Welcome to this issue of professional resources, produced by the BC Schizophrenia Society, in partnership with the BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information.

We hope this newsletter provides you with helpful information to assist you in collaborating with family members and supporters in the care of their loved one with a mental illness. A companion enewsletter is also available for family members.

In this newsletter:

• Ongoing Family Resources - where and how to refer relatives and supporters for support and help.
• Featured Resource- Visions Journal - Workplace mental health and addictions issue
• Family support and education events, listed by location (also see map) - link opens on a web page

Ongoing Family Resources & Referral Information

Reaching Families Project (BC Schizophrenia Society / Here to Help)

Families to Refer:
Relatives or supporters looking for support groups or education events for themselves in their area of BC. No limitations by diagnosis. Relatives, parents, siblings, adult children, family of choice, lesbian /gay / LGTB.

• Multi-agency support group listing:http://www.meetings.bcss.org
• Family events calendar http://www.familyevents.bcss.org
• Online support groups for family members - (facilitated) including groups for adult children, lesbian/gay family of choice and siblings
• Population-specific resource e-newsletters - feature and promote resources for family members to various audiences.

If your agency provides support or information events or groups to relatives/supporters of persons with a mental illness in BC, please send in your information for posting on this calendar to onlinesupport@bcss.org

Kelty Resource Centre

Families to Refer:
Families needing help finding and accessing mental health info and services for children/youth with a mental health concern, youth with a mental health concern, adults/youth with eating disorder. Run by BC Mental Health and Addictions Services - office in BC Children and Women’s Hospital, service area BC-wide through phone and email.

BC Schizophrenia Society

Families to Refer:
Families of persons with a serious and persistent mental illness (including but not limited to schizophrenia, psychosis, schizoaffective disorders) All family members welcome at support groups, family education groups (regardless of family member diagnosis). Kids in Control program provides service to children 8-13 of parents with any kind of mental illness, as does Family Respite program. Online support groups for family members is also not diagnosis-limited and are facilitated including groups for adult children, lesbian /gay family of choice and siblings. Referral details at the above links. Service areas: BC wide except respite and kids programs.

The FORCE For Kids Mental Health

Families to refer: Parents of children with a mental illness looking for support and information. Service area: specific regions, see website.

Here To Help Website

BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions information offers a wide variety of general audience information on mental health, addictions and mental wellness. All information is evidence based. Funded by provincial health authority.

If this e-resource has been forwarded to you by a friend, you can sign up for your own copy here

Featured Resource - Visions Journal Worplace Issue

Below, the family and supporter resources newsletter features the table of contents from the web version of Visions Journal, produced by HereToHelp. We hope you enjoy these articles about mental health and addictions in the workplace.

Background

• Editor’s Message (Sarah Hamid-Balma)
• The Final Frontier in Workplace Health (Margaret Tebbutt)
• The Economic Impacts: Workplace mental illness and substance abuse (Claudia Steinke and Ali Dastmalchian)
• Substance Use: The monster we work with (MaryAnne Arcand)
• Human Rights and Employer Responsibility to Accomodate Disability in the Workplace (Jennifer Lynch)
• Wired in the Workplace (Deena Waisberg) [web-only]

Experiences and Perspectives

• A Little Help From My Friend (Jude Morrison)
• Transitioning from Disability Pension to Full-time work: Scary but liberating (Tara Timmers)
• Insurance Reassurance: Disability income a must for recovery (Ross Taylor)
• A Triple Threat: Workplace isolation, West Coast grey and the “black dog” (Gwen Marsh)
• The bottom line: There is no health without mental health (Arto Tienaho)
• The Mostly Incompetent Employee (Frank G. Sterle, Jr.)
• Return to Work: Ready or Not? (Karen Six) [web-only]
• Taking Care of That Little Girl (Maureen Lavallee) [web-only]

Alternative Approaches

• Employee Assistance Programs (Raymond W. Lam)
• Guarding Minds @ Work: A new guide to psychological safety and health (Joti Samra and Merv Gilbert)
• Drug Testing in the Canadian Workplace (Scott Macdonald)
• Stress in the Workplace (June Earle) [web-only]
• Peer Supprt for Medical Professionals (Dr. Paul A. Farnan) [web-only]
• Good News About Workplace Mental Health (Mary Ann Baynton) [web-only]

Regional Programs

• Healthy Workplaces-Healthy People: Fraser Health’s recent focus on mental health (Elayne Preston and Rosemary Nemanishen) 
• Mental Health Awareness for Managers: An integrated approach (Jan Mitchell)
• Quittin’ Time: A smoking cessation program for the BC Public Service (Maureen Foxgord)
• Employers Who Are Walking The Walk (Donna Panitow)
• Mental Health Works (Mary Ann Baynton and Margaret Tebbutt)