The 8th National Mental Health Conference in Winnipeg March 21-23

I was fortunate to be able to attend the recent National Mental Health Conference in Winnipeg.

There were many helpful sessions, including on youth suicide and on crystal meth in Manitoba and its impacts on health and justice. I found the presentation by Delores Daniels, the mother of Serena McKay, to be particularly moving. She spoke eloquently about bullying, gossip and lateral violence using her personal journey and experience as Serena McKay's mother to illustrate the importance of addressing these issues.

Troy Draper shared his own experience with crystal meth and showed that people with meth addiction can recover. For more on his story click on this link - Troy Draper story.

Sharon Blady spoke of her own lived experience, explaining how her own struggles with depression gave her the ability to be more empathetic when she was the Minister of Health for Manitoba. Her experience shows the positive contribution that people who have this lived experience can make - a fact which is reinforced in the stories of leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill who have had experience with depression who went on to make major contributions.

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Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it. The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives. The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support). It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive

Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March. South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory. The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions. This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14. Manitoba ( red line ) started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then. South Dakota ( blue line ) has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4. Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

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The Gerrard Report

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