February 27, 2025 • 60 mins
Connection Salon & Gathering Place, Crisis Centre of BC & Kagan Goh
In today’s program we speak with Pierre Leichner from the Connection Salon here in Vancouver BC and Carrie Campbell from the Gathering Place about their collaboration to ensure that art comes to those who live with mental health challenges.
We also speak with Mark Sheehan, Program Director, and Paul Vincent, Volunteer, about the Youth Education projects bringing mental health information to youth through the Crisis Centre of BC.
And then Kagan Goh joins us to talk about his upcoming documentary on mental health entitled Common Law.
Music by Shari Ulrich
In today’s program we speak with Pierre Leichner from the Connection Salon here in Vancouver BC and Carrie Campbell from the Gathering Place about their collaboration to ensure that art comes to those who live with mental health challenges.
We also speak with Mark Sheehan, Program Director, and Paul Vincent, Volunteer, about the Youth Education projects bringing mental health information to youth through the Crisis Centre of BC.
And then Kagan Goh joins us to talk about his upcoming documentary on mental health entitled Common Law.
Music by Shari Ulrich
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Vancouver cop Radio cfr OH one hundred
point five FM. We're coming to you from the unseated
traditional territories of the Squamish, muscream and slighwy tooth nations
around Vancouver be seen. I'm your host, Bernardine Fox, and
this is this show that dares to change how we
think about mental health. Welcome to Rethreading Madness.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
When have ever been fir no, what the hell I'm
gonna do when I can't sing a fine way under over?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver co Op Radio
cfr OH one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox
and right now have the pleasure of speaking with Pierre
Lehner from the Connection Salon and Carry Campbell from the
Gathering Place, and they're going to talk about what they
do separately and how that kind of goes together at times. So, Pierre,
can you tell us a little bit about you and
(01:05):
the Connection Salon.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yes, thank you for offering this opportunity better, ben Anina.
So the Connection Salon Artists Collective was born out of
the sad event that happened around twenty to fifteen or
so when they when the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority decided
to cut the budget it had given for dozens of
(01:28):
years to Gallery Gachet.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
And that was of course a dramatic and brutal and very.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Quickly she had to Gallery Gachet, who then was you know,
run by a collective.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
The staff had to find some.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
New space and we had in the previous space a
small area for that we could show low.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Barrier area access for you know, artists from the downtown
east Side.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
That disappeared because when we moved, we had to move
into a smaller space and there was no space for
that anymore. But some of us and the collective felt
that would be necessary to find a place somewhere to
provide you know, opportunities will bear opportunities to artists that
you know, we were underrepresented and also had lived experience
(02:24):
of mental health issues.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
So in actually twenty twenty two we were sorry.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now around twenty eighteen or seventeen, we were able to
find some space at the Lost and Found Cafe, which
was on Hastings just one hundred meters further down from
Gas Shape, and they were happy to have us have
shows there because they had lots of walls available and
that's where we started and it certainly about nine of
(02:54):
our gas Shake collecting members at the time got together
and we formed the Connections.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Collective at that time, so.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
We were lucky to have the space and we did
about a dozen group shows there.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
We had some virtual workshops during.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
COVID and we also ran Immediate the Artists events. Unfortunately,
Lost and Found Cafe closed in twenty twenty two and
so we were again looking for space and that's where.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
We were very very.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Fortunate to meet Carrie and to find a account of
synergetic relationship with partnership with the Gathering Place Community Center
downtown Vancouver, who also that had space for gallery space.
So since then we've been very productive, can be very
(03:49):
proud of the work we do, and we've organized at
least another ten or twelve shows. These are visual art
show with usually about twelve artists group group shows, and
we also have performers come at those events, and also
we've had a couple of Matt Pride cabaret events during July.
(04:13):
All of this is possible because slowly we've been able
to get some funding through the city through the Canada Council,
from BC Arts Council to do some of this work,
and wherever we can, we renumerate the artists with.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
The funds we have, we and the performers as well.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But FORCUS funding is really variable and it's a battle
to get some funding more and more.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
So we as a collective are a dozen. We do
the majority of the work. There is no executive director,
there is no kind of there is no creator and
so on.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
We all share the task from selecting the works to
putting them up, to promotion and so on, takedowns and updown.
So we all do it because we we may believe
in our mission and the need.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
That there is in Vancouver to neque to have space
for a low.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Barrier space, easy space to apply to.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
For underrepresented artists and artists who have live experience for
mental health. The works are for sale. We take no
percentage of the sales. We are now registered in nonprofit
organization and our group is growing and eversifying.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So very thankful for carry and the Gathering Place to
allow us to have continued and to grow.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That's wonderful. Carrie, tell us about the gathering Place and
what you do there.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
So the Gathering Place we're a community center that is
operated by the city of Vancouver, and our mandate is
to provide and to have access, low barrier access to
(05:59):
a community that has there may have mental health, poverty,
they're under housed, if not houseless addiction. A lot of
low income seniors come to our center every every program.
We provide essential services, which means showers, laundry, low cost food.
(06:25):
We have a food bank. Uh So we provide a
lot of essential services and a wide variety of programs
that are all free. Anyone can access them. But our
main community is what I had described earlier that come
to our center. And so what I do there is
(06:48):
my title is called community. I'm a community coordinator and
I provide a wide variety of different programming in the center.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
One of the things that I knew that the Gathering
Place offers is access to art and art production, and
that kind of fits in with the Connection Salon to
the people from the Gathering Place also participate in the
exhibitions that the Connection Salon puts on.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Yes, yes, So what happened? So I started there five
years ago, right before the pandemic. And when I started
at the Gathering Place, they had this amazing space downstairs
that wasn't being used and accessed that much and it
had incredible wall space, and so I asked if I
(07:41):
could turn that into gallery space and that was completely
well accepted, like they would love to see that, the
director of the center. And so for the first year,
I just accessed the people that we're participating in different
(08:03):
programs at the center and gave them an opportunity to
show their work. So the second year I put a
call out looking for other artists and that's when Pierre
because I sent it to Gallery Gachet and Pierre seeing
the call out and then he reached out to see
if we can create some kind of partnership, and I
thought it would be a perfect fit because that's one
(08:25):
of the things we need to do is although yes
we're a community center through the City of Vancouver, we
have very small funding for our programming and so one
of the ways we can do that is by creating
partnerships in our community and working with these partnerships to
develop some of the program and find funding.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, and that's one of the ways that you make
a community strong is by creating those partnerships and working together.
So is a connection salon the primary person and an
organization that's putting art on the walls.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
Yes, point, yes, but at this point they are The
gallery space downstairs is completely the Connection Salons and working
with with the gathering Place, but it's pretty much theirs.
We work together to make the call outs, we work
together choosing the art where we work very hard at
(09:28):
making sure we're very inclusive and that our community is included.
And usually in all our shows there's usually at least
three to four artists that are chosen that come directly
from the gathering Place.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Great here, I know you've done some talking public speaking
on art and mental health. Can you talk about how
that plays out in the Connection Salon?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Thank you, Well, you know the first thing I have
said that anyway, all of our shows have a mental
health theme. Now that gets you know, we're again very
flexible about how that gets carried out in the work.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
That people submit and the and the attention. Uh.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I also want to say that all the performers
that we have, if you want mad artists, they all
have lived experience mental health. They're wonderful performers, but they
also have that knowledge to share. So the themes are
all mental health related. We just finished this whole series
of themes on.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
The process of recovery.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And we also have in the past and will continue
to have direct partnership with also organizations in the community
that are providing services.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
And to people that have mental health experience.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So that's within our mandate and I think within our
way of functioning. You know, again, today I think get
so in a way ironic, I don't know, it's sad
in the sense that there is more evidence today than
ever perhaps before, how important art, all forms of art,
all forms are, can be healing, it can be protective,
(11:15):
can be necessary.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
For the humans in general. And you know, that's why
it's it's funny.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I mean, it's here in a way that we're seeing
some movements that are kind of trying to kind of
back off, are trying to claw back, and that funding
is so difficult to get at this point from you know,
the funding agencies. And I don't blame that because their
budgets have been through. I'm not growing at the great
that the need is growing. So it's it's it's a
(11:44):
lot of work and it's hard to get that minimal
funding that form our schools directly, almost all of it
goes directly to the artists. So it's it's a necessary
program from our from our viewpoint, from the collective, all
the artists there, and that's why we're in it, and
we continue and we'll continue to see we can make
(12:06):
this continue and grow if possible. We do definitely want
to see more bringing more performers. Actually, we're going to
probably start we are going to start a Matt Coffeehouse
kind of program this next month, and we're going to
continue some of some of our execut some of our shows.
(12:31):
In fact, the next one is going to be the
Members show, so that's starting the next month. So I
think it's necessary for our own sanity, our own health,
and also the people that participate and come and.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
See the shows.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Kerry, have you gotten any impact from the folks who
access the services you provide around art or the folks
who are exhibiting their work in the Connection Salon shows
on the impact it has on them? Oh?
Speaker 6 (13:05):
So art so artists so important to this community. It's
it's such an amazing outlet for our community. Even people
sometimes like they come into our workshops and they have
no experience and then once they've been able to give
(13:26):
some creative space and some creative freedom, what it does
for them for their mental health, their physical health, their
well being. It's it's it's amazing to witness and to
watch and why I believe in this works so much
to have firsthand experience seeing how art benefits individuals, Like
(13:57):
somebody who might be having bit of a meltdown, a
little bit of an episode. You know, if you can
set them down with a cup of tea, a piece
of paper and some and some pencil crans will calm
a person right down. It's a really simple. Uh, it's
(14:18):
something really simple that anyone.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Could do.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
To to to to help the community, you know, just
to help an individual out that's not intrusive.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
And providing an incredible coping skill that they can get
somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
Yeah, and so when and also like and then giving
our community this opportunity to display their work, there's such
a sense of pride they were giving them opportunities that
they never thought they would ever have, or that anybody
(14:57):
would take them serious as an artist, that anybody would
take their artwork seriously. They never you know, a lot
of them don't feel like they belong in certain areas
of our community. So having a space that is safe
and non judgmental is so important to have and you know,
(15:27):
the word is getting out I have I'm having now
a lot of people are starting a little list that
are on the street and they're creating art, and they're
getting the word that they may be able to have
opportunities in this next coming season to show their work
in our space.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
The benefits are you know, we can't we don't have numbers,
we don't have a lot of what some of the
funders are looking for those quantums. But if they would
just come out and see an experience, it's it's it's there. Yeah,
(16:13):
it's unquestionable how beneficial it is.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Also, the thing about art and producing art is that
it's a healing thing to do, but it also reaches
back into all those nonverbal places that you know, So
people who don't know how to talk about their feelings
or don't or don't have access to something that's painful
for them in terms of a narrative can use art
to do that healing. And it doesn't have to be
(16:37):
you know, great fanfare. It can be you know, in
the middle of a class and they put something together
that is important to them.
