Mutt Wants To Take a Bite Out of Government Cruelty

I wrote the BC Minister of Housing, Mr Rich Coleman, in April 19 2010. To complain about the policies implemented to maintain social obedience in the housing projects.

Social behaviour, non compliance and criminal activity. While I agree with minister that no one should have to live with these issues. But many families live with it everyday. Turning a blind eye to the problem doesn’t fix it, and policies only add burden of discrimination to the chronic mentally ill people of our society.

There is two reasons why the chronic mentally ill have social behaviour issue. Negative symptoms, are behavioural issues: mood swings, anti-sociable,odd behaviour, hygiene, and dress, mumbling to themselves, even yelling, then lastly aggressive reactions. Medication even taken regularly can’t remove some of these symptoms. Medication, proper sleep, food and adequate housing all used in combination with doctor and clinician’s supervision will dramatically reduce these negative symptoms along with time. Think of a person with cancer, they need surgery, medication, chemo therapy, radiation and proper personal care, but even with all this some cases take years of treatment. This same treatment is needed with chronic mentally ill or major psychosis.

Negative symptoms create a spiral effect lets just use one example, person with anxiety. Anxiety causes a person to have an overactive mind, that is very noisy and impossible to shut off. So you had a stressful day, go to bed and can’t sleep, so tomorrow your day is foggy and you have a hard time processing things. But what if in your foggy mind you forget to take your pills, which help you clam down, moods and help you sleep, so now for two nights you haven’t got any sleep. Can you see the downward spiral, never ending spin until you crash.

Now imagine if a sever chronic mental illness in this downward spin. No it isn’t pretty and it takes months to correct with supervision, now add that person is aggressive and non-compliant. There are no laws regarding this non-complaint. Then this person is label aggressive, violent or maybe even charged with assault. Who’s fault is this? The mentally ill? As a family member I know how hard it is to seek medical treatment, or hospitalization for this deterioration.

A family in Kamloops, had their son placed in foster care at a young age because of mental illness related problems. This boy remained in care until 19, then found himself homeless. His parents agreed he could stay until they found a place for him. Now what this poor family didn’t know was his past violent behavior would disqualify him for any social housing. During the process of finding housing for their mentally ill son, Children’s Ministry came in and removed 3 younger children from house.

Government’s double standard, you are unsafe to younger children in home, but won’t hospitalize you? You are dangerous for my workers so I have to place policies to protect them, but we won’t place you in care?

Government can see the Mental Health Law not working , or why else the need for these policies and action. Government’s passiveness to correct a flawed Mental Health Act Law, that is largely outdated, and not pro-active, is a very cruel unjust way of treating stuffing families with mentally illness.