Welcome to the Family Resource E-Newsletter for July. This newsletter gives regular updates on services, programs and information available to family members and supporters of persons with a mental illness. If you have any suggestions or feedback on what you’d like this newsletter to contain please contact the coordinator at onlinesupport@bcss.org This month’s profiled resources are below. As usual you can also find family member resources, support groups and referral information at www.families.bcss.org and a list of family support groups and events at www.familyevents.bcss.org

• Globe and Mail - Comprehensive Series on Mental Health
• Support Group Listing Updates - siblings, adult children groups 
• Social Enterprise for Employment - The Cleaning Solution
• Benefit Finder Tool
• Provincial Distress line -25% of calls due to mental health

Globe and Mail

Tired of seeing mental illness misrepresented or sensationalized in the mainstream media? The Globe and Mail recently did a positive, comprehensive and well-researched series on mental illness that is a breath of fresh air. The Globe is also collecting comments from the public to submit to members of parliament: “Has mental illness affected your life or that of a loved one? Share your experiences with globeandmail.com readers and let us know what single change in society or policy would help the most. The Globe will send all of these messages to every member of Parliament in Canada, in hopes they will help to break down the stigma of mental illness.”  Submit a story  Submit photos and videos Visit the title page for the series

Siblings, Adult Children Support Groups

An updated support group list for family members is available here.  If a group doesn’t fit into your schedule or there isn’t an appropriate one in your area, you might consider the online support groups. BC-based and facilitated, these groups are available 24/7. There are general family groups as well as groups for siblings of a person with a mental illness, adult children of someone with a mental illness and gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans supporters of a person with a mental illness. More information at www.support.bcss.org  The support groups are for anyone concerned about a loved one with a mental illness.

Benefit Finder Tool

Persons with disabilities online has a benefit finder tool online that asks you a series of questions, then provides a customized list of provincial and federal benefits and programs you or your family member is likely to be eligible for.  The tool is available here.

More information on disabililty tax credits and how to apply for them is available from the Schizophrenia Society of Canada Toll Free: 1.888.772.4673 http://www.schizophrenia.ca/taxentitlements.html

The Cleaning Solution

Social Enterprise is growing as a way of providing training and/or employment for people who are hard to employ. The Cleaning Solution, operated by Vancouver/Burnaby CMHA is one example that has improved the quality of life for it’s employees while selling needed services into the marketplace. There are other urban and rural examples across the country.

For more information and resources in BC go to:
www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca or the social enterprise page of www.cedworks.com and download the free Introduction to Social Enterprise Resource Package for an overview of concepts and resources in BC.

Provincial Distress Line

According to the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC, mental illness related calls currently make up 25% of their total calls to the Provincial Distress line. If you are in crisis due to mental illness, or if you are concerned about someone else who may be in distress, you can call the Crisis Centre’s Distress Line at 604-872-3311, toll free at 1-866-661-3311. Distress lines in Mandarin and Cantonese are also available. The distress line service is available throughout BC - 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. 

For more information visit: http://www.crisiscentre.bc.ca/distress/