hospital
Tuesday 3:00 pm
Wednesday 7:00
pm
*Thursday 4:30
- 7:30 pm
*(Drop in during these hours)
Chester
Addiction Services and Mental
Health Clinic
(#3762 Highway #3)
Tuesday 1:00 pm
Liverpool
(Former Nurses Residence)
Tuesday 3:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 pm
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 543-4604 ext. 2305 or 2258
or Click Auricular
Acupuncture
HELP LINES FOR LUNENBURG ABD QUEENS COUNTIES
What is Mental
Illness?
Twenty percent (20%) of Nova Scotians will experience a
mental illness in their lifetime. Mental illness is the single
largest category of illness affecting Canadians. The World
Health Organization reports that 6 of the leading 10 causes of
years of lived with disability are mental disorders.
(Murray CJL,
Lopez AD, The global burden of disease. Vol.l Cambridge MA:
Harvard U. Press, 1996)
When you consider not only the impact this has on individuals
and on those close to her or him, the number of people affected
by mental illness grows considerably. Many of us are touched
directly or indirectly by mental illness.
A mental illness is defined as "a recognized, medically
diagnosable illness that results in the significant impairment
of an individual's cognitive, affective or relational
abilities." Some examples include: schizophrenia,
depression, manic-depression. Mental disorders result from
biological, developmental and/or psychological factors, and can
- in principle, at least - be managed using approaches
comparable to those applied to physical disease (that is,
prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation).
A mental health problem is a disruption in the interactions
between the individual, the group and the environment. Such a
disruption may result from factors within the individual,
including physical or mental illness, or inadequate coping
skills. It may also spring from external causes, such as the
existence of harsh environmental conditions, unjust social
structures, or tensions within the family or community.
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What are important questions
to ask my health care provider?
It is very important that you ask your health professional
some basic questions that will help you make important choices
about your treatment and your health. When we realize that we
have a mental health problem, just as any other health problem
we learn about in our lifetime like a cold, the flu, a serious
injury, the first things that we want to know are: how long will
this last and how can I get better?
The following questions are provided to you as a method for
you to get answers that will help you overcome the difficult
challenges that you are faced with. Of course, the best approach
is that you develop your own set of questions to ask your health
care provider. It is our hope that the following will spark you
to put together your own set of questions to help you deal with
your own specific condition.
- What is my mental health problem is? - Please explain.
- What are the risks and benefits of the treatment?
- What are the short and long-term effects of the
treatment/medication?
- Do people ever recover from this mental illness?
- What can I do to assist my recovery?
- Where can I get information about managing my mental
health?
- Are there alternative and complimentary approaches that I
can use?
- What should my family and friends know about my mental
health problem?
- What information about me are you putting in my medical
file?
- Do you share this information with anybody else?
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I've
been diagnosed with a mental illness, will I ever
recover?
People do recover from a diagnosis of a mental illness.
This has been one of the best kept secrets for many
years.
As with many other challenges that we face in life,
it all starts with hope in and a belief that we can
recover. It is important that you have faith in yourself
and that you surround yourself with people that believe
in and support your recovery. It is also important that
you get support and assistance from your medical
practitioner in your journey to recovery.
From what persons with a mental illness say, recovery
occurs when the illness is no longer the central focus
in one's life, but simply becomes a part of who that
person is. In addition, it is not just the illness or
trauma that people recover from, they also face
recovering from the effects of stigma, internalized
stigma, learned helplessness, institutionalization,
poverty, homelessness, and the wounds of
spirit-breaking.
Research about people diagnosed with a serious mental illness
such as schizophrenia, manic depression, depression
and recovery has been ongoing since the 1960s. and 70s and more
recently since the late 1980s. It is well documented that people
do recover from these diagnosis.
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The Results of Research Into Recovery
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People do fully recover from even the most severe
forms of mental illness
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Understanding that mental illness is a label for
severe emotional distress, which interrupts a
person's role in society, helps recovery
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People can and do learn to connect emotionally
with others, especially when they are experiencing
severe emotional distress
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Trust is the cornerstone of recovery
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People who believe in you help you recover
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People have to be able to follow their own dreams
to recover
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Mistrust leads to increased control and coercion
which interferes with recovery
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Self determination is essential to recovery
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People recovering and those around must believe
they will recover
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Human dignity and respect are vital to recovery
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Everything we have learned about the importance of
human connection applies equally to people labeled
with a mental illness
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Feeling emotionally safe in relationships is vital
to expressing feelings, which aids in recovery
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There is always meaning in periods of severe
emotional distress and understanding that meaning
helps with recovery Sean Wolf Hill, MS,
LPCC, From Hopelessness to
Hopefulness: Recovery From Severe Mental Illness,
04/01/00
Some Quick Facts
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Approximately 50% of individuals are symptom-free
or significantly improved at 20, 30 & 40 year
follow ups
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Community support staff often have a skewed idea
of a uniformly negative outcome due to working with
more disabled consumers
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"Person first" language and avoiding
false dichotomies can be powerful motivators
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Negative symptoms may be evidence of loss of hope
or a hardening of the heart
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Strong therapeutic alliance is an important key
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Adopting a "life course" perspective
prevents helper burnout
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Recovery does not usually mean symptom-free
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Family members also go through a recovery process
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Nine Aspects of the Recovery Process
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Recovery is an active, ongoing and individual
process
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Recovery relates not only to symptoms but to the
secondary assaults of stigma, discrimination and
abuse
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Hope is the most fundamental factor in recovery
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The establishment of a sense of control or free
will is critical to recovery
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"Remembering your track record"
(learning from observing your own mental and
emotional behavior) is critical for coping
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Self-directed coping strategies are effective and
can be learned
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Maintaining or developing connections to valued
activities and people is critical
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Connecting with others on a human level is
important
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Recovery is a process of 'finding meaning in your
experience"
Blanch, A., Fisher, D, Tucker W., Walsh, D.
and J. Chassman (1995) Consumer/practitioners and
psychiatrists share insights about recovery and
coping. Disability Studies Quarterly, 13(2), 17-20.
Phases of Recovery (Anthony, 1994)
More information on recovery can be found at http://www.bu.edu/cpr/recovery/
Recovery Information and Stories
Courtenay
Harding Ph.D.
(Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of
Human Resilience) points
out that most Americans with schizophrenia do not
receive comprehensive, but
are simply given medication that reduces symptoms and
little else. There is little money for truly effective
rehabilitation programs that help people manage their
lives. She identifies several factors that can lead to
recovery - a home, a job, friends, and integration in
the community, hope, relearned optimism and
self-sufficiency. Another article by Sandra Boodman in
the Washington Post concurs that schizophrenia
recoveries are not that rare and cites several case
studies that illustrate this.
Information from: Personal Assistance For
Community Existence (P.A.C.E.)
Dr. Harry Stack Sullivan was one of the earliest
clinicians to question the down hill course predicted
for people labeled with schizophrenia. From his work
with patients and his research he concluded that people
could recover. In addition he attributed much of their
recovery to their belief that they could recover as well
as to their ability to rejoin society. "If the
patient has the fore conscious belief that he can
circumvent or rise above environmental handicaps, and
if this belief is the presenting feature of a
comprehensive mental integration, his recovery proceeds.
If no such reconstruction is accomplished, the patient
does not recover" (Sullivan,1962).
The World Health Organization cross-cultural,
multi-country study of schizophrenia concluded that
there were significantly higher rates of recovery in
developing countries than in industrialized countries
(WHO, 1979).
The National Empowerment Center, Lawrence, MA.
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