Thank You Chief Duncan

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This is a letter to the editor submitted by Chief Brad Duncan. My thanks follows.

On Friday, June 14th, I had the opportunity to attend the new Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care Facility in St. Thomas for a tour and the opening celebration. The facility has been designed to provide the best possible care in a setting that provides a dignified, inviting environment to facilitate patients return to health and well-being. Individuals can progress through a number of settings from individualized apartments to the “downtown” area providing an opportunity for positive social engagement. The building stands as a testament to how our communities have progressed towards a more holistic treatment for person with mental health issues. Within London, our police organization is working with agencies such as WOTCH, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the London Health Sciences Centre, the Southwest LHIN, Mission Services and many others to ensure that we provide the best possible interactive care working towards the elimination of the stigma surrounding mental illness. The United Way has focused on mental health as one of its key funding initiatives recognizing that it affects many in our community. Every year at the Breakfast of Champions, St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation provides messaging through guest speakers who recount their personal experiences with mental health and how they were able to overcome significant obstacles. This year we listened to six- time Canadian Olympic medalist Clara Hughes who inspired all of us as she described her personal struggles with mental health.

In my own role, as Chief of Police, I am encouraged by Londoners involved in mental health care who collectively are making such a difference in people’s lives. A community making great progress and then I open this past Saturday’s London Free Press and read the following headline, “this is as close as you want to get” referring to the new forensic mental health facility. I found this to be particularly offensive and insensitive, portraying the facility in an extremely negative manner. This is the very stereotypical thinking that makes it so difficult for people to get care as they feel alone, threatened, stigmatized and fearful of what others will think should they seek out treatment. Notwithstanding this is a secure facility, and individuals are there as a result of offences they have committed, the headline is highly prejudicial towards persons with mental health issues. The London Free Press needs to acknowledge that the headline was improper and has overshadowed all the wonderful progress that is being made in mental health awareness and recovery. As a major source of community information, the London Free Press should be part of our community progress towards positive mental health and not continue to perpetuate myths and negative assumptions about mental health care facilities that will, in fact, provide opportunities for individuals to lead healthy lives.

Yours truly,

Bradley S. Duncan, M.O.M.,

Chief of Police.

 

I would like to thank London Police Chief Mr. Brad Duncan. I have had some interaction with police. I have been handcuffed, fingerprinted and I have travelled in the odd cruiser and paddy wagon. I have always been dealt with appropriately and have been extended compassion from some officers.

In watching and being among the police, I am most struck by their humanness. They smile, have senses of humour and carry their dignity within their uniforms. They have families and attended the same schools we did. They have troubles yet they choose to respectfully deal with ours. Many of our dealings with police are not pleasant and we confuse their involvement with the difficulties of the situation.

I am unsure if Chief Duncan is aware of the effects his words might have. His position and the respect he has might actually reach beyond the headlines. We are all honoured that Chief Duncan has the integrity to call a spade a spade. The media were given the same tour and professionally presented with the same facts yet they saw it a service to smear stigma on the freshly painted walls. How is it that Chief Duncan can pull a reasonable and informed impression from these events and our media can’t? I believe Chief Duncan serves us best where he is but I think his calling is to be a reporter. Thank you for your honesty, integrity and fairness Chief Duncan.

Dreams

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It has been an exciting and terrifying week for me. I was given the opportunity to speak at the opening of Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health. The audience included the premiere and health minister. To have been included was an honour. Sitting here today I am mindful of the fact that the very building we came together to celebrate sits in the path of where I circled hundreds of times on my bicycle. When I was not permitted to leave the hospital property I circled it on my brother’s bike.

Those days my dreams were to visit my brother’s home or ride my bike to Port Stanley. If you told me back then I would be included with dignitaries I would have fallen from my bike laughing. Maybe the lesson is to keep pedalling as you never know what’s around the next corner.

I would still be circling that hospital were it not for the staff. My progression from being a patient in the old facility to speaking at the opening of the new one involved the efforts of many. Some staff are obvious in my journey but I had the privilege of dealing with people who patients often don’t encounter but whose talents are felt throughout the system. You don’t need a stethoscope to demonstrate compassion, care and respect.

My terror was to be speaking but also my involvement with the media. I don’t know about other forensic clients but I have often been inclined to hide from the world. I don’t know how much is the stigma I actually feel and how much is what I imagine. Maybe it’s like an obvious birthmark; people do notice but not as much as we think. It’s hard to pull up a turtleneck to cover up your mental illness and involvement with the law. Coming out to my community in a visible way isn’t something I would have chosen to do a few years ago. There have been many times I only wished for anonymity. Again, you never know what’s around the next corner.