Speaker 9 (16:42):
And I really.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Believe that art is is very much a healing tool
and so Pierre, my hat is off to all the
folks who volunteer through the Connection Salon to make this
happen for other people. They do it without renumeration, and
I think that's phenomenal and generous. And of course I
know many of them through Gashet and so please tell
(17:08):
them I give them my thanks, and Carrie, thank you
for doing what you're doing and putting this together through
the gathering place to provide these opportunities for people. It's
a very important service that both of you are doing,
so thank you.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
And I just also mention so I belong to I
have in the past belonged to quite a few art collectives,
and in these art collectives, their main priority is getting
their work finding space to show their art work. This
is the first collective that I've been involved with that
(17:45):
that's not their priority at all. Their priority is the community.
The priority is making sure that the community gets their
work up, that their work is being showed respectfully, and
that they're getting as much respect as any other artists
at any level in our community. And I just that
(18:06):
in itself, with this group being longed to, this group
has uh, it's just changed even my perspective of what
it is and the importance that we're doing. This group
is not in it for themselves at all, even though
they are all artists, they're they're one hundred percent for
the community.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, I agree here, thank you. Ye. So Carrie, how
can people get a hold of you or find the
gathering place?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Well, okay, as far as the Connection Salon, we do
have a website, okay. We have the listening of the shows,
the current show and the calls for when we have
a call. We have the listening when the events occur,
because we also give talks. We're also there are the
art studios, the workshops are all in our connection Salon
dot Connection Salon one.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Word dot CA. Okay, on the website for that information.
But Carrie may have further information as well.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, Carrie, how do people get a hold of the
gathering place?
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Of course, I'm at my studio and I don't have
the number, but we do have a website. They just
have to look up the gathering place. It comes up
on the City of Vancouver's website and there are phone
numbers there. They can call and ask for myself, Carrie Campbell,
and they can connect to me and I can answer
(19:28):
any questions. They want.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So given that a lot of the people that might
you might want to be reaching our houseless and maybe
not able to access Wi Fi, but are hearing this program,
can they drop in to the gathering place?
Speaker 6 (19:45):
Yeah, and they can drop in. And my office hours
are Monday to Thursday, nine to five.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
And what is the address there.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
It's six o nine Helmkin Street and it's at the
corner of Helmkin and Seymour.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
So six o nine Helmkin Street. That's h E. L
as in Larry m as in Mary Kays and Kenneth
I n as in Norman Street in Vancouver. Okay, that's great,
thanks guys.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Well, perhaps think yes, because it touches me a lot,
and I think it really speaks to what we do.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
The gallery itself is open, of course, open all day
the while the gathering place, a community center, is open.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
But it's also notable to.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Me that in the evening the gallery transforms into a
night shelter for the houseless. So here they are that
all the artwork around them, and I think so it's
kind of in a way symbolic of what.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
We try to do.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, that changes the whole notion of shelter really in
some ways, and that they are able to be in
that space with the art. That's wonderful. Thank you for
saying that here. Okay, thanks guys, talk to you soon
and we'll be right back books.
Speaker 10 (21:00):
Hi, folks, this is Steve ferguson your twenty first century
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inviting you to come down and listen to our show
every week at Monday one am, the very end of
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Speaker 11 (21:20):
If you want it, I got it.
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That's here on CFRO one hundred point five co Op
Radio Monday mornings one am.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
You're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver co Op Radio
CFRO one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox and
I am talking with Paul Vincent and Mark Sheehan from
the Crisis Center of BC. Welcome you, guys, Thank you,
thank you for having us. Mark, can you tell us
a little bit about who you are in term in
(21:55):
relationship to the Crisis Center of BC and what that is.
Speaker 12 (22:00):
Absolutely so I'm currently the program director of our Community
Learning and Engagement department, the Farm Dive Head. Yeah, we
have a youth Programs for youth program for people who
are suicide breathed, and we also have our adults education
and training programs, So we focus mostly on supporting those
people who have lost some of the suicide. We focus
(22:22):
on building up the mental health literacy, literacy skills of
youth put in BC it's polity to talk about. And
then we also train organizations, communities and individuals all across
the province and how to do suicide prevention and mental
health kind of support work.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, you have a program called, I believe the Youth Educator.
I'm certainly bastardizing that name, but you have a program
that teaches youth about mental health. Can you tell us
a little bit about where that program came from.
Speaker 12 (22:54):
Yeah, absolutely, So we used to have a full suite
of wellness programs for the crisis center that we would
provide free to, you know, different communities and things like that.
We've dot a lot of interest about programs for youth
and we had the staff at the time who were
very much experts in youth mental health, so we created
(23:16):
our first program, which is called Self Care for Mental
Health that's designed for any age youth and we provide
that for free to high schools all over the Lower Mainland.
And then recently the I guess the base knowledge of
youth in general and when it comes to mental health,
then it comes to crisis prevention has increased over the
(23:38):
last couple of years, just with access to you know,
information and it being more but topic that's less to
talk about in some ways. So we have recently added
another program called It's Okay Not to Be Okay, which
focuses on kind of older youth in high schools and
goes into a little bit more depth on you know,
how to support your friends in crisis and a little
(23:58):
bit more kind of real and in depth about the
mental health issues that can come up and how to
deal with them. We've been around for a number of
years now and have trained thousands and thousands of youth
across hundreds of different schools in the Lower Mainland, and yeah,
plan to keep it going for as long as it's needed,
which I'd imagine will be quite a number of years.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I've noticed that your programs start at grade six. Is
there a reason why you don't do programming for children
in elementary school well younger grades anyway, because six is
still elementary here.
Speaker 12 (24:33):
Yeah, there's a couple of other programs in the Vancouver
that covered that age range. And to be honest, when
we were putting this program together, we didn't have the
expertise internally for younger youth and elementary school youth. And
there's a little bit of a difference in how you
talk about crisis and mental health when it comes to
that age, and we just we don't have that knowledge
base within the team, so we focus on the grade
(24:56):
six and up.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Okay, So it's not because there aren't any mental health
issues for children under the age of grade six, right, So.
Speaker 12 (25:03):
No, Unfortunately, quite an unfortunate trend we are seeing that
mental health crisis is they are coming up.
Speaker 11 (25:10):
Earlier and earlier for for YOUTHBC.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, so Paul, welcome. Tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 13 (25:20):
Well, I'm originally from Newfoundland, so I'm a Newfie, but
I don't have those really wild weird accents.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh come, did you like leave them behind or did
you just never have them? Sorry I asked weird.
Speaker 13 (25:33):
Questions, but I know it's a it's a common question.
I actually worked very hard removing it because I spent
thirty years most of my life in hospitality, and I
had to learn how to speak slower and a little
bit better because people really couldn't understand me. So i
actually worked hard to kind of remove it. But I'm
very proud to be a new fee.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Well that's good. I'm glad. We should all be proud
of where we where we call home. So tell us
about your relationship to the youth education program that the
Crisis Center of BC puts on.
Speaker 13 (26:08):
Well, how it originally started. I worked for a community,
the Jeep Community in the Lower Mainland, and for three
years we got together and ran a program called jeep
Apalooza over on the Vancouver Island where we raised a
quarter of a million dollars for breast cancer. I was
the creator of the website and the master of ceremonies
with my husband for three years. Once I separated myself
(26:31):
from that, it was a couple of years and we
were I decided I needed to do something. I wanted
to get back and give something back. And we were
sitting out just at a local pub with friends, and
I just decided I'm going to take a look, and
immediately I found the BC Crisis Center website and it
resonated with me right away that they were looking for
(26:52):
volunteers and there was like adult there were so many
different programs evolved, and I'm very new young at I
resonate very young. I mean, I'm fifty almost fifty five,
but I mentally I am like eighteen. So I've always
been young. And my personal experiences because I had an
(27:13):
attempt at suicide and growing up, I know from personal
experience that if I had reached and I had the
resources when I was young, I would have been a
different person. So by the time you reach adulthood, a
lot of the damage is already done. So I absolutely
said that, you know, I want to be involved in
the youth programs because I think it's important to reach
(27:33):
youth at an early age.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I agree, So you are one of the workshop educators
for I think self care and it's okay not to
be okay correct.
Speaker 13 (27:51):
I am part of both. I started with originally with
the Self Care Workshop, which I'm still obviously very much involved,
which I love. And yeah, I was that because it
was a pilot program this year or that I was
approached and asked to be one of the new facilitators
to get trained and start this new program. And I
(28:11):
love both programs. They both have a special place on
my heart. They're both great, and they both reach use
at a different level. And you can see the reactions
you know, at both. Like Mark said, you know, the
self care Workshopper offered for both from six all the
way up to high school, so they do range of both.
(28:31):
And yeah, that program I like to look at it.
You know, students learn about what self care is, They
learn about what mental health is, the importance of self
care and finding routines that work for them, that make
them feel good so they can deal with the day
to day struggles while the it's okay not to be
okay dealing with a hire. I like to say it
(28:53):
almost turns students into many educators. You know, they learned
what a crisis is, so when they finish, they walk
away with the knowledge of, you know, what a crisis is.
What happens when your day to day dealings and how
you deal with stuff is just too much and you
enter crisis level. See, they know themselves and their friends
(29:16):
and their family. They can identify what a crisis is
and now they know that they have the resources to
reach out and even if they can't deal with it themselves,
of course, they know where to find those resources and
the forms they kind of fill out. Afterwards, we do
a pre workshop and a post and the feedback we're
getting from that is just crazy. Like you'll walk in
(29:38):
and they'll all say, do you know where to locate assistance?
You know, if something happens, and most times it's no, no,
not sure. And at the end of the workshop it's
almost ninety nine percent yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I now know where to go and where do people go?
Speaker 13 (29:56):
There's I mean in Canda, we're lucky. We have so
many numbers. We have the BC Crisis Center of course,
and there's so many numbers. I will promote it because
it's such an amazing site. Foundry BC is just an
amazing website. So if anybody listens to this, if they
have any issue, you know, they want to check it out.
It has so many there's so many phone numbers Indigenous
(30:19):
you know, they have the links to the BC crisis.
There's just a world of resources out there, and they
they even have physical locations now all over you know,
the lower main language market can contest to and that's
that's where we always direct them immediately because there's just
such an outreach of so many different things that there's
(30:41):
little videos or maybe I was being bullied at school,
or I'm worried about my ways. I mean, it's it's
hard to describe in one interview, but it's it's just
an amazing place to go.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Do you guys find that bullying is a part of
what happens to kids who are dealing with mental health challenges?
