Upper Island Counselling Says "Let's Talk" Mental Health Every Day!

Upper Island Counselling’s Executive Director Kelsi Baine congratulates everyone who participated in Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk day supporting mental health awareness this year.


“It is so important to hear so many positive community voices across the Comox Valley, Campbell River and North Island communities, helping to reduce stigma around mental health and demonstrating their support for other community members.” Baine said.


For over thirty years Upper Island Counselling has provided support to thousands of Vancouver Island residents in the North Island communities. Upper Island Counselling believes that talking about mental health shouldn’t happen just once a year, and we’ve been working to support mental health and wellbeing in individuals, families, workplaces and our communities since 1987.


According to The Mental Health Commission of Canada:

 

  • One in five people in Canada will experience a mental health challenge in any given year, with a cost of over $50 billion to our national economy.
  • 70% of adults living with a mental health challenge say their symptoms started in childhood.
  • 60% of people with a mental health challenge won’t seek help for fear of being labeled.
  • 500,000 Canadians, in any given week, are unable to work due to mental health challenges.
  • One in three workplace disability claims are related to mental health challenges.

 

Here are a few simple tips to help support the mental health of the people you care about:

  • Work on being a better listener by asking questions and really hearing the answers. Providing a safe, uninterrupted space to talk about how them is feeling is both supportive and helpful.
