ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — This week it was Bell Let’s Talk time again. We’re supposed to talk about mental illness and end the stigma. We’re supposed to learn about mental health and how to protect ourselves. And learn that help is available.
Except it isn’t.
All this public awareness is approaching pointless. People who are biased against the mentally ill are not going to suddenly become compassionate about the fact that one in five Canadians experiences a mental health problem. Their attitudes are entrenched and no public discourse will force open their minds.
This campaign was needed. When Bell launched it in 2010, mental illness wasn’t on most people’s radar. The 80 per cent of Canadians who haven’t had a mental illness didn’t think about it much. Certainly not as much as cancer and heart and lung disease. Finding out that mental illness is a leading cause of death was important. And knowledge does fight ignorance, so there likely is less stigma now than there was a decade ago.
But public awareness campaigns have limited use. Bell wants us to talk, we talk. We can feel great about contributing to the solution and go right back to ignoring the problem. Because the problem really isn’t stigma, it’s that mental illness affects 20 per cent of Canadians. They need help. Not words or slogans, actual medical help. Trained professional help. Not platitudes.
People suffering a mental health crisis are told to go to an ER or call a number. What Bell doesn’t say — what no one says — is that you may not actually get that help for months, or years. If you aren’t a physical threat to yourself or someone else, you have to wait for a slot with a psychiatrist or psychologist. Unless you have private health insurance, or cash in hand, to pay for it yourself.
Imagine you have chest pains. You go to the ER and a nurse says you are having a heart attack. You are told there’s no doctor available for you, but you can sit where the nurse can see you in case you get worse. Twelve or so hours later, the nurse asks if your chest still hurts. You say not right now. So they send you home, saying someone will call you with a referral to a heart specialist; come back if you get sicker. That’s what happens when people with mental illness go to the ER.
You wait weeks. Your family doctor says it’s beyond his training. You live in fear. After months with no word, you call to check on your referral. They say you are on the list. Are you having chest pains? Not at this moment. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. The doctor will see you in 12 to 18 months. If you get sicker, go to back the ER.
This is how mental illness is dealt with. If we treated heart patients like this, there would be massive outcry. There would be public inquiries and huge health-care investments. Mental illness is a Top 10 cause of death, but we shrug at wait times and present patients with pamphlets on wellness and coping with stigma.
Mental illness is a big drain on the economy. Sick people are not as productive as well ones. Between low productivity at work, and not being able to go to work, mental illness costs billions every year. It would better if mental illness was afforded the same priority as physical illness.
And that’s where Bell can help, now. Let’s Talk about something else. Let’s Talk about fixing the problem.
Sick people do not have the ability to stand up and demand better treatment. But imagine if corporate Canada stepped up for them! What if, instead of promoting understanding of what mental illness is, Bell made the public aware of how mental illness is ignored in health budgets? What if all the massive companies losing profit because of mental illness rallied to lobby government? Just imagine the impact of Big Business and Big Labour standing together for improved mental health care for workers. What if we stopped yakking at each other and demanded change?
Jeff Rose-Martland
St. John’s
Related story:
How Bell Let’s Talk Day helps mental health programming in Newfoundland