Is it is bullying? Does that become a part of
it as a part of the stigma, like you talk
about reducing stigma, And it just occurs to me that
one of the things that could happen to kids who
are dealing with a mental health challenge is that they
end up getting bullied because of it. Is that what
(31:16):
are you Are you dealing with that in your workshop
at all? Or are you finding that in the populations
that you work.
Speaker 13 (31:22):
With so far? No, Again, we only get you know,
seventy minutes with them too, and it's and we're dealing
with that information and we want to get all this
information out to them and to the workshop. So so far,
I haven't encountered anything yet. But you bring up a
good point because with that's you know, with that stigma,
I'm not I would not be surprised that building is
(31:45):
part of it because that you know, when you that's
what prevents people from getting help, is that stigma?
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Mm hmm, you know, yeah, and go ahead, Mark, So.
Speaker 12 (31:55):
I got to add a little bit to that. So
the where the funding came forward to launch It's Okay
not to be okay last year was actually as part
of honestly anti bullying, but like support for those who
are being bullied or are doing the bullying as well.
And how we were able to get that funding was
because while we were great there here, we're not here
(32:17):
seeing it too often. But a lot of times I
know from talking with Lana who Lana is our head
of very programs at the Center, that speaking up in
these workshops sometimes can draw attention to yourself and a
lot of people will always answer honestly. But we set
it up that you know, by learning these skills, abou
how to support yourself or a friend in crisis. If
(32:37):
you or that friend are maybe bullying is the reason
for that crisis, now you have nowhere to go to
get that support before it gets a lot worse, because
that's a lot of what we were seeing with people
was that the initial active bullying maybe has a huge impact,
but it's the consistent ones that go on for a
long time is where the real, like real real negative.
Speaker 11 (32:58):
Effects kick in.
Speaker 12 (32:59):
So by setting this up now that people can understand
that they're feeling angry or hurt about the initial act
of bullying that happened towards them, they now have somewhere
where they can turn to to train and get support
with that, and get advice and help to navigate through
it and make sure that doesn't become a much larger
issue for them.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I see that you know in your programming and listening
to you that you clearly you are talking about things
like depression and suicide and you know those kinds of things.
Do you also deal with or explain or bring education
around neuro divergent issues? So the autistic kid who's socially
not in the same place the rest of his friends are,
(33:39):
and how that can negatively impact them, are you able
to do that or does that go beyond what the
crisis center is working on.
Speaker 12 (33:49):
I can speak to the Community Learning and Engagement department
as a whole in all of our programs and then
maybe qual if you want to speak specifically to and
of your experience as well.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
On carrying out the workshop.
Speaker 12 (34:02):
So we worked in twenty twenty four with the Canucks
Autism Network to have our facilitators for adult side programming
and also our managers including Lanta who helps to put
these bre youth programs together, to get training on how
to ensure at these spaces that where we carry out
these trainings, are you safe and accessible for people who
(34:23):
are neuro division as well, So we don't teach directly
about how to support someone who's new the virgin. We
do in all of our training programs try to ensure
that they're like accessible for people and have a little
bit of our knowledge running through them throughout.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Great and Mark, just going back to a statement that
you made that we're recognizing mental health challenges in children
that are younger and younger at you think that perhaps
that's happening because as a society as a whole, we
are somehow managing to finally reduce the stigma around mental health.
Because I would imagine that it's parents. Well, I guess
(35:02):
kids going to school might be identified as well, but
parents can really step in and prevent their kids from
having access to mental health services. Do you think that's
part of it, that we're actually reducing the stigma.
Speaker 11 (35:16):
A little bit of a million dollar question, I suppose.
But I think this is kind of a.
Speaker 12 (35:24):
Viewpoint I've always had with this, and I think it's
really wonderful in society that right now there's so many
campaigns about like, you know, if you're feeling any sort
of way, to speak about it and come forward and
talk to your friends. And I really do see a
huge impact that that's having in terms of people reaching
out for help and getting more support. But I feel
what can sometimes be lacking in those campaigns is the
(35:48):
training and support for those friends that you turn to.
Speaker 11 (35:51):
So like, if you have a group of like five
sixteen year.
Speaker 12 (35:53):
Old boys, for an example, you know, I've never talked
to a mental health because they haven't taken any of
our programs, and one of their friends speaks out that like, hey,
I'm dealing with depression or hey I'm thinking about suicide
right now, it's unfair of us to think that those
other four people in that group would have the skills
to be able to deal with that right now. So yeah,
that's what we're trying to do here with these free
(36:14):
or free workshops in schools especially, they new it's okay
enough to be okay. It's to give them those very
big initial skills of how to deal with that friend
when they come forward because you know, they might have
seen the bell Men Talk campaign or they've seen some
sort of campaign about coming forward about your mental health.
Speaker 11 (36:31):
Trying to give that support to those people who are
then supporting that person.
Speaker 12 (36:36):
So yeah, I think the stigma for sure is it's
really helping to have people come forward. And also and
other organizations like Foundry, lots of other places are also
making that those spaces more easily accessible for people when
they need to help as well, because it's not always
about just talking about it. You also need to get
that help as well.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Well. That's great. And how do people reach the Crisis
Center of BC.
Speaker 11 (37:00):
A couple of different numbers.
Speaker 12 (37:01):
You can call the three ten, six, seven eight nine,
so that's the mental health support line. We also answer
the nine eight eight, which is a national emergency suicide
crisis line, and there's also the one eight hundred suicide line,
which is a BC specific as well, So we answer
all three of those phone calls, and you can also
text nine eight eight as well, which is very useful
(37:21):
for some younger for teens and even some adulse as
well who might not necessarily enjoy talking on the phone.
And you can also text nine eight eight and begin
that conversation and to have the whole thing carried out
over text, or when you're comfortable, maybe have them call
you then from there, depending on what support you need
and how that's going.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Great. Thank you guys. So that was Paul Vincent and
Mark Shaheen from the Crisis Center of BC talking to
us about their youth education programs that they put into schools.
Speaker 13 (37:50):
Thank you, guys, Thank you for having us. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
You're welcome, Thank you, and we'll be right back, folks.
Speaker 14 (37:55):
Young workers face many challenges today, unaffordable housing, paid and
precarious work, and a rapidly changing labor environment. New and
young workers are also more likely to be injured on
the job. One of the best protections you have as
a worker is solidarity, in other words, a strong union.
Throughout history, unions have fought for the right to collective bargaining,
(38:19):
better wages, benefits and working conditions, protection from abuse by
employers and ending harassment and discrimination at work. For more
information on how to join a union, visit bcfed dot
CA forward slash to join.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
You're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver co Op Radio
cfr OH one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox.
Rethreading Madness is coming up to its sixth anniversary of
being on air. We produce an air each week out
of cfr OH one hundred point five FM on the
unseated traditional territory of the Squamish Muscriham and Sliweight Tooth
(38:58):
nations around Vancouver. Bc RTM was one of the first
radio programs to focus on mental health issues here in
Canada in an area swamped with statements from therapists rooted
in colonial ideas about mental health and trained in the DSM.
RTM works to ensure that the voices of those with
lived experience have agency and opportunity to define who they
(39:22):
are and what is true for them who listens to us.
Beyond those with lived experience, our audience includes their friends
and partners, along with therapists, counselors, and students of psychology.
Since twenty twenty two, all of our programs have been
uploaded to the Mental Health Radio Network and can be
downloaded from all podcast platforms. So if this show was
(39:43):
of interest to you, you might find the rest of
our programs informative as well. You can find them by
searching for Rethreading Madness wherever you listen to your podcast.
Speaker 15 (39:52):
Eye Tana yup Qui gate Euons queens Na. Hi, everybody,
my name is kuiyate Yuon's. I'm a member of this
Squamish nation and the yagolanis klan of the Hyda nation.
You're listening to co Op Radio CFRO one hundred point
five FM. We live, work play and broadcast from the traditional,
ancestral and unseeded territories of the Muskwiam, Squamish and slavetooth nations.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
You're listening to Read Threading Madness on Vancouver cap Radio
cfr O one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox
and I'm speaking with director producer Gagan Go about his film,
his docu drama. Is it a docu drama or is
it just considered.
Speaker 11 (40:30):
A drama drama?
Speaker 1 (40:33):
But it is based on a true story. In fact,
your true story called common Law. Yeah again, you talked
about manic depressive challenges and talked about how you didn't
like the term bipolar. Can you talk a little bit
more about that.
Speaker 9 (40:52):
Yeah, I know it's somewhat antiquated to use the old
manic depression and people have misgivings about it, but personally, speaking.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
From my own lived experience, is more accurate.
Speaker 9 (41:03):
It describes my personal lived experience of both the high zarmania,
the terrors of psychosists, and the loads of depression. You know,
just a terminal, it's just a preference, you know, to
each of their old women. And that's just my own
personal preference.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
I applaud you for sticking to your own personal preference.
I think we have a right to define who we
are and what we live with. You also talk about
in the press, really is that you talk about dealing
with mental health challenges that are different in the Asian
Canadian community. Can you talk a little bit about how
(41:42):
they're different or how you see them as being different.
Speaker 8 (41:45):
Yeah, Basically an Asian Canadian community, there's a huge stigma
about mental illness and it's the monster and the closet
that nobody wants to talk about.
Speaker 4 (41:56):
Literally, they I.
Speaker 9 (41:58):
Don't know if they still do it, but you know,
it's almost like you're sequestered away in an attic and
hidden from sight. Nobody talks about it, nobody deals with it,
and as a result, Asian men in particular Witty languish
from mental health challenges and rarely seek help because of
fear of its appearing weak and vulnerable, you know, because
(42:21):
it's supposed to be strong in the head of the
family and red winners, et cetera. So it's a real
problem the Asian Canadian community. It's not being addressed.
Speaker 11 (42:30):
That's why.
Speaker 9 (42:31):
That's one of the primary reasons that I made the
film to show an empathetic and sensitive and frank and
honest portrayal of a Chinese Canadian male struggling through the
challenges of navigating the mental health.
Speaker 7 (42:49):
System, the psychiatric system, the welfare system.
Speaker 9 (42:53):
You know, and hopefully people can learn vacaviously through the
trials and errors how to navigate those systems.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
And you know, my book.
Speaker 9 (43:02):
Surviving Some Sara, which part of this story is based on,
which was shortlisted for the Simple Literature Prize in the
Creative Nonfiction and English category, was called by some of
the readers of the book a lifesaver. And I'm hoping
this TV series will be that kind of force, you know,
(43:24):
a positive change.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Around people dealing with mental health challenges or families, I
suppose even families dealing with mental health challenges.
Speaker 9 (43:38):
Yeah, I mean basically the film and TV series developed,
especially this film delves into the impact of government policies
and societal stigma and cultural expectations, especially.
Speaker 7 (43:51):
From the Asian community and those living mental illness. You know.
