• About
  • Issue 8, Spring 2017
  • Past issues
  • Downtown East
  • Contact
  • Support Us
  • Events
  • Newsletter

Menu
  • About
  • Issue 8, Spring 2017
  • Past issues
  • Downtown East
  • Contact
  • Support Us
  • Events
  • Newsletter

Mayor’s Meeting on Mental Health and Addictions: By Phoenix

volc8no November 12, 2013     Downtown East Newspaper, Health & Harm reduction

On October 2nd, Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson held a roundtable on mental health and addictions. This was done on short notice. The mayor announced a “public health crisis” saying that far too many people were walking around the city with “untreated” mental health and addiction issues and doing harm to themselves or others.

He came up with a problematic five-fold solution: 1) increase Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams; 2) increase supports at BC Housing; 3) enhance urgent care at the hospital; 4) pair the VPD with mental health workers; and 5) create 300 long-term and “secure” mental health beds.

Susan Beck, a former DTES front-line worker, acknowledged that “people do need to be cared for.” However, she’s worried that “people are going to be forced into treatment that is maybe not in their best interest.” Sometimes people need to be cared for when they are in a crisis, but when they are feeling better, they should be allowed to go back to their lives.And it seems that people would not be given a choice in their treatment.

There was no mention of alternatives to what the doctors and professionals were saying. Practices such as accupuncture, integrative energy healing and yoga have been successful aids in fighting addictions. Medications were hailed as necessary, even though they have nasty and sometimes permanent side-effects such as diabetes, tremors and an increased chance of strokes, among others.

Another alternative that was not mentioned was peer-run counseling, or psychological counseling by someone other than a psychiatrist. Both have been found to be effective by consumers and even necessary because people usually get only limited time with psychiatrists.I know of someone who was hospitalized for 3 short visits, and during that time never saw his psychiatrist. He barely even talked to his nurse.Peers can fill in the gaps and understand from the ground up what clients are going through.

But peers are not getting support to do this work. Karen Ward of Gallery Gachet cites recent problems with funding for peer-run centres such as West Coast Mental Health, which has recently had its funding cut.

Consumers talked about safe and stable housing as crucial to their health and well-being. Understandably, people feel depressed just being in a small room without access to proper nutrition, and no wonder.Cultural activities and spirituality, such as native practices, are also important, but the Roundtable made no mention of them.

The speakers at the Mayor’s Roundtable were all doctors and professionals, except for two clients of the “At Home” project where people were given “housing first.” Laszlo Szemok, a participant, talked about how once “people have improved, they should be included in being part of the answer.”The morning was heavy on “experts” and short on talks by the real experts – those on the ground.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

 Previous Post

Hungry for a Welfare Raise – The 2nd Annual Welfare Food Challenge: By Bill Hopwood

― November 12, 2013

Next Post 

My Thoughts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: By Robert Bonner

