Health Committee on May 12th, 2015

[Louise Bradley]

Thank you.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

But again, thank you for your work.

Two words have come out today that I think are important. One is “stigma”, and the other, for me, is “hope”. I'm so glad that has been highlighted already.

The #308conversations campaign has certainly provided a venue for many of our community personnel who are working in suicide prevention initiatives and mental health fields, and for people who have actually experienced suicide in their families to come and talk. In my area, four members of Parliament came together and hosted one of these conversations. We had roughly 100 people there for an all-morning event. It was certainly important. The personal one-on-one conversations, the social media, the activity around that, and the print and broadcast media all helped to highlight and in that way remove a lot of the stigma that's evident. We had front-line workers, volunteers, hockey and baseball coaches, school board personnel in terms of training for teachers and so on—all were important. We finished the afternoon with a safeTALK model. We actually received personal training in that.

I have two questions relating to #308conversations. First, I think originally you were hoping to have it from May to August 2014. You extended it to May 2015. At this point, do you have a number on how many members of Parliament actually did participate in that initiative?

[Louise Bradley]

Do you have that information, Jennifer?

[Jennifer Vornbrock, Vice-President, Knowledge and Innovation, Mental Health Commission of Canada]

Yes, I do.

Thank you for the question. I want to thank you and to acknowledge your leadership on this issue.

We are closing in on around 60 members of Parliament. We have extended it to continue into the end of the spring session, with some very promising mention of some members of Parliament trying to do this over the summer. We had tried to do it last summer and held the event, but we didn't build, I think, the significant momentum that we have now.

As you know, you yourself participated in some video vignettes, and you and some members from all parties have shared your experiences. The hope is that by sharing your stories and your experiences, as you just described, you'll be able to encourage your colleagues who may or may not feel comfortable. We've heard about all sorts of experiences. Some have had big sessions like yours, with 100 members. Others have had more kitchen table conversations.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Sure. I just think they're all so crucial. If there's anything we can do around this table as members of this committee, I would urge at least our group to make sure we host one.

If there's some way we can partner with you to increase that number from 60 to 300-and...well, at least to 300....

[Jennifer Vornbrock]

To 338.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Well, 338 after the election; exactly.

This is somewhat related to the social media thing. I know that the Mental Health Commission of Canada has over 10,000 Twitter followers. Unfortunately, @MHCC_308 only has 600 and something. I'm wondering how we can increase that. I know it's a time-limited initiative, but the more we can do to increase that social media perspective, I think that would be great.

I don't know if you have ideas as to how we might be able to increase those numbers and get the word out.

[Jennifer Vornbrock]

We have an interim report on #308conversations coming up. As well, we're sharing the video vignettes. Another significant opportunity to profile the leadership that Canada and our members of Parliament are showing on this issue is that we've just signed an agreement with the World Health Organization to take #308conversations international. We also have had some early preliminary conversations with the U.S. to see members of Congress actually taking on the notion or idea. I think it will be #435conversations with members of Congress.

As we begin to build some momentum on the notion and the concept of #308conversations, I think then you'll start to get some trending, if you will, to use social media terms.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Great.

Do I still have a bit of time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

You have three minutes.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Three more minutes? I'm way off.

[Jennifer Vornbrock]

We're talking fast.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

On the issue of media and online tools, what sort of encouragement is given to some of the current online tools that are available in terms of mental health and suicide prevention initiatives? I'm familiar with one of them, called Your Life Counts, but there are probably dozens of them.

Are there any coordinating efforts by the Mental Health Commission of Canada or PHAC or any federal group that would in some way resource and be a point of initial information for these online tools that are available?

[Jennifer Vornbrock]

As Ms. Bradley has shared, the commission is very interested in implementing the model that's been used in 55 European cities. That model has five components. One of the core components is this notion of public awareness. We've been working very closely with the Public Health Agency to determine what's best in class around a lot of these online tools—training, workshops, education, training for gatekeepers, and public awareness—what's the right messaging in media and social marketing.

I think the opportunity in implementing this model and working closely with PHAC, working with the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention and working with others is that we can really determine and harness where the best knowledge lies and make sure that we focus our efforts on knowledge exchange, knowledge translation, and knowledge transfer, core parts of the Mental Health Commission's mandate.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

That's great to hear, because one of the things that seems apparent to me since my initial entry into this field, sort of serendipitously, is the better cooperation among the different agencies and groups that are out there. You know, too often we're protecting our own turf, to get our own thing, and I'm so thankful to see the Mental Health Commission of Canada, PHAC, and others working together collaboratively and actually making a big difference.

As a quick comment in relation to some of the comments that were made in the previous session regarding happiness and basic prevention skills, I'll never forget hearing Dr. David Goldbloom, your former vice-chair, I think.

[Louise Bradley]

Chair.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

It was so counterintuitive but so simple, and I think it illustrates the importance of going back to basics on a number of these things. He pointed out that one of the best protective factors in preparing us for good mental health is having the family take a meal around a table together. I thought that really doesn't take rocket science to do it.

I wonder if you want to comment on that at all, or if you've heard him say that as well.

[Louise Bradley]

Yes, I have heard him say that and I think it's a very good point. We sometimes look to very complex ways and think things have to be researched for a long time before implementing them.

I think the community model that we are talking about speaks to that very well, because we believe the answers lie in the respective communities. The answers are not going to be the same for Iqaluit as they are for Vancouver, but the principles are often the same. Sometimes they can be very simple things, like you and others heard in your #308conversations, that a lot can be done that can make a difference. I'm not surprised that we've seen the reduction in the rates in the cities they have tried this on, which is why we are so hopeful that it will work here in Canada.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thanks for using that word again, “hope”.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

Thank you very much, Mr. Albrecht.

I will now give the floor to Ms. Moore for five minutes.

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Bradley, you spoke a lot about stigmatization and the difficulties of integrating these people, especially those with more serious mental health issues. I was wondering if you have developed tools for this, especially for employers, that explain the needs of these people and how to work with them and integrate them into a living environment.

Have you also developed tools to explain mental health to youth and children? It could well be that a family member has a mental health issue. In such cases, how do you talk to a child or adolescent about this issue?

When I was a teenager, a student at my school suffered from schizophrenia. We were not told anything about that. We just had a fellow student who had an imaginary friend—

[Louise Bradley]

I am sorry, but the translation isn't coming through.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

Did you catch any of it?

[Louise Bradley]

Just the last few sentences.