Sensationalism

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I was pleased and perplexed by a certain article covering the opening of the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care. The media coverage certainly was not negative but in the middle of this article was a list of individuals who once occupied the old facility. The first to catch my eye was Ashley Smith. This young woman ended up dead at one of our institutions in her journey of many. One of her destinations was the old St. Thomas forensic facility. I may not think like most but this connection would be akin to reporting on the red Toyota Matrix someone drove to the plane they crashed in. All of the people I saw on the list seemed to infer something negative about the old facility and even the new Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care.

One of the names on the list was a patient who was an occupant of the old hospital while I was there. I have known this individual for over a decade. I have never heard him utter an angry word or swear and I lived with him in less than ideal conditions for almost two years. He is one of the finest friends I have. He lives in the community and he and his partner have a beautiful child. I would trust this person with any child I had. I would trust this person with anything and everything I owned. I can depend on him. This man helped me to heal. When he met me he did not judge me, he merely extended his hand. I have learned from him and he is one of only a few people I know who is truly gifted. I would like to tell you his talent but he has already been drawn out; I refuse to do the same.

I suspect that if any who read this were to meet this man you would like him. He is deserving of respect, not for what he has done but for who he is and what he has overcome. At least try to understand what it must be like for him and his family to have an illness impact so profoundly.

For me what was most interesting about the opening was the curiosity that poured from the public. While I was at the facility I saw hundreds of people lined up for tours. I saw that as important in demystifying this little known and often misunderstood part of our health care and judicial systems.

On the tour I took, the guide for each area was composed of current staff.  If I worked with a population I did not respect, feared or thought worthy of derision of any kind, I would not have a smile or humour as I lead you about. I’m a little vocal but I would do my best to convey this was a dangerous place full of people I viewed as criminals. If the people who work with these individuals have compassion and respect I wonder why anyone else wouldn’t.

Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care

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I was part of the forensic system for seven years. My first 10 months were spent in jail followed by a year on the Forensic Treatment Unit and another on the Forensic Rehabilitation Unit. The remainder of my rehabilitation took place in the community.

I’m no expert when it comes to rehabilitation and I don’t know the first thing about design but I know how accommodations make me feel. When I had no window and only a toilet for furniture, when the fluorescent was always and my company never I was convinced that not a soul in the world cared about me. When I see this building I am convinced that the individuals who will pass through here will be cared for on many levels. I hope these surroundings remind them that they are not abandoned or forgotten. When I see this building I know my community cares about mental illness. When I see this building I know society has compassion.

We are celebrating a new building and change. I am celebrating the dignity we are able to afford the staff and clients who will occupy this facility. Those who suffer from mental illness deserve no less. It has been my painful pleasure to come to know both clients and staff across the way. I have become friends with both. I am pleased that the staff will have surroundings befitting the fine care and expertise they measure. The responsibility we entrust them with deserves our respect.

This building fights stigma. When we can all come together and create such a space it allows us to all understand. We can have no doubt that these illnesses deserve our very best. The line I often saw between mental health and physical health treatment disappears on this site.

I have been a mental health consumer for 34 years and have experienced several institutions. Often my will was not to be there. One that sticks out in my mind I only spent a couple of days at but I can still remember the graffiti on the seclusion room walls, the tired old furniture, even the paint would send any person for the exit. For some of the occupants here, at times there really isn’t an exit. If they can look around themselves and see everything I see in this building I suspect they will be better able to embrace their rehabilitation.

Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care will further the welfare of those unfortunate enough to find themselves here. These premises are a remedy to preventable hardship. This hospital is more therapeutic than the old one for one simple reason. Patients will have their own rooms. To live in a dormitory every noise is common and privacy is extinct. Even the mentally ill need a space to call their own; even the mentally ill need privacy; even the mentally ill need solitude.

No one wants to find themselves in this building. It is only the staff who choose to be here. Mental illness is not a choice and these facilities should be about rehabilitation.

I am pleased for my neighbours and community. I am pleased for the many people I know who suffer from mental illness and for those who don’t. To be here is usually something that happens to someone else. There is no inoculation to exclusion from this building. Thankfully there is treatment so we can all take a path towards the exit.

We are All fortunate to have had this opportunity to consciously and deliberately plan for advancements in rehabilitation and to honour society’s shifting perception of mental illness.

