New CMHA manager draws on experience
By JAN WATERS
SPECIAL TO THE LINDSAY POST

I know it's a cliché. But I really didn't know what to expect when I assumed the position of program manager with the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association about three months ago. Not completely, anyway.

The City of Kawartha Lakes, after all, isn't northern Illinois, which is where I grew up and lived until recently. To be sure, Illinois and the CKL - (I can now call it that, right?) -aren't complete contrasts. They do share many similarities -especially when it comes to my area of work. Because mental illness knows no boundaries - real and figuratively.

I see how the overall mental health of my new community north of the border is challenged and compromised during this economic recession, just like it was in my former community south of the border -where a recent visit revealed a downtown decimated by store closures.

I know that the pain and suffering - and healing - experienced by some of my former clients during my tenures as a rape victim counselor at the YWCA and as a Director of Clinical Services with a large residential treatment centre aren't exclusive to Americans or even residents of Illinois. Illness is illness. Pain is pain. Recovery is recovery. People are people. Regardless of where we live.

But one can't ignore some of the individual distinctions of our two cultures, either -especially when it comes to health care and, specifically, mental health care. Yes, there's so much to be admired and lauded about how this country provides medical care for its people. It's a characteristic not lost on my new president - (and a fellow Illinoian) -who's striving to create a health care system not that unlike yours.

But there are also a few mental health lessons and philosophies from the U. S. that this country -and this community - could do well to embrace. Possibly, it's the more lax advertising law in my home country, where, unlike Canada, daytime TV is filled with commercials touting the benefits of a myriad of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs. It makes for long disclaimer-laden ads. But it also serves as a reminder in that country that mental illness is prevalent and, therefore, less stigmatized. Regrettably, the same can't always be said here; the situation is improving but many of those suffering poor mental health do so in solitude and shame.

No reputable doctor - in either country - would refute the benefits of prescription drugs to treat mental illness. And, of course, nor should they. We should be thankful for everything medication has done to treat mental illness. But my first-hand experience is that the U. S. is also a little more open to being more experiential - that mental illness and mental health should be treated holistically and every aspect of a person's experience should be considered, from his or her emotional and social development, to his or her biological make-up, and include the quality of relationships and experience that the individual enjoys.

Mental illness and mental health reflect a continuum of human experience. Admittedly, that's more than a bit of my mentor, the famed Dr. Stanley Greenspan, speaking. But even though he would never suggest not taking prescription drugs to treat mental illness, he'd be equally steadfast in his conviction that the brain can be taught - rewired, if you will - to think differently.

And much of my job here -challenging though it may be - is to do the same: to get this community to think differently when it comes to mental health. And even in the short time that I've lived here, I'm confident we'll achieve this goal. Together, as a community.

Jan Waters is the new program manager for the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. She can be reached via cmhakawarthalakes.ca