― November 12, 2013

Related Articles

No Pill For This Ill: The Downtown Eastside community launches a report and vision for mental health: By the editors
Back to the War on Drugs – Canada’s Public Health/Public Safety response to the Fentanyl Overdose Crisis: By Ashley Mollison
Women supporting Women in the Downtown Eastside: By Dave Diewert
A disingenuous thank you: BC Liberals pose over the bodies of the thousand lost to overdoses – By Anonymous
BC anti-election column: BC Liberals and NDP both promise a renewed war on street-level drug dealers: By Ashley Mollison
Open letter to the City of Victoria Mayor & Council and Island Health: By No Cops on Outreach Victoria, Lekwungen Territories
Death prevention sites don’t stop overdoses: decriminalize drugs now! By Sarah Sheridan
Community Policing and the health and overdose prevention dimensions of Vancouver’s war on drugs: By the Editors with a statement by Alliance Against Displacement
BC Liberal self-celebrated Overdose Prevention Strategy doesn’t amount to much in practice: By Ivan Drury
Not the solution we need – A first glance at the federal government’s legal response during the opioid crisis: By Sarah Sheridan
Open Letter: Portrait of a Negative Externality on the Eve of a National Discussion on Opioid Use: By CAPUD
Portraits of Regions in Struggle
Fighting Capitalism & Colonialism to Heal in Community – Our View on Addiction: By the Editors
Responses to the overdose crisis must include an end to prohibition: By Sarah Sheridan & Ashley Mollison
First Words from First Responders: On the Frontlines of Harm Reduction and the Overdose Crisis
Social work as social control: By Joshua Goldberg & Flora Pagan
Inside the jail of supportive housing: By Karen Lane
Everyone Is An Addict! By Tracy Scott
Police and Naloxone – Prioritizing Those with Badges: By Sarah Sheridan
August 31st Overdose Awareness Day – A Day of Reflection, a Push for Action: By Sarah Sheridan
BC’s Public Health Emergency Update: By the Editors
CCAP working on “Community Vision for Mental Health”: By Harold Lavender
Overdose deaths provoke a public health emergency declaration but no action: By Volcano editors
Healthcare as Regulation and Social Control of the Poor: By Dan Oudshoorn and Dave Diewert
Fentanyl – its deadly effects don’t discriminate, but they expose social discrimination: by Phoenix Winter
End the War on Drug Dealers: By Dionne Molloy
What happened to a National (Social) Housing Strategy?: By Sarah Sheridan
Special online-only articles
Gangs and Drugs – Probing the Root Causes of the Shootings in Surrey: An Interview with Jagdeep Singh Mangat by Dave Diewert
Street Deaths are Preventable – Victoria groups organize a week of education and action: By Ashley Mollison
“We are human beings with heart and potential” – A message from Indigenous drug users to the medical profession: By Jean Swanson
New lawsuit challenges use of solitary confinement in Canadian prisons: By Stacey Bishop
Voices from the Oppenheimer Tent City: By Herb Varley
Voices from the Abbotsford Dignity Village: By Ivan Drury
Homelessness is Still a Huge Problem: By Jean Swanson
Asserting Our Rights – Oppenheimer tent city challenges the limits of government talk on First Nations legal rights: By Natalie Knight
“Displace and Disperse” – Abbotsford’s Solution to the Homeless Problem: By Dave Diewert
Lippmanopoly! (anti-gentrification art poster): By Kathy Shimizu
昭倫大廈的勝利!
Victory at Chau Leun Tower!: By King-Mong Chan
Sun Tzu (The Art of War) & the DTES Local Area Plan: By Herb Varley
DTES Local Area Plan – What did we get? What did we lose?: By Jean Swanson and Harold Lavender
Aboriginal Healing Centre – we’re a person, not an addiction: An interview with Tracey Morrison
SROs emptied for hip housing, DTES residents left in the cold: By DJ Larkin
We are poor because they are rich: By Bill Hopwood
A perfect storm: why the homeless count is no surprise: By Tamara Herman
The funding cut & displacement agenda behind the PHS scandal: By Ivan Drury
No new social housing from the Province – 3 community views: By Harold Lavender, Jean Swanson and Andrea Craddock
Bud Osborn, DTES poet, prophet, and activist (1947-2014)
What do resource pipelines and building cranes have in common?: By Seb Bonet
The social housing we fight for, the crappy housing we have (Downtown East poster series): By Kathy Shimizu
華人社群在市中心東端與昂貴化的關連
Responding to the government apology for historic wrongs against Chinese British Columbians: Speech by Sid Chow Tan
How a definition can displace a community – defining ‘social housing’ in the DTES planning process: By Jean Swanson
DTES Low-Income Caucus demands versus the City’s Local Area Plan (a quick view)
Consultation is not consent – reflecting on community participation in a city planning process: By Harold Lavender
Gentrification and the DTES Chinese Community: By King-mong Chan
We want an Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Centre…. Now!: By Jean Swanson
Plans and Profiteers: The scoop on the draft DTES Local Area Plan: By Tamara Herman
The Rebel Queen: By Diane Wood
In memory of Lucia Varga Jimenez: By Dave Diewert
Year After Year – marching for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: By Cecily Nicholson
The Abbotsford Shuffle – Homeless people pushed from park to railway tracks: By Dave Diewert
Women’s Action Group – Women supporting Women in the DTES: By Dave Diewert
Mental Health Crisis?: By Karen Ward
Home Sweet Home… but for how long? (Downtown East poster series): By Diane Wood
Displacement – Past, Present, Future: By Dave Diewert and Mercedes Eng
Japanese Canadian elder Grace Eiko Thomson speaks to Mayor and Council
“My activism goes beyond the personal” – an Interview with Japanese Canadian activist Lily Shinde: By Mercedes Eng
7th Annual Women’s Housing march
City Hall gives developers $71 Million, they cry for more: By Ivan Drury
Condos flood into Oppenheimer area while City stalls on planning process: By Jean Swanson
Storm Brewing – Local Area Plan and the Future of the DTES: By Jean Swanson and Harold Lavender
Homelessness and the Drug War in Abbotsford – Interview with Barry Shantz by Dave Diewert
After the Olympics homelessness in Vancouver is back on the rise: By the Editors
Homeless in the DTES: By Wendy Pedersen
Pushed out – Pressure is building against low-income residents in the DTES: By DJ Larkin
Park-a-palooza and artists at Oppenheimer Park: By Diane Wood
My Thoughts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: By Robert Bonner
Hungry for a Welfare Raise – The 2nd Annual Welfare Food Challenge: By Bill Hopwood
The Stanza Project: By Phoenix
“Save the Waldorf”? A letter to Change.org: By Gena Thompson
Taking a Stand for Social Housing: By Dave Diewert
Power Hour – Shelter Hopping with My Son: By Pearly May
The Myth of the Wealthy Asian Invader: By Sozan Savehilaghi
New DNC Board Elected: By Shannon Bundock
Vancity is Supporting Gentrification Not DTES Low Income Community: By Dave Diewert
Collective Habitat, art show at Gallery Gachet: By Diane Wood
Cops must be accountable for all police violence: By Jennifer Allan
Letter to the editors, unprinted by the Vancouver Sun: By Christiane Bordier
A Very Chilling & Alarming Contrast!: By Therese Lulf
Idle No More! Voices from Indigenous people in the DTES
Accountability and law enforcement – First Nations Perspectives from Northern BC: By Preston Guno
Do we want a Social Justice Zone in the Downtown Eastside?: By Jean Swanson
NO PIPELINES! NO DISPLACEMENT! NO DTES CONDOS!: By Harold Lavender
Idle? Know More! Learning about Indigenous Sovereignty and Land-based Resurgence: By Jean Swanson
Making B.C.’s Housing Crisis an Issue: By Harold Lavender
Oppenheimer Park is the people’s park! (Poster series)
Will Transit changes hurt low-income peoples’ right to move?: By Tamara Herman
Health care services near, but still too far: By Byron Cruz