Speaker 9 (43:55):
But I think it's an incredibly relevant story and I
think I'm hoping that this film opened up those to
develop this TV series concept.
Speaker 7 (44:06):
I have a show bible.
Speaker 4 (44:07):
I have, you know, three seasons of.
Speaker 9 (44:11):
Twenty seven episodes mapped out, and I'm really hoping that
this project will take off because I think it especially
mental health. People pay lip service to mental health saying,
you know, it's a tight guist at the times, but.
Speaker 7 (44:27):
It really is.
Speaker 9 (44:28):
And I think a series like this is timely, meaningful
and also highly original in terms of the protagonist finding
his voice as a spoken word artists and finds healing
and transformation from being a victim or a survivor of
the mental health care system to ultimately self actualized mental
(44:53):
health advocate and then becomes a self proclaimed mad artist.
Speaker 7 (44:58):
You know, so there's a transform and a journey in
a bit of an arc.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yes, absolutely. You talk about government policies, is that the
policies that require people who have PWD and enter a
common law relationship that they lose that pension?
Speaker 14 (45:16):
Yeap.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
And have you been able to talk with people within
government about this? Have you had conversations with them about
how this is unfair?
Speaker 9 (45:28):
That's what I'm hoping to bring this to Victoria and
screen it, you know, if that's a way to even
get some politicians or policy makers to watch this film
on a humanistic level as opposed to just a policy
or political film.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
I don't want it.
Speaker 9 (45:45):
To just be seen as a message film or as
a political film, because it's not. It's primarily a fire
family drama or a mental health drama. But I think
it transcends even those definitions and those narrow definitions. And
I'm hoping, you know, basically, I've been told by the
powers that be there's not just a provincial legislation or
(46:10):
a federal legislation, but you have to go all the
way to the Supreme Court and even further than that
in terms of the policy being dictated by legislation and
policy done by the United Nations. So I feel that
someone's like a mister Smith goes to Washington, kind of
(46:31):
like I'm Jimmy Stewart having to march out to the
United Nations.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Now.
Speaker 14 (46:36):
It's a bit.
Speaker 9 (46:37):
Daunting that it's such an arduous and difficult process, but
you know, you have to start somewhere, and I don't
even know if it's possible, but at least get the
conversation going, you.
Speaker 11 (46:49):
Know, absolutely, conversation.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Absolutely, you talk about how the mental health, getting the
diagnosis impacted on your family. Can you talk a little
bit about how that happened, Yeah, it happened.
Speaker 9 (47:06):
Basically when I received I was told that I had
an incurreble mental illness, that we lost the rest of
my life.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
And let me just stop you there. Let me ask
you what does that feel like to be told you
have an incurable disease which I hate to talk about
mental health in those terms at all, but that it's
incurable and you'll never work. Like when you walk out
of an office and that is what you've been told,
(47:34):
what are you left with? What does that do to you?
Speaker 16 (47:37):
It's like receiving a life sentence as a prisoner for
a crime that you did not commit, right, you know, a.
Speaker 7 (47:45):
Life sentence with no parole. Okay, that that was the impact.
Speaker 16 (47:50):
That it had on me, and not quite a death
sentence because I'm still alive. You know, your life does
an end, but a part of your life ends and
the new normal happens and suddenly, all of a sudden,
become a professional mental patient.
Speaker 7 (48:05):
You're seeing in a different light as a disabled person.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
You know, and not just disabled, i e. With a wheelchair,
because I think we live in a society that handles
the wheelchair much better than they handle a diagnosis like bipolar,
which just confuses them. Most people don't know what that
means and they're not sure if it's scary, and you know,
I'm not sure what that will mean yet you will
(48:29):
do you know, maybe you'll act erratically or you know.
It's that whole social stigma stuff that happens around mental
health challenges, you know, so it impacts you on a
double whammy. It's not just what the psychiatrist said, it's
what you take out and what the rest of the
world deals with you. Have you dealt with social stigma
in that capacity, It.
Speaker 16 (48:52):
Continues to baffle me but yes, it's challenging day by day,
moment by moment, and you know, it used to cuipple
me to a certain extent that I used to really
suffer from those self esteem and.
Speaker 9 (49:08):
Shame about it. You know, I felt that almost like
I was fighting an invisible enemy. The stigma of prejudice
and discrimination was so prevalent and so invisible that it
was like fighting a fandom and invisible ghosts and an
invisible enemy. And all this pent up anger and rage
(49:29):
and frustration, but nowhere to direct it because it's insinuated
and the way you are treated by family, friends, social workers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists,
welfare workers, you know, and but you can't locate it.
It's so subtle and it's supposed to be done. It's
(49:50):
the people are doing it are well meaning but misguided.
And the way I turned it that frustration and anger
it became self hate. And basically this TV series chronicles
the journey from self eight to the eight. They say
there are seven stages of grief, and I retermed it
(50:11):
seven eight stages of grief of mental illness, and from
anger to bargaining to you know whatever, shame to guilt
and then eventually, hopefully towards acceptance and to.
Speaker 7 (50:27):
Finally, you know, towards unconditional self love.
Speaker 9 (50:30):
If that's if that's a goal that's or a state
that's team unachievable. That's the journey that this the protagonist takes,
and I'm hoping it will be a healing journey. That's
why I changed the title of the TV series from
Surviving some Sava. First of all, not many people know
what some Sara means, which is a Buddhist Sanskrit term
(50:54):
for the word the round, the round, the rebirth and suffrage,
death and rebirth. And I didn't want to have a
term that was so arsoteric and religious that nobody would
understand it. And I also didn't want to focus on
the term's survival because you think of survival as fight,
(51:14):
flight and hide and the survival instincts.
Speaker 7 (51:19):
And I didn't want.
Speaker 9 (51:19):
It to focus on the making drama, the trauma, suffering,
puffed out of pain. I wanted to focus on the
transformative journey of healing and yeah, basically healing and recovery.
You know that it is possible, not in some kind
of inspiration palln kind of way, but in the very
(51:43):
down to earth every man, everyday pedestrian kind of journey
of a mental health patient to becoming a mental health
advocate and activist and mental health worker at the end,
you know.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, And I find that that your story is fascinating
and that you were told that it's incurable and you'll
never work again. But here you are having, you know,
climbed that mountain out of these ideas and these expectations,
these non expectations put on you, and you've found a
(52:19):
way to in fact use that diagnosis to find a
way to give back to the community and into society
and to work. And I just applaud you for that.
Where can people see this film? It's if there's a
premiere coming up, the world premiere. Where is that happening?
And when can people come and see it?
Speaker 9 (52:37):
Yeah, come see the world premiere of my film at
the Vancouver Asian Film Festival twenty twenty four and check
out the other great Asian films from November seventh to
the seventeenth, and let me give you some information about it.
The world premiere of Common Law schedules for Saturday, November
the ninth, twenty twenty four, four pm at International Village
(53:02):
Cinemas as part of the Reality Check West Coast Narrative
Shorts program at the twenty eighth annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Myself, director.
Speaker 7 (53:16):
And produces Andy Wong, and you and Joe Chen.
Speaker 9 (53:21):
And lead actor Berlin who will be in attendance, offering
audiences a unique opportunity to engage with this important conversation.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
That's wonderful again, thank you. So that's again. That's on
September ninth, which is in a few days at four
pm common Law scheduled at the Internationvillage Cinema and Vancouver
Asian Film Festival after November ninth. Where will people be
able to find this film?
Speaker 9 (53:51):
Hopefully on television if I managed to get it picked
up in green lit by a production company, It's a
long process and might take years. But yeah, but that's
the word I'm taking this film. It's going to be
at at the film festivals oh by the way, next
year in twenty twenty five. Early in twenty twenty five,
(54:15):
the Kettle Friendship Society is sponsoring a community screening and
fundraiser of this film.
Speaker 7 (54:21):
At the Real Theater.
Speaker 11 (54:23):
Oh Cool.
Speaker 4 (54:24):
I will keep you into.
Speaker 7 (54:27):
When that will be happening.
Speaker 9 (54:28):
It's solo film screening as opposed to a multiple screening
of other films. And there will be the Kettle Choir
and different speakers and panels and Q and A discussions
and it.
Speaker 7 (54:41):
Should be in some ways.
Speaker 9 (54:43):
I'm looking forward to the head even more than the
world premiere because the whole of the Kettle Friendship Society,
which is a mental health organization that I work for,
will be there and staff, the members, my spoken work community,
my film making community, and.
Speaker 7 (54:59):
My friends, my friends name my co workers. It's really
gonna be an incredible celebration.
Speaker 9 (55:05):
And we're going to reach out to all the mental
health organizations from the Clost Foundation MPa, Motivation, Power and
Achievement and yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
Good, that sounds great. Yeah, do come back and let
us know when that's happening. So where can people find
out more information about you again.
Speaker 16 (55:25):
Basically through my Instagram. I've got a handle Common Law Film.
Speaker 1 (55:31):
Thank you, Okay, bye bye, and we'll be right back, folks.
Speaker 14 (55:37):
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We're calling six oh four six eight four eight four
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Speaker 1 (56:37):
Ninety four, you're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver cob
Radio CFRI one hundred point five FM, and that's our show.
Speaker 4 (56:48):
I hope the.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
Resources we've discussed in this programming, from the Connection Salon
to the Gathering Place to the Crisis Center of BC
and Gagango's common law film documentary that he is producing,
have been or will be helpful to your music Today
was by Sherry Ulrick and as always, our thanks goes
out to you for joining us today. Stay safe out there, folks.
(57:12):
You've just listened to Rethreading Madness, where we dare to
change how we think about mental health.
Speaker 6 (57:17):
We air live on.
Speaker 1 (57:18):
Vancouver co Op Radio CFRO one hundred point five FM
every Tuesday at five pm, or online at co opradio
dot org. If you have questions or feedback about this program,
I want to share your story or have something to
say to us, we want to hear from you. You
can reach us by email Rethreading Madness at co opradio
(57:38):
dot org. This is Bernardine Fox. We'll be back next week.
Until then, when ever been fir?
Speaker 2 (57:48):
Do what the hell I'm gonna do? When I can't
see a fine my way under over too? Just when
I'm ready to give up the light they are when
(58:10):
we turn out the lights in It's all right, it's
all right. Don't you really be alright? Why do I
always believe beWhen you're jelly, everything's gonna be all right?
Speaker 1 (58:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (58:39):
Why don't I wonder how you know? Surely you don't
have all of the facts. You could be just making
it up. Why don't I ever think of that? So
(59:00):
got imagine in the words.
Speaker 6 (59:02):
That you read.
Speaker 11 (59:05):
Saying baby, take it from me?
Speaker 9 (59:08):
It's all right, it's all right.
Speaker 15 (59:13):
Don't too real.
