Since 1992 October tenth has been recognized as World Mental Health Day.
Heather Silvester, Director of Government and Strategic Operations at Canadian Mental Health Association Cariboo Chilcotin Branch, said this year’s theme is focused on Mental Health in the workplace.
“Really what they’re doing is they’re looking at unhealthy conditions like stigma, discrimination, exposure to harassment, poor working conditions, and how this is affecting people’s mental health and overall quality of life.”
Silvester noted to have a balance in your life you really need to be healthy in your personal life as well your workplace.
At the Canadian Mental Health Association Cariboo Chilcotin Branch, they offer a wide variety services.
“We have supported mental services that covers family and youth counselling, supportive counselling, the Interior crisis line network, we’re part of the crisis line system,” Silvester said, “we do Housing and harm reduction, anti violent programs, we have the homeless shelter and transitional housing and lots of online programs. We’re able to do a lot of support, we do a lot of community interaction, we have a strong presence here in Williams Lake.”
She said it’s not easy for people to come forward to talk about their mental health.
“Coming through the door is the biggest and hardest step. Once they’ve shared with us then we can supply them with the right resources and build some dialogue and make people feel heard and more comfortable with speaking about their mental health because we all have it.”
Silvester added that it’s ok to talk about your mental health, to share about and to reach out.
“This community (Williams Lake) has a lot of resources for every individual. Everything at CMHA is free as is at some of the other agencies and locations as well. Just remember we need to learn to put ourselves first and our mental health is just as important as our physical health.”
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