BC Mental Health

For seventeen days I was back in my other home.  Through the magic of television and the internet; I was transported back to the land of 'glowing hearts'; I was back in Canada, back in Vancouver.  A land of such diversity, a land of many creeds and cultures.  The land of those proud and noble people; the First Nations tribes.I saw the venues for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the memories of youthful days, came flooding back.  'Hey', I thought, 'they're figure skating at the Pacific...Read Full Story

Listen very carefully.   Can you hear those gentle sounds?  The chirping of the happy birds. The rustling of the branches.  The soothing and peaceful songs of the wind chimes.  Sweet, sweet music dancing upon our ears and dancing in our souls.  Behold, the orchestra of wondrous delight.I do all that I can to maintain a positive attitude.  Yet the memories of being a scared and lonely little boy haunt this scared and lonely man.  My father was powerful.  He instilled in me an overwhelming...Read Full Story

So just where are we going? "How does it feel. How does it feel. To be on your own. With no direction home. Like a complete unknown. Like a rolling stone?" Do you relate to those lyrics from 'Like A Rolling Stone', by Bob Dylan? Do you feel like you are on your own, even when surrounded by the commotion of mankind? Have you lost your direction? Do you even know what direction you want? Are you unknown to those who should know you? Does your heart ache with pain, with trauma beyond the...Read Full Story

The freedom to live our lives, the way we want to live. Not living up to what we perceive others expect of us. It is all too easy to get trapped in a negative environment, created by others and compounded by us. Do we not have a choice?So if you are used to living in a negative environment, you may think this is the way life must be. Well, we do have a choice. I made the choice to distance myself from the negative elements that were eroding the remaining remnants of my all too fragile self...Read Full Story

The world turns, the sun sets and another day ends. In the gathering darkness, shadows from that place beyond my window, dance upon the walls. As the light grows ever dimmer, thoughts glow in my mind.Has this been another day of negative energy? Or has the time on my own, contemplating a better future, been a time. truly well spent? As I get ready for sleep, I supress the negative 'chatter' that sabotages my positive thoughts.To those that traumatised me, bullied me, played on my vulnerable...Read Full Story

You may notice that the above photograph may seem somewhat distorted. You may observe that the houses appear to be slanted. My life has been distorted, slanted, obscured by the ominous clouds of a negative situation. Reality became perceptions. Perceptions became reality. Somewhere in that bewildering blur, a positive resilience lingered, it called out my name.When I took this photograph, I had no idea what the outcome would be. What I saw and what the camera produced, were very different...Read Full Story

When the mist rolls in, it takes every ounce of my inner strength to challenge my haze, my fog. When the mist rolls in. So how do I contend with the mist that clouds my positive thoughts? I look at this lingering sensation as a chance to work through the negative speculation that sometimes engulfs my mostly positive outlook. There are lessons to be learned, there are thoughts to be challenged. The self doubt that invades my thinking will be worked through. I envision wonderful opportunities...Read Full Story

Valentine's Day can be a poignant occasion.  Those who are in love can embrace the day with joyous celebration.  For those who have loved; it can be a day of longing reflection.  For those who have never felt love, the lonely; it can be a day of great sadness and despair.I am blessed with knowledge that once I was loved.  Yet, I ache with pain. Pain from the recollection of what the relentless onslaught of my illness, my mental illness, did to the very foundations of my fragile ego.  Illness...Read Full Story

You know when you have one of those stressful days? A day where you desperately try to clear your mind of the negative debris and search for that positive focus?I lost a big part of my life to depression. Completely engulfed with a panicky sense of negative inevitability. Such has been my state of mind, that the 'inner chatter' spoke to me of impending humiliation, embarrassment and failure. Defeated before I started, this man refused to see the warm, reassuring rays of sunlight, peeking...Read Full Story

Actually we do not have a mind. However, it is what we call the functioning of the brain. The mind is an incredible tool that can be used to achieve anything. However, no one is given a user’s manual at birth, therefore, most people do not know how to use this wonderful tool correctly. Think of an iceberg. You know, an iceberg is a huge mass of ice. Only 10% of it is above the surface of the ocean. The remaining 90% is below the surface. So there is the small part of the iceberg above the...Read Full Story