Speaker 2 (59:15):
It'll be alright.
Speaker 6 (59:19):
Quite a while.
Speaker 4 (59:19):
Always believe that when you.
Speaker 2 (59:22):
Tell everything's gonna be off right, everything's gonna be all
right if anyone else. It's such a cliche, just words
people say to be nice somehow and fall from you others.
(59:50):
I'm convinced your
You're listening to Vancouver cop Radio cfr OH one hundred
point five FM. We're coming to you from the unseated
traditional territories of the Squamish, muscream and slighwy tooth nations
around Vancouver be seen. I'm your host, Bernardine Fox, and
this is this show that dares to change how we
think about mental health. Welcome to Rethreading Madness.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
When have ever been fir no, what the hell I'm
gonna do when I can't sing a fine way under over?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver co Op Radio
cfr OH one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox
and right now have the pleasure of speaking with Pierre
Lehner from the Connection Salon and Carry Campbell from the
Gathering Place, and they're going to talk about what they
do separately and how that kind of goes together at times. So, Pierre,
can you tell us a little bit about you and
(01:05):
the Connection Salon.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yes, thank you for offering this opportunity better, ben Anina.
So the Connection Salon Artists Collective was born out of
the sad event that happened around twenty to fifteen or
so when they when the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority decided
to cut the budget it had given for dozens of
(01:28):
years to Gallery Gachet.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
And that was of course a dramatic and brutal and very.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Quickly she had to Gallery Gachet, who then was you know,
run by a collective.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
The staff had to find some.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
New space and we had in the previous space a
small area for that we could show low.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Barrier area access for you know, artists from the downtown
east Side.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
That disappeared because when we moved, we had to move
into a smaller space and there was no space for
that anymore. But some of us and the collective felt
that would be necessary to find a place somewhere to
provide you know, opportunities will bear opportunities to artists that
you know, we were underrepresented and also had lived experience
(02:24):
of mental health issues.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
So in actually twenty twenty two we were sorry.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now around twenty eighteen or seventeen, we were able to
find some space at the Lost and Found Cafe, which
was on Hastings just one hundred meters further down from
Gas Shape, and they were happy to have us have
shows there because they had lots of walls available and
that's where we started and it certainly about nine of
(02:54):
our gas Shake collecting members at the time got together
and we formed the Connections.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Collective at that time, so.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
We were lucky to have the space and we did
about a dozen group shows there.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
We had some virtual workshops during.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
COVID and we also ran Immediate the Artists events. Unfortunately,
Lost and Found Cafe closed in twenty twenty two and
so we were again looking for space and that's where.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
We were very very.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Fortunate to meet Carrie and to find a account of
synergetic relationship with partnership with the Gathering Place Community Center
downtown Vancouver, who also that had space for gallery space.
So since then we've been very productive, can be very
(03:49):
proud of the work we do, and we've organized at
least another ten or twelve shows. These are visual art
show with usually about twelve artists group group shows, and
we also have performers come at those events, and also
we've had a couple of Matt Pride cabaret events during July.
(04:13):
All of this is possible because slowly we've been able
to get some funding through the city through the Canada Council,
from BC Arts Council to do some of this work,
and wherever we can, we renumerate the artists with.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
The funds we have, we and the performers as well.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But FORCUS funding is really variable and it's a battle
to get some funding more and more.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
So we as a collective are a dozen. We do
the majority of the work. There is no executive director,
there is no kind of there is no creator and
so on.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
We all share the task from selecting the works to
putting them up, to promotion and so on, takedowns and updown.
So we all do it because we we may believe
in our mission and the need.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
That there is in Vancouver to neque to have space
for a low.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Barrier space, easy space to apply to.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
For underrepresented artists and artists who have live experience for
mental health. The works are for sale. We take no
percentage of the sales. We are now registered in nonprofit
organization and our group is growing and eversifying.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So very thankful for carry and the Gathering Place to
allow us to have continued and to grow.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That's wonderful. Carrie, tell us about the gathering Place and
what you do there.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
So the Gathering Place we're a community center that is
operated by the city of Vancouver, and our mandate is
to provide and to have access, low barrier access to
(05:59):
a community that has there may have mental health, poverty,
they're under housed, if not houseless addiction. A lot of
low income seniors come to our center every every program.
We provide essential services, which means showers, laundry, low cost food.
(06:25):
We have a food bank. Uh So we provide a
lot of essential services and a wide variety of programs
that are all free. Anyone can access them. But our
main community is what I had described earlier that come
to our center. And so what I do there is
(06:48):
my title is called community. I'm a community coordinator and
I provide a wide variety of different programming in the center.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
One of the things that I knew that the Gathering
Place offers is access to art and art production, and
that kind of fits in with the Connection Salon to
the people from the Gathering Place also participate in the
exhibitions that the Connection Salon puts on.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Yes, yes, So what happened? So I started there five
years ago, right before the pandemic. And when I started
at the Gathering Place, they had this amazing space downstairs
that wasn't being used and accessed that much and it
had incredible wall space, and so I asked if I
(07:41):
could turn that into gallery space and that was completely
well accepted, like they would love to see that, the
director of the center. And so for the first year,
I just accessed the people that we're participating in different
(08:03):
programs at the center and gave them an opportunity to
show their work. So the second year I put a
call out looking for other artists and that's when Pierre
because I sent it to Gallery Gachet and Pierre seeing
the call out and then he reached out to see
if we can create some kind of partnership, and I
thought it would be a perfect fit because that's one
(08:25):
of the things we need to do is although yes
we're a community center through the City of Vancouver, we
have very small funding for our programming and so one
of the ways we can do that is by creating
partnerships in our community and working with these partnerships to
develop some of the program and find funding.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, and that's one of the ways that you make
a community strong is by creating those partnerships and working together.
So is a connection salon the primary person and an
organization that's putting art on the walls.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
Yes, point, yes, but at this point they are The
gallery space downstairs is completely the Connection Salons and working
with with the gathering Place, but it's pretty much theirs.
We work together to make the call outs, we work
together choosing the art where we work very hard at
(09:28):
making sure we're very inclusive and that our community is included.
And usually in all our shows there's usually at least
three to four artists that are chosen that come directly
from the gathering Place.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Great here, I know you've done some talking public speaking
on art and mental health. Can you talk about how
that plays out in the Connection Salon?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Thank you, Well, you know the first thing I have
said that anyway, all of our shows have a mental
health theme. Now that gets you know, we're again very
flexible about how that gets carried out in the work.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
That people submit and the and the attention. Uh.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I also want to say that all the performers
that we have, if you want mad artists, they all
have lived experience mental health. They're wonderful performers, but they
also have that knowledge to share. So the themes are
all mental health related. We just finished this whole series
of themes on.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
The process of recovery.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And we also have in the past and will continue
to have direct partnership with also organizations in the community
that are providing services.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
And to people that have mental health experience.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So that's within our mandate and I think within our
way of functioning. You know, again, today I think get
so in a way ironic, I don't know, it's sad
in the sense that there is more evidence today than
ever perhaps before, how important art, all forms of art,
all forms are, can be healing, it can be protective,
(11:15):
can be necessary.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
For the humans in general. And you know, that's why
it's it's funny.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I mean, it's here in a way that we're seeing
some movements that are kind of trying to kind of
back off, are trying to claw back, and that funding
is so difficult to get at this point from you know,
the funding agencies. And I don't blame that because their
budgets have been through. I'm not growing at the great
that the need is growing. So it's it's it's a
(11:44):
lot of work and it's hard to get that minimal
funding that form our schools directly, almost all of it
goes directly to the artists. So it's it's a necessary
program from our from our viewpoint, from the collective, all
the artists there, and that's why we're in it, and
we continue and we'll continue to see we can make
(12:06):
this continue and grow if possible. We do definitely want
to see more bringing more performers. Actually, we're going to
probably start we are going to start a Matt Coffeehouse
kind of program this next month, and we're going to
continue some of some of our execut some of our shows.
(12:31):
In fact, the next one is going to be the
Members show, so that's starting the next month. So I
think it's necessary for our own sanity, our own health,
and also the people that participate and come and.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
See the shows.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Kerry, have you gotten any impact from the folks who
access the services you provide around art or the folks
who are exhibiting their work in the Connection Salon shows
on the impact it has on them? Oh?
Speaker 6 (13:05):
So art so artists so important to this community. It's
it's such an amazing outlet for our community. Even people
sometimes like they come into our workshops and they have
no experience and then once they've been able to give
(13:26):
some creative space and some creative freedom, what it does
for them for their mental health, their physical health, their
well being. It's it's it's amazing to witness and to
watch and why I believe in this works so much
to have firsthand experience seeing how art benefits individuals, Like
(13:57):
somebody who might be having bit of a meltdown, a
little bit of an episode. You know, if you can
set them down with a cup of tea, a piece
of paper and some and some pencil crans will calm
a person right down. It's a really simple. Uh, it's
(14:18):
something really simple that anyone.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Could do.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
To to to to help the community, you know, just
to help an individual out that's not intrusive.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
And providing an incredible coping skill that they can get
somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
Yeah, and so when and also like and then giving
our community this opportunity to display their work, there's such
a sense of pride they were giving them opportunities that
they never thought they would ever have, or that anybody
(14:57):
would take them serious as an artist, that anybody would
take their artwork seriously. They never you know, a lot
of them don't feel like they belong in certain areas
of our community. So having a space that is safe
and non judgmental is so important to have and you know,
(15:27):
the word is getting out I have I'm having now
a lot of people are starting a little list that
are on the street and they're creating art, and they're
getting the word that they may be able to have
opportunities in this next coming season to show their work
in our space.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
The benefits are you know, we can't we don't have numbers,
we don't have a lot of what some of the
funders are looking for those quantums. But if they would
just come out and see an experience, it's it's it's there. Yeah,
(16:13):
it's unquestionable how beneficial it is.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Also, the thing about art and producing art is that
it's a healing thing to do, but it also reaches
back into all those nonverbal places that you know, So
people who don't know how to talk about their feelings
or don't or don't have access to something that's painful
for them in terms of a narrative can use art
to do that healing. And it doesn't have to be
(16:37):
you know, great fanfare. It can be you know, in
the middle of a class and they put something together
that is important to them.
Speaker 9 (16:42):
And I really.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Believe that art is is very much a healing tool
and so Pierre, my hat is off to all the
folks who volunteer through the Connection Salon to make this
happen for other people. They do it without renumeration, and
I think that's phenomenal and generous. And of course I
know many of them through Gashet and so please tell
(17:08):
them I give them my thanks, and Carrie, thank you
for doing what you're doing and putting this together through
the gathering place to provide these opportunities for people. It's
a very important service that both of you are doing,
so thank you.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
And I just also mention so I belong to I
have in the past belonged to quite a few art collectives,
and in these art collectives, their main priority is getting
their work finding space to show their art work. This
is the first collective that I've been involved with that
(17:45):
that's not their priority at all. Their priority is the community.
