Fresh Outlook Foundation

A Parents’ Guide to Social Media & Youth Mental Health

Without a doubt, social media is a culturally ingrained digital platform among the younger generation. A powerful means to connect and share with others, social media is a part of everyday life even for young children. In fact, a PubMed Central study on social media use reveals that Canadians as young as six years old […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

SENIORS’ MENTAL HEALTH: Part 2 – Social Influences, Life Circumstances, Personal Choices & Better Care

SUMMARY Senior’s mental health is affected by social threats such as stigma, ageism, and racism, and impacted by individual circumstances such as isolation, loneliness, poverty, poor physical health, lack of independence, and abuse. In Part 2 of this podcast, Marjorie Horne (seniors’ advocate and founder of CareSmart Seniors Consulting), Naomi Mison (caregiver and founder of […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

SCHIZOPHRENIA: Part 1 – Stories, Signs, Myths & Recovery Movements

SUMMARY Schizophrenia affects about 80 million people from all countries, cultures, ages, abilities, and genders. This two-part podcast explores their widespread challenges, and the hope and healing opportunities available to them and their families via integrated bio-psycho-social-spiritual-vocational therapies. In Part 1, Katrina Tinman (peer support worker with lived experience), Chris Summerville (CEO of the Canadian […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH: Part 2 – Groundbreaking Union & Business Solutions

SUMMARY While Part 1 of this podcast targets trailblazing research and regulatory approaches to workplace mental health, Part 2 chronicles the evolution of organizational policies, practices, and programs at two very different and unique organizations. Join Quentin Steen (CLAC Labour Relations Representative) and Trever Amendt (AECOM Site Safety Lead, Energy Operations & Maintenance in Lacombe, […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

WEALTH IN MENTAL HEALTH: Mobilizing a Just & Green Recovery Economy

SUMMARY Recovery from COVID-19 provides remarkable opportunities for transition to a just and green economy that would ultimately boost universal mental health. Policy professionals Trish Hennessy (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) and Arden Henley (Green Technology Education Centre) talk about transformative concepts such as ‘doughnut economics’, ‘well-being budget’, ‘inclusive economy’, and the ‘three-sided coin’. They […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

STIGMA: From Stereotyping & Discrimination to Compassion & Inclusion

SUMMARY More than half of the seven million Canadians who face mental health challenges every year, won’t seek help for fear of being stereotyped and discriminated against. To help unravel the complexities of stigma that often bind people with mental illness, we’re joined by Samaria Nancy Cardinal, a Metis woman whose battle with intergenerational trauma […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

ROLE CALL: Local Governments’ Contribution to Community Mental Health

SUMMARY Citizens expect and deserve mentally healthy communities. To that end, we connected with Ken Christian (City of Kamloops’ mayor and former environmental health professional) and Randy Sunderman (social economist and chair of the Aberdeen Neighbourhood Association) to explore local governments’ unique role in planning and building mentally healthy communities. They gauge Kamloops’ success in […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

DEPRESSION: Key Links Between Lived Experience & Emerging Science

SUMMARY While Daniel Honke and Dr. Andy Greenshaw are both passionate about mental health, they come at it from vastly different but complementary perspectives. Daniel is an engaging young man who uses lived experience to help others in his community. Andy is a renowned research psychiatrist who collaborates with colleagues around the world, to create […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

VETERANS’ MENTAL HEALTH: Personal & Scientific Perspectives on Healing

SUMMARY Veteran/advocate Brian McKenna and psychologist Dr. Candice Monson explore veterans’ mental health issues.  Drawing on lived experience with PTSD – and the treatments and activism that helped him heal – Brian shares about the psychological challenges and opportunities faced by veterans who’ve served both at home and abroad. Dr. Monson, a clinician and researcher […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

e-MENTAL HEALTH: Vast and Profound Opportunities for Better Care

SUMMARY Danielle Impey (Mental Health Commission of Canada) and Debra Coffey (Registered Professional Counsellor) explore the emerging field of e-mental health, which uses the Internet and other technologies to provide care faster and from rural and remote locations. Drawing on stories of Canadians using various e-tools effectively, Impey explains the phenomenon and talks about the […]

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Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast - Fresh Outlook Foundation

MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS: Downstream Losses vs Upstream Wins

SUMMARY Drs. Trevor Hancock and Warren Bell share invaluable insights about the inefficiencies of our existing “downstream” mental health care system, and the opportunities provided by an “upstream” approach that better serves individuals, families, workplaces, and communities through prevention and health promotion. Dr. Hancock, a public health scholar, also touches on ‘shit life syndrome’, ‘social […]

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Fresh Outlook Foundation

‘Upstream’ Opportunities For Mentally Healthy Communities

There is a famous story about the vital work of health promotion and disease/injury prevention. It concerns a village by the side of a river where growing numbers of people are seen floating downstream, struggling and drowning. The villagers, being compassionate and humane, organize a complex and sophisticated rescue and treatment response. But they’re all […]

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Fresh Outlook Foundation

Countering Substance-Use Stigma with Compassion

Chances are you know people affected by substance-use issues. And, odds are even greater that they have experienced the “stigma” caused by society’s uninformed beliefs about them, and negative attitudes directed toward them and their families. Take Andrea (not a real person, but based on real experiences)… she’s a 35-year-old Vancouverite who has lived with […]

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Fresh Outlook Foundation

LONELINESS: ‘Planting’ the Seed of Social Inclusion

Imagine this… an RX from your GP recommends you take two spider plants and call her in the morning! You visited your doctor complaining of loneliness… of feeling isolated from your grown children and friends who are increasingly frail and less mobile. You’ve lost your appetite and you’re not sleeping well. You expect a prescription […]

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Fresh Outlook Foundation

From Open Heads to Open Minds

Steeped in a serious mental health crisis about 15 years back, I asked my doctor what would have become of me if I’d lived a few centuries ago. He said that I’d likely have been diagnosed as an “hysterical” woman and institutionalized and/or treated with “Who knows what!” As I healed from that anxiety and […]

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