Kitchen Table Project - Mental Health in Ontario

I’m dedicating this post to the Hamilton Mental Health Rights Coalition

It took quite awhile to get this report up but it’s one that needs to be disseminated widely. If you wish to read the full report it can be accessed here. Excerpts are provided below.

The Kitchen Table Project: Evaluating the Experiences of Women within the Mental Health System Since Reform – Phase 2 (2002) was prepared for Women’s Mental Health and Addiction and Research Coalition in partnership with the London Chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).

It’s the second phase of the Ontario government’s mental health reform strategies commenced with Phase One: Barriers to the Implementation of Gender Sensitive Policy and Principles of Service in Ontario’s Mental Health System (2001)

It follows Health Canada’s 1988 publication titled Mental Health for Canadians: Striking a Balance

Thirteen years elapsed before the Ontario government started to implement the strategies. The last government prior to the Liberals election win in 2003 adopted these initial measures.

What the Liberal government, in particular Health Minister George Smitherman are doing to compliment these phases within the mental health system, I have no knowledge.

This is posted for a reason. In Hamilton, the mental health system is abysmal. In particular, it is shear hardship when attempting to access to appropriate physicians who do not abuse their patients verbally, deny their legal rights or even treat them.

I want to note that the mental health system does not just affect women. It affects men equally, but more often than not, while men are incarcerated, women are within the mental health system.

Here is an excerpt from the report. It’s a good indication of the state of mental health in Hamilton, although this was not an anecdote from the St. Joseph’s system.

Page 24 – Experiences of Trauma and Abuse

Several participants spoke of being abused within the system. This included all
forms of abuse perpetrated by “consumers”, volunteers and staff. Abuse from
staff included clear breaches of professional boundaries; breaches of
confidentiality within the community; physical and sexual assaults; sexual
relationships; demeaning comments and verbal assaults.

Example:

“I was held down. Forced to take drugs and have needles put in me. And all
because I was angry. Angry because I wasn’t getting any help. Angry because I
wasn’t being listened to. Once when I was sitting quietly in my room, I was
yelled at by a nurse because she did not like what I was reading. She dragged me
to the seclusion room where the whole thing was monitored by a camera and made
me put on a hospital gown. And then left me there for hours. Patients looked in
the windows at me and I wasn’t allowed to have my stuff. I think that they were
the one’s who made me crazy"

Page 30 - It becomes the responsibility of the individual woman to determine the safety of the situation
Page 32 - Do I have to commit suicide to get help?

Page 40 - Women do not feel respected, listened to or believed

Page 45 - Province wide training emphasising anti-oppressive practices