The priority is making sure that the community gets their
work up, that their work is being showed respectfully, and
that they're getting as much respect as any other artists
at any level in our community. And I just that
(18:06):
in itself, with this group being longed to, this group
has uh, it's just changed even my perspective of what
it is and the importance that we're doing. This group
is not in it for themselves at all, even though
they are all artists, they're they're one hundred percent for
the community.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, I agree here, thank you. Ye. So Carrie, how
can people get a hold of you or find the
gathering place?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Well, okay, as far as the Connection Salon, we do
have a website, okay. We have the listening of the shows,
the current show and the calls for when we have
a call. We have the listening when the events occur,
because we also give talks. We're also there are the
art studios, the workshops are all in our connection Salon
dot Connection Salon one.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Word dot CA. Okay, on the website for that information.
But Carrie may have further information as well.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, Carrie, how do people get a hold of the
gathering place?
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Of course, I'm at my studio and I don't have
the number, but we do have a website. They just
have to look up the gathering place. It comes up
on the City of Vancouver's website and there are phone
numbers there. They can call and ask for myself, Carrie Campbell,
and they can connect to me and I can answer
(19:28):
any questions. They want.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So given that a lot of the people that might
you might want to be reaching our houseless and maybe
not able to access Wi Fi, but are hearing this program,
can they drop in to the gathering place?
Speaker 6 (19:45):
Yeah, and they can drop in. And my office hours
are Monday to Thursday, nine to five.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
And what is the address there.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
It's six o nine Helmkin Street and it's at the
corner of Helmkin and Seymour.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
So six o nine Helmkin Street. That's h E. L
as in Larry m as in Mary Kays and Kenneth
I n as in Norman Street in Vancouver. Okay, that's great,
thanks guys.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Well, perhaps think yes, because it touches me a lot,
and I think it really speaks to what we do.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
The gallery itself is open, of course, open all day
the while the gathering place, a community center, is open.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
But it's also notable to.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Me that in the evening the gallery transforms into a
night shelter for the houseless. So here they are that
all the artwork around them, and I think so it's
kind of in a way symbolic of what.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
We try to do.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, that changes the whole notion of shelter really in
some ways, and that they are able to be in
that space with the art. That's wonderful. Thank you for
saying that here. Okay, thanks guys, talk to you soon
and we'll be right back books.
Speaker 10 (21:00):
Hi, folks, this is Steve ferguson your twenty first century
schitzoid Man, and I'm the host of prog Rock, ally
inviting you to come down and listen to our show
every week at Monday one am, the very end of
the weekend. We will be looking at all forms of
progressive rock. I'm talking about space rock, art rock, math rock, fusion, jazz.
Speaker 11 (21:20):
If you want it, I got it.
Speaker 10 (21:22):
Just name it, I'll play it. We'll see you again.
That's here on CFRO one hundred point five co Op
Radio Monday mornings one am.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
You're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver co Op Radio
CFRO one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox and
I am talking with Paul Vincent and Mark Sheehan from
the Crisis Center of BC. Welcome you, guys, Thank you,
thank you for having us. Mark, can you tell us
a little bit about who you are in term in
(21:55):
relationship to the Crisis Center of BC and what that is.
Speaker 12 (22:00):
Absolutely so I'm currently the program director of our Community
Learning and Engagement department, the Farm Dive Head. Yeah, we
have a youth Programs for youth program for people who
are suicide breathed, and we also have our adults education
and training programs, So we focus mostly on supporting those
people who have lost some of the suicide. We focus
(22:22):
on building up the mental health literacy, literacy skills of
youth put in BC it's polity to talk about. And
then we also train organizations, communities and individuals all across
the province and how to do suicide prevention and mental
health kind of support work.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, you have a program called, I believe the Youth Educator.
I'm certainly bastardizing that name, but you have a program
that teaches youth about mental health. Can you tell us
a little bit about where that program came from.
Speaker 12 (22:54):
Yeah, absolutely, So we used to have a full suite
of wellness programs for the crisis center that we would
provide free to, you know, different communities and things like that.
We've dot a lot of interest about programs for youth
and we had the staff at the time who were
very much experts in youth mental health, so we created
(23:16):
our first program, which is called Self Care for Mental
Health that's designed for any age youth and we provide
that for free to high schools all over the Lower Mainland.
And then recently the I guess the base knowledge of
youth in general and when it comes to mental health,
then it comes to crisis prevention has increased over the
(23:38):
last couple of years, just with access to you know,
information and it being more but topic that's less to
talk about in some ways. So we have recently added
another program called It's Okay Not to Be Okay, which
focuses on kind of older youth in high schools and
goes into a little bit more depth on you know,
how to support your friends in crisis and a little
(23:58):
bit more kind of real and in depth about the
mental health issues that can come up and how to
deal with them. We've been around for a number of
years now and have trained thousands and thousands of youth
across hundreds of different schools in the Lower Mainland, and yeah,
plan to keep it going for as long as it's needed,
which I'd imagine will be quite a number of years.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I've noticed that your programs start at grade six. Is
there a reason why you don't do programming for children
in elementary school well younger grades anyway, because six is
still elementary here.
Speaker 12 (24:33):
Yeah, there's a couple of other programs in the Vancouver
that covered that age range. And to be honest, when
we were putting this program together, we didn't have the
expertise internally for younger youth and elementary school youth. And
there's a little bit of a difference in how you
talk about crisis and mental health when it comes to
that age, and we just we don't have that knowledge
base within the team, so we focus on the grade
(24:56):
six and up.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Okay, So it's not because there aren't any mental health
issues for children under the age of grade six, right, So.
Speaker 12 (25:03):
No, Unfortunately, quite an unfortunate trend we are seeing that
mental health crisis is they are coming up.
Speaker 11 (25:10):
Earlier and earlier for for YOUTHBC.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, so Paul, welcome. Tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 13 (25:20):
Well, I'm originally from Newfoundland, so I'm a Newfie, but
I don't have those really wild weird accents.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh come, did you like leave them behind or did
you just never have them? Sorry I asked weird.
Speaker 13 (25:33):
Questions, but I know it's a it's a common question.
I actually worked very hard removing it because I spent
thirty years most of my life in hospitality, and I
had to learn how to speak slower and a little
bit better because people really couldn't understand me. So i
actually worked hard to kind of remove it. But I'm
very proud to be a new fee.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Well that's good. I'm glad. We should all be proud
of where we where we call home. So tell us
about your relationship to the youth education program that the
Crisis Center of BC puts on.
Speaker 13 (26:08):
Well, how it originally started. I worked for a community,
the Jeep Community in the Lower Mainland, and for three
years we got together and ran a program called jeep
Apalooza over on the Vancouver Island where we raised a
quarter of a million dollars for breast cancer. I was
the creator of the website and the master of ceremonies
with my husband for three years. Once I separated myself
(26:31):
from that, it was a couple of years and we
were I decided I needed to do something. I wanted
to get back and give something back. And we were
sitting out just at a local pub with friends, and
I just decided I'm going to take a look, and
immediately I found the BC Crisis Center website and it
resonated with me right away that they were looking for
(26:52):
volunteers and there was like adult there were so many
different programs evolved, and I'm very new young at I
resonate very young. I mean, I'm fifty almost fifty five,
but I mentally I am like eighteen. So I've always
been young. And my personal experiences because I had an
(27:13):
attempt at suicide and growing up, I know from personal
experience that if I had reached and I had the
resources when I was young, I would have been a
different person. So by the time you reach adulthood, a
lot of the damage is already done. So I absolutely
said that, you know, I want to be involved in
the youth programs because I think it's important to reach
(27:33):
youth at an early age.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I agree, So you are one of the workshop educators
for I think self care and it's okay not to
be okay correct.
Speaker 13 (27:51):
I am part of both. I started with originally with
the Self Care Workshop, which I'm still obviously very much involved,
which I love. And yeah, I was that because it
was a pilot program this year or that I was
approached and asked to be one of the new facilitators
to get trained and start this new program. And I
(28:11):
love both programs. They both have a special place on
my heart. They're both great, and they both reach use
at a different level. And you can see the reactions
you know, at both. Like Mark said, you know, the
self care Workshopper offered for both from six all the
way up to high school, so they do range of both.
(28:31):
And yeah, that program I like to look at it.
You know, students learn about what self care is, They
learn about what mental health is, the importance of self
care and finding routines that work for them, that make
them feel good so they can deal with the day
to day struggles while the it's okay not to be
okay dealing with a hire. I like to say it
(28:53):
almost turns students into many educators. You know, they learned
what a crisis is, so when they finish, they walk
away with the knowledge of, you know, what a crisis is.
What happens when your day to day dealings and how
you deal with stuff is just too much and you
enter crisis level. See, they know themselves and their friends
(29:16):
and their family. They can identify what a crisis is
and now they know that they have the resources to
reach out and even if they can't deal with it themselves,
of course, they know where to find those resources and
the forms they kind of fill out. Afterwards, we do
a pre workshop and a post and the feedback we're
getting from that is just crazy. Like you'll walk in
(29:38):
and they'll all say, do you know where to locate assistance?
You know, if something happens, and most times it's no, no,
not sure. And at the end of the workshop it's
almost ninety nine percent yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I now know where to go and where do people go?
Speaker 13 (29:56):
There's I mean in Canda, we're lucky. We have so
many numbers. We have the BC Crisis Center of course,
and there's so many numbers. I will promote it because
it's such an amazing site. Foundry BC is just an
amazing website. So if anybody listens to this, if they
have any issue, you know, they want to check it out.
It has so many there's so many phone numbers Indigenous
(30:19):
you know, they have the links to the BC crisis.
There's just a world of resources out there, and they
they even have physical locations now all over you know,
the lower main language market can contest to and that's
that's where we always direct them immediately because there's just
such an outreach of so many different things that there's
(30:41):
little videos or maybe I was being bullied at school,
or I'm worried about my ways. I mean, it's it's
hard to describe in one interview, but it's it's just
an amazing place to go.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Do you guys find that bullying is a part of
what happens to kids who are dealing with mental health challenges?
Is it is bullying? Does that become a part of
it as a part of the stigma, like you talk
about reducing stigma, And it just occurs to me that
one of the things that could happen to kids who
are dealing with a mental health challenge is that they
end up getting bullied because of it. Is that what
(31:16):
are you Are you dealing with that in your workshop
at all? Or are you finding that in the populations
that you work.
Speaker 13 (31:22):
With so far? No, Again, we only get you know,
seventy minutes with them too, and it's and we're dealing
with that information and we want to get all this
information out to them and to the workshop. So so far,
I haven't encountered anything yet. But you bring up a
good point because with that's you know, with that stigma,
I'm not I would not be surprised that building is
(31:45):
part of it because that you know, when you that's
what prevents people from getting help, is that stigma?