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

   
Support our work by making a donation.
 
   
Subscription options
 
 

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Search

Authors

Browse by author

Categories

Archives

Letters to the Editor

1
Sad Siren Song: By Tracey Morrison

― February 12, 2017

Community Spotlight: Jean Swanson

For our issue on the BC Liberal legacy, Volcano editors turned to our Community Spotlight on a legacy of our own to highlight her over 40 years of anti-poverty work. Jean Swanson is an editor with The Volcano alongside her work with the Carnegie Community Action Project. She previously worked with the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association (DERA) and is the author of a book titled Poorbashing: The Politics of Exclusion.

You’ve been active in anti-poverty work for a long time. What has been the biggest realization that you have had with regards to poverty in this province? Has your understanding or approach to government changed over time and through experience?

My approach to government has definitely changed. Back in 1979, I actually ran as an NDP MLA candidate because I thought being involved in electoral politics was a way of implementing the things you’ve been fighting for in the community. I ran with COPE for city council too, along with my co-workers Bruce Eriksen and Libby Davies, who were elected. In those days it seemed possible to get city council to do some good things for the Downtown Eastside if we worked hard at it: fund the Carnegie Centre, pass a Standards of Maintenance bylaw, put sprinklers in the hotels.

In the early 90s, after the NDP cut welfare and brought in a whole poorbashing framework to justify it, I couldn’t bring myself to vote at all, let alone run for office.

Read more about Jean Swanson's commitment to anti-poverty organizing here.

The Volcano is published on traditional, ancestral, and unceded Coast Salish Territories.

Alliance Against Displacement: The Volcano is affiliated with the Alliance Against Displacement, a pan-regional anti-displacement network of local communities, organizations, and activists fighting displacement on the ground.

  • Housing struggles
  • Gentrification & displacement
  • Racism & Migrant Justice
  • Indigenous & Colonialism
  • Police & Criminalization
  • Income inequality
  • Sex workers
  • Social Movement strategies
  • Climate & Ecology
  • DTES organizations
  • Women & Gender
  • International struggles
  • Health & Harm reduction
  • Culture, art & poetry
  • City & community planning
Copyright © The Volcano