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I’m not sure how many of my followers actually read this blog but I would like to point all who do to look at the comments I received regarding Victim Impact Statements. I was saddened to learn that some of my followers have tragically been affected by crime. They have bravely stated the importance of Victim Impact Statements. For this I am thankful. I have never denied their importance but more people need to hear of their importance to victims. It is something only a victim can articulate. While being mindful of the pain I wanted my readers to see the Grace in these comments.

It may be an odd question but I would like to ask if the impact of a tragedy changes?

I know from my own tragedies that I have gained and lost. I would not have strength, compassion or patience to the degree I do were it not for my losses. I can tell simply from these comments that these individuals possess these qualities beyond most.

My tragedies have been different but often I would have traded all the pain for any of the gain there may have been. At times I think; take it all away and send me back to where there was less pain. But if I consider all the fine people in my life, if I consider what I have in my mind and heart, it would be an even greater loss. I would mourn more if my life was anything different from what it is.

Propaganda

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ImageJustice Minister Rob Nicholson has appeared as the first witness at the justice committee’s study of Bill C-54 (Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act). When the Minister of Justice puts forward legislation and appears as a witness is it too much to ask that he uses the truth? I’m starting to wonder if the “P” in P.C. (Progressive Conservatives) doesn’t stand for propaganda. This is not some Action Plan that does more for the eyes than your citizens. This legislation will have huge ramifications for mentally ill individuals. They will not line up at the polls on Election Day but this government has a duty to them none the less.

The Justice Minister is misleading the public. I am referring to his insistence that this bill “adds” measures to support victims. The Justice Minister would have you believe that Review Boards will “now” be able to give non-communication orders between the accused and the victim. Non-communication orders are put in place by the Review Board already. I had one for seven years so there is little confusion in my head. I allowed for the possibility that mine was a rare case and called someone professionally involved in Review Boards. The measure is available in any case.  Is it too much to ask that the minister responsible for a proposed bill make a phone call?

The Justice Minister will also have you believe that the Review Board is also powerless to impose geographical limitations once the accused is released from hospital. I was limited to two counties for much of my time in the forensic system. I wanted to come to Niagara Falls to help Mr. Nicholson with his last campaign but the Review Board said I couldn’t. Review Boards take measures to support victims already so what is Bill C-54 really about?

Is Justice Minister Rob Nicholson in fact misleading those he represents or does he have a problem when reality clashes with his political ideology?

Victim Impact Statements

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My argument regarding victim impact statements is not that they shouldn`t be used but how they should be used.

Please tell me what we want the accused to hear and know. In giving an account of the impact of the crime to the accused what are we seeking? Do we wish to whisper guilt and responsibility into some part of her soul? Do we want him to feel guilty? Is that social justice?

Do we believe that since this person is involved in a crime they do not have the capacity for guilt or shame? Since they are mentally ill do we believe they are intellectually challenged to the point where they can’t comprehend how they have altered lives? Do you really think Vincent Lee doesn’t realize people are horrified and damaged? Do you believe he has not also been damaged by the events? His world is forever altered as well. It was not in the name of evil, it was in the name of illness.

If a court finds an individual to be neither guilty nor innocent which side do we choose? If it is a stranger or someone in a newspaper we might all honestly choose to ascribe guilt. It is a foreign concept to be separate from reality. For some individuals in society it is part of their illness. For the small percentage that is dealt with forensically we might all consider it may be someone we care about.

If your brother or sister, neighbour or co-worker were to be caught up in similar circumstances what would your concerns be? Certainly we all want to be safe but once that is ensured I would hope every other decision was towards rehabilitation. It is not because I am soft or gullible…a lefty. It is because I knew you when you pushed your children on swings. It is because you always had a smile for me each morning I saw you. It is because we have shared this home/workspace/community. You were my classmate, you were my friend. I worked with you and tipped your service. We were family, we were a ball team. We laughed and worried together.

When you pull me from a headline and place me amongst yourselves how do you want to treat me? Is it “this is what you have done” you want me to hear or “how can we help?” Despite the fact that we see these individuals with the police, in court, in jail and in orange it is the invisible mental illness we must remember. Our treatment of these individuals affects the very illness that brings them to our attention. We can hate what they have done, we can hate their illness but if you hate them you hate someone for an illness.

The court needs to hear from any victim. They deserve their voice but it is not a convicted criminal they are addressing. One in five might be able to imagine what it is like to be exposed to this while ill. Can you imagine it to be cruel? Do we care?

If I was being cared for on the street would my therapist prescribe a recounting of my offences as some new treatment?

When I am well if you want me to know your pain I will listen.