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Mm hmm, you know, yeah, and go ahead, Mark, So.
Speaker 12 (31:55):
I got to add a little bit to that. So
the where the funding came forward to launch It's Okay
not to be okay last year was actually as part
of honestly anti bullying, but like support for those who
are being bullied or are doing the bullying as well.
And how we were able to get that funding was
because while we were great there here, we're not here
(32:17):
seeing it too often. But a lot of times I
know from talking with Lana who Lana is our head
of very programs at the Center, that speaking up in
these workshops sometimes can draw attention to yourself and a
lot of people will always answer honestly. But we set
it up that you know, by learning these skills, abou
how to support yourself or a friend in crisis. If
(32:37):
you or that friend are maybe bullying is the reason
for that crisis, now you have nowhere to go to
get that support before it gets a lot worse, because
that's a lot of what we were seeing with people
was that the initial active bullying maybe has a huge impact,
but it's the consistent ones that go on for a
long time is where the real, like real real negative.
Speaker 11 (32:58):
Effects kick in.
Speaker 12 (32:59):
So by setting this up now that people can understand
that they're feeling angry or hurt about the initial act
of bullying that happened towards them, they now have somewhere
where they can turn to to train and get support
with that, and get advice and help to navigate through
it and make sure that doesn't become a much larger
issue for them.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I see that you know in your programming and listening
to you that you clearly you are talking about things
like depression and suicide and you know those kinds of things.
Do you also deal with or explain or bring education
around neuro divergent issues? So the autistic kid who's socially
not in the same place the rest of his friends are,
(33:39):
and how that can negatively impact them, are you able
to do that or does that go beyond what the
crisis center is working on.
Speaker 12 (33:49):
I can speak to the Community Learning and Engagement department
as a whole in all of our programs and then
maybe qual if you want to speak specifically to and
of your experience as well.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
On carrying out the workshop.
Speaker 12 (34:02):
So we worked in twenty twenty four with the Canucks
Autism Network to have our facilitators for adult side programming
and also our managers including Lanta who helps to put
these bre youth programs together, to get training on how
to ensure at these spaces that where we carry out
these trainings, are you safe and accessible for people who
(34:23):
are neuro division as well, So we don't teach directly
about how to support someone who's new the virgin. We
do in all of our training programs try to ensure
that they're like accessible for people and have a little
bit of our knowledge running through them throughout.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Great and Mark, just going back to a statement that
you made that we're recognizing mental health challenges in children
that are younger and younger at you think that perhaps
that's happening because as a society as a whole, we
are somehow managing to finally reduce the stigma around mental health.
Because I would imagine that it's parents. Well, I guess
(35:02):
kids going to school might be identified as well, but
parents can really step in and prevent their kids from
having access to mental health services. Do you think that's
part of it, that we're actually reducing the stigma.
Speaker 11 (35:16):
A little bit of a million dollar question, I suppose.
But I think this is kind of a.
Speaker 12 (35:24):
Viewpoint I've always had with this, and I think it's
really wonderful in society that right now there's so many
campaigns about like, you know, if you're feeling any sort
of way, to speak about it and come forward and
talk to your friends. And I really do see a
huge impact that that's having in terms of people reaching
out for help and getting more support. But I feel
what can sometimes be lacking in those campaigns is the
(35:48):
training and support for those friends that you turn to.
Speaker 11 (35:51):
So like, if you have a group of like five
sixteen year.
Speaker 12 (35:53):
Old boys, for an example, you know, I've never talked
to a mental health because they haven't taken any of
our programs, and one of their friends speaks out that like, hey,
I'm dealing with depression or hey I'm thinking about suicide
right now, it's unfair of us to think that those
other four people in that group would have the skills
to be able to deal with that right now. So yeah,
that's what we're trying to do here with these free
(36:14):
or free workshops in schools especially, they new it's okay
enough to be okay. It's to give them those very
big initial skills of how to deal with that friend
when they come forward because you know, they might have
seen the bell Men Talk campaign or they've seen some
sort of campaign about coming forward about your mental health.
Speaker 11 (36:31):
Trying to give that support to those people who are
then supporting that person.
Speaker 12 (36:36):
So yeah, I think the stigma for sure is it's
really helping to have people come forward. And also and
other organizations like Foundry, lots of other places are also
making that those spaces more easily accessible for people when
they need to help as well, because it's not always
about just talking about it. You also need to get
that help as well.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Well. That's great. And how do people reach the Crisis
Center of BC.
Speaker 11 (37:00):
A couple of different numbers.
Speaker 12 (37:01):
You can call the three ten, six, seven eight nine,
so that's the mental health support line. We also answer
the nine eight eight, which is a national emergency suicide
crisis line, and there's also the one eight hundred suicide line,
which is a BC specific as well, So we answer
all three of those phone calls, and you can also
text nine eight eight as well, which is very useful
(37:21):
for some younger for teens and even some adulse as
well who might not necessarily enjoy talking on the phone.
And you can also text nine eight eight and begin
that conversation and to have the whole thing carried out
over text, or when you're comfortable, maybe have them call
you then from there, depending on what support you need
and how that's going.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Great. Thank you guys. So that was Paul Vincent and
Mark Shaheen from the Crisis Center of BC talking to
us about their youth education programs that they put into schools.
Speaker 13 (37:50):
Thank you, guys, Thank you for having us. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
You're welcome, Thank you, and we'll be right back, folks.
Speaker 14 (37:55):
Young workers face many challenges today, unaffordable housing, paid and
precarious work, and a rapidly changing labor environment. New and
young workers are also more likely to be injured on
the job. One of the best protections you have as
a worker is solidarity, in other words, a strong union.
Throughout history, unions have fought for the right to collective bargaining,
(38:19):
better wages, benefits and working conditions, protection from abuse by
employers and ending harassment and discrimination at work. For more
information on how to join a union, visit bcfed dot
CA forward slash to join.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
You're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver co Op Radio
cfr OH one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox.
Rethreading Madness is coming up to its sixth anniversary of
being on air. We produce an air each week out
of cfr OH one hundred point five FM on the
unseated traditional territory of the Squamish Muscriham and Sliweight Tooth
(38:58):
nations around Vancouver. Bc RTM was one of the first
radio programs to focus on mental health issues here in
Canada in an area swamped with statements from therapists rooted
in colonial ideas about mental health and trained in the DSM.
RTM works to ensure that the voices of those with
lived experience have agency and opportunity to define who they
(39:22):
are and what is true for them who listens to us.
Beyond those with lived experience, our audience includes their friends
and partners, along with therapists, counselors, and students of psychology.
Since twenty twenty two, all of our programs have been
uploaded to the Mental Health Radio Network and can be
downloaded from all podcast platforms. So if this show was
(39:43):
of interest to you, you might find the rest of
our programs informative as well. You can find them by
searching for Rethreading Madness wherever you listen to your podcast.
Speaker 15 (39:52):
Eye Tana yup Qui gate Euons queens Na. Hi, everybody,
my name is kuiyate Yuon's. I'm a member of this
Squamish nation and the yagolanis klan of the Hyda nation.
You're listening to co Op Radio CFRO one hundred point
five FM. We live, work play and broadcast from the traditional,
ancestral and unseeded territories of the Muskwiam, Squamish and slavetooth nations.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
You're listening to Read Threading Madness on Vancouver cap Radio
cfr O one hundred point five FM. I'm Bernardine Fox
and I'm speaking with director producer Gagan Go about his film,
his docu drama. Is it a docu drama or is
it just considered.
Speaker 11 (40:30):
A drama drama?
Speaker 1 (40:33):
But it is based on a true story. In fact,
your true story called common Law. Yeah again, you talked
about manic depressive challenges and talked about how you didn't
like the term bipolar. Can you talk a little bit
more about that.
Speaker 9 (40:52):
Yeah, I know it's somewhat antiquated to use the old
manic depression and people have misgivings about it, but personally, speaking.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
From my own lived experience, is more accurate.
Speaker 9 (41:03):
It describes my personal lived experience of both the high zarmania,
the terrors of psychosists, and the loads of depression. You know,
just a terminal, it's just a preference, you know, to
each of their old women. And that's just my own
personal preference.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
I applaud you for sticking to your own personal preference.
I think we have a right to define who we
are and what we live with. You also talk about
in the press, really is that you talk about dealing
with mental health challenges that are different in the Asian
Canadian community. Can you talk a little bit about how
(41:42):
they're different or how you see them as being different.
Speaker 8 (41:45):
Yeah, Basically an Asian Canadian community, there's a huge stigma
about mental illness and it's the monster and the closet
that nobody wants to talk about.
Speaker 4 (41:56):
Literally, they I.
Speaker 9 (41:58):
Don't know if they still do it, but you know,
it's almost like you're sequestered away in an attic and
hidden from sight. Nobody talks about it, nobody deals with it,
and as a result, Asian men in particular Witty languish
from mental health challenges and rarely seek help because of
fear of its appearing weak and vulnerable, you know, because
(42:21):
it's supposed to be strong in the head of the
family and red winners, et cetera. So it's a real
problem the Asian Canadian community. It's not being addressed.
Speaker 11 (42:30):
That's why.
Speaker 9 (42:31):
That's one of the primary reasons that I made the
film to show an empathetic and sensitive and frank and
honest portrayal of a Chinese Canadian male struggling through the
challenges of navigating the mental health.
Speaker 7 (42:49):
System, the psychiatric system, the welfare system.
Speaker 9 (42:53):
You know, and hopefully people can learn vacaviously through the
trials and errors how to navigate those systems.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
And you know, my book.
Speaker 9 (43:02):
Surviving Some Sara, which part of this story is based on,
which was shortlisted for the Simple Literature Prize in the
Creative Nonfiction and English category, was called by some of
the readers of the book a lifesaver. And I'm hoping
this TV series will be that kind of force, you know,
(43:24):
a positive change.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Around people dealing with mental health challenges or families, I
suppose even families dealing with mental health challenges.
Speaker 9 (43:38):
Yeah, I mean basically the film and TV series developed,
especially this film delves into the impact of government policies
and societal stigma and cultural expectations, especially.
Speaker 7 (43:51):
From the Asian community and those living mental illness. You know.
Speaker 9 (43:55):
But I think it's an incredibly relevant story and I
think I'm hoping that this film opened up those to
develop this TV series concept.
Speaker 7 (44:06):
I have a show bible.
Speaker 4 (44:07):
I have, you know, three seasons of.
Speaker 9 (44:11):
Twenty seven episodes mapped out, and I'm really hoping that
this project will take off because I think it especially
mental health. People pay lip service to mental health saying,
you know, it's a tight guist at the times, but.
