By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban
A Yoga activity followed by a luncheon, roundtable discussion and conference on mental health, organized by the Community Perspective on Mental Health organization (PCSM) took place at the Gerry Robertson community centre in Pierrefonds. Special guests included Pierrefonds-Roxboro mayor Jim Beis, Pierrefonds-Roxboro city councilor Benoit Langevin, Centre Bienvenue and Residence Bienvenue director Christian Dubois, social worker and family counsellor Veronique Belanger, Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson Audley Coley, CIUSSS assistant regional director for mental health Amine Saadi, PCSM board member Marc Walford, Montreal comedian Erich Preech and SPVM officers.
During the lunch hour, a roundtable discussion took place with the event panelists who later presented their perspectives on positive mental health. “Here we are once again trying to recognize the mental health needs in our community. Mental illness is not what we once believed. Everyone goes through bouts of mental health crisis from time to time. It is important that we raise awareness of the community organizations available to the community at large,” Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Jim Beis told The Suburban.
“Today is an important day, it is a day to speak about mental health in a positive way. There is too much stigma around mental health and the reality is that most of us go through a period in our lives where we experience issues with our mental health. I think that every politician, every public personality and citizens have to engage in a conversation today and every day to open up and share our realities and the stress that we are living in this fast paced society that we live in in order to be able to sustain a good quality of life,” Pierrefonds-Roxboro city councillor Benoit Langevin told The Suburban.
“The importance of this day is to get all the actors in the field of mental health together to discuss issues and look forward to the future because we have a lot of work ahead of us for many years to come,” Centre Bienvenue and Residence Bienvenue director Christian Dubois said.
Celebrating his 25 years last month out of acute care, Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson Audley Coley shared his personal journey with mental health, living with bipolar disorder and the trials and tribulations he faced prior to and following his diagnosis and treatment. Following the launch of his book entitled Audley Enough, Bell Canada offered him a platform with Bell Let’s Talk to speak on mental health issues across the nation.
“I am here to help bring awareness to people my age and people who can recognize themselves through me when discussing mental health. Being a Haitian and being a man, I want to help set the table for us to open up. With so many people in the Haitian community in healthcare, it is ironic that mental health is still taboo in our culture and it is just as taboo for men to open up about their feelings as it is for women to open up about their sexuality. I want to help influence and represent changes where I can,” Montreal comedian Erich Preech said.
CIUSSS assistant regional director for mental health Amine Saadi stressed the importance of collaboration between the Quebec health authority and grassroots community organizations serving the local communities’ mental health needs. “They are advocating for mental health and we are advocating for mental health and it is important that we work together. Today, we are celebrating the positive aspect of mental health. I’ve been working in mental health personally for the last 20 years and it was always promoted as a negative impact on society, but today we are recognizing the positive aspects of mental health such as wellness activities like Yoga for example and employee retention initiatives. The positive aspect is that today represents hope for the future,” he told The Suburban.
“Being able to communicate how we feel and manage the outcome through introspection is something we can learn. If we can connect to ourselves, we can connect better to others. Taking a moment each day like we did today with the Yoga activity is a daily essential,” social worker and family counsellor Veronique Belanger explained. n