Speaker 7 (44:27):
It really is.
Speaker 9 (44:28):
And I think a series like this is timely, meaningful
and also highly original in terms of the protagonist finding
his voice as a spoken word artists and finds healing
and transformation from being a victim or a survivor of
the mental health care system to ultimately self actualized mental
(44:53):
health advocate and then becomes a self proclaimed mad artist.
Speaker 7 (44:58):
You know, so there's a transform and a journey in
a bit of an arc.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yes, absolutely. You talk about government policies, is that the
policies that require people who have PWD and enter a
common law relationship that they lose that pension?
Speaker 14 (45:16):
Yeap.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
And have you been able to talk with people within
government about this? Have you had conversations with them about
how this is unfair?
Speaker 9 (45:28):
That's what I'm hoping to bring this to Victoria and
screen it, you know, if that's a way to even
get some politicians or policy makers to watch this film
on a humanistic level as opposed to just a policy
or political film.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
I don't want it.
Speaker 9 (45:45):
To just be seen as a message film or as
a political film, because it's not. It's primarily a fire
family drama or a mental health drama. But I think
it transcends even those definitions and those narrow definitions. And
I'm hoping, you know, basically, I've been told by the
powers that be there's not just a provincial legislation or
(46:10):
a federal legislation, but you have to go all the
way to the Supreme Court and even further than that
in terms of the policy being dictated by legislation and
policy done by the United Nations. So I feel that
someone's like a mister Smith goes to Washington, kind of
(46:31):
like I'm Jimmy Stewart having to march out to the
United Nations.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Now.
Speaker 14 (46:36):
It's a bit.
Speaker 9 (46:37):
Daunting that it's such an arduous and difficult process, but
you know, you have to start somewhere, and I don't
even know if it's possible, but at least get the
conversation going, you.
Speaker 11 (46:49):
Know, absolutely, conversation.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Absolutely, you talk about how the mental health, getting the
diagnosis impacted on your family. Can you talk a little
bit about how that happened, Yeah, it happened.
Speaker 9 (47:06):
Basically when I received I was told that I had
an incurreble mental illness, that we lost the rest of
my life.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
And let me just stop you there. Let me ask
you what does that feel like to be told you
have an incurable disease which I hate to talk about
mental health in those terms at all, but that it's
incurable and you'll never work. Like when you walk out
of an office and that is what you've been told,
(47:34):
what are you left with? What does that do to you?
Speaker 16 (47:37):
It's like receiving a life sentence as a prisoner for
a crime that you did not commit, right, you know, a.
Speaker 7 (47:45):
Life sentence with no parole. Okay, that that was the impact.
Speaker 16 (47:50):
That it had on me, and not quite a death
sentence because I'm still alive. You know, your life does
an end, but a part of your life ends and
the new normal happens and suddenly, all of a sudden,
become a professional mental patient.
Speaker 7 (48:05):
You're seeing in a different light as a disabled person.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
You know, and not just disabled, i e. With a wheelchair,
because I think we live in a society that handles
the wheelchair much better than they handle a diagnosis like bipolar,
which just confuses them. Most people don't know what that
means and they're not sure if it's scary, and you know,
I'm not sure what that will mean yet you will
(48:29):
do you know, maybe you'll act erratically or you know.
It's that whole social stigma stuff that happens around mental
health challenges, you know, so it impacts you on a
double whammy. It's not just what the psychiatrist said, it's
what you take out and what the rest of the
world deals with you. Have you dealt with social stigma
in that capacity, It.
Speaker 16 (48:52):
Continues to baffle me but yes, it's challenging day by day,
moment by moment, and you know, it used to cuipple
me to a certain extent that I used to really
suffer from those self esteem and.
Speaker 9 (49:08):
Shame about it. You know, I felt that almost like
I was fighting an invisible enemy. The stigma of prejudice
and discrimination was so prevalent and so invisible that it
was like fighting a fandom and invisible ghosts and an
invisible enemy. And all this pent up anger and rage
(49:29):
and frustration, but nowhere to direct it because it's insinuated
and the way you are treated by family, friends, social workers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists,
welfare workers, you know, and but you can't locate it.
It's so subtle and it's supposed to be done. It's
(49:50):
the people are doing it are well meaning but misguided.
And the way I turned it that frustration and anger
it became self hate. And basically this TV series chronicles
the journey from self eight to the eight. They say
there are seven stages of grief, and I retermed it
(50:11):
seven eight stages of grief of mental illness, and from
anger to bargaining to you know whatever, shame to guilt
and then eventually, hopefully towards acceptance and to.
Speaker 7 (50:27):
Finally, you know, towards unconditional self love.
Speaker 9 (50:30):
If that's if that's a goal that's or a state
that's team unachievable. That's the journey that this the protagonist takes,
and I'm hoping it will be a healing journey. That's
why I changed the title of the TV series from
Surviving some Sava. First of all, not many people know
what some Sara means, which is a Buddhist Sanskrit term
(50:54):
for the word the round, the round, the rebirth and suffrage,
death and rebirth. And I didn't want to have a
term that was so arsoteric and religious that nobody would
understand it. And I also didn't want to focus on
the term's survival because you think of survival as fight,
(51:14):
flight and hide and the survival instincts.
Speaker 7 (51:19):
And I didn't want.
Speaker 9 (51:19):
It to focus on the making drama, the trauma, suffering,
puffed out of pain. I wanted to focus on the
transformative journey of healing and yeah, basically healing and recovery.
You know that it is possible, not in some kind
of inspiration palln kind of way, but in the very
(51:43):
down to earth every man, everyday pedestrian kind of journey
of a mental health patient to becoming a mental health
advocate and activist and mental health worker at the end,
you know.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, And I find that that your story is fascinating
and that you were told that it's incurable and you'll
never work again. But here you are having, you know,
climbed that mountain out of these ideas and these expectations,
these non expectations put on you, and you've found a
(52:19):
way to in fact use that diagnosis to find a
way to give back to the community and into society
and to work. And I just applaud you for that.
Where can people see this film? It's if there's a
premiere coming up, the world premiere. Where is that happening?
And when can people come and see it?
Speaker 9 (52:37):
Yeah, come see the world premiere of my film at
the Vancouver Asian Film Festival twenty twenty four and check
out the other great Asian films from November seventh to
the seventeenth, and let me give you some information about it.
The world premiere of Common Law schedules for Saturday, November
the ninth, twenty twenty four, four pm at International Village
(53:02):
Cinemas as part of the Reality Check West Coast Narrative
Shorts program at the twenty eighth annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Myself, director.
Speaker 7 (53:16):
And produces Andy Wong, and you and Joe Chen.
Speaker 9 (53:21):
And lead actor Berlin who will be in attendance, offering
audiences a unique opportunity to engage with this important conversation.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
That's wonderful again, thank you. So that's again. That's on
September ninth, which is in a few days at four
pm common Law scheduled at the Internationvillage Cinema and Vancouver
Asian Film Festival after November ninth. Where will people be
able to find this film?
Speaker 9 (53:51):
Hopefully on television if I managed to get it picked
up in green lit by a production company, It's a
long process and might take years. But yeah, but that's
the word I'm taking this film. It's going to be
at at the film festivals oh by the way, next
year in twenty twenty five. Early in twenty twenty five,
(54:15):
the Kettle Friendship Society is sponsoring a community screening and
fundraiser of this film.
Speaker 7 (54:21):
At the Real Theater.
Speaker 11 (54:23):
Oh Cool.
Speaker 4 (54:24):
I will keep you into.
Speaker 7 (54:27):
When that will be happening.
Speaker 9 (54:28):
It's solo film screening as opposed to a multiple screening
of other films. And there will be the Kettle Choir
and different speakers and panels and Q and A discussions
and it.
Speaker 7 (54:41):
Should be in some ways.
Speaker 9 (54:43):
I'm looking forward to the head even more than the
world premiere because the whole of the Kettle Friendship Society,
which is a mental health organization that I work for,
will be there and staff, the members, my spoken work community,
my film making community, and.
Speaker 7 (54:59):
My friends, my friends name my co workers. It's really
gonna be an incredible celebration.
Speaker 9 (55:05):
And we're going to reach out to all the mental
health organizations from the Clost Foundation MPa, Motivation, Power and
Achievement and yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
Good, that sounds great. Yeah, do come back and let
us know when that's happening. So where can people find
out more information about you again.
Speaker 16 (55:25):
Basically through my Instagram. I've got a handle Common Law Film.
Speaker 1 (55:31):
Thank you, Okay, bye bye, and we'll be right back, folks.
Speaker 14 (55:37):
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We're calling six oh four six eight four eight four
ninety four. At six oh four six eighty four eight four.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Ninety four, you're listening to Rethreading Madness on Vancouver cob
Radio CFRI one hundred point five FM, and that's our show.
Speaker 4 (56:48):
I hope the.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
Resources we've discussed in this programming, from the Connection Salon
to the Gathering Place to the Crisis Center of BC
and Gagango's common law film documentary that he is producing,
have been or will be helpful to your music Today
was by Sherry Ulrick and as always, our thanks goes
out to you for joining us today. Stay safe out there, folks.
(57:12):
You've just listened to Rethreading Madness, where we dare to
change how we think about mental health.
Speaker 6 (57:17):
We air live on.
Speaker 1 (57:18):
Vancouver co Op Radio CFRO one hundred point five FM
every Tuesday at five pm, or online at co opradio
dot org. If you have questions or feedback about this program,
I want to share your story or have something to
say to us, we want to hear from you. You
can reach us by email Rethreading Madness at co opradio
(57:38):
dot org. This is Bernardine Fox. We'll be back next week.
Until then, when ever been fir?
Speaker 2 (57:48):
Do what the hell I'm gonna do? When I can't
see a fine my way under over too? Just when
I'm ready to give up the light they are when
(58:10):
we turn out the lights in It's all right, it's
all right. Don't you really be alright? Why do I
always believe beWhen you're jelly, everything's gonna be all right?
Speaker 1 (58:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (58:39):
Why don't I wonder how you know? Surely you don't
have all of the facts. You could be just making
it up. Why don't I ever think of that? So
(59:00):
got imagine in the words.
Speaker 6 (59:02):
That you read.
Speaker 11 (59:05):
Saying baby, take it from me?
Speaker 9 (59:08):
It's all right, it's all right.
Speaker 15 (59:13):
Don't too real.
Speaker 2 (59:15):
It'll be alright.
Speaker 6 (59:19):
Quite a while.
Speaker 4 (59:19):
Always believe that when you.
Speaker 2 (59:22):
Tell everything's gonna be off right, everything's gonna be all
right if anyone else. It's such a cliche, just words
people say to be nice somehow and fall from you others.
(59:50):
I'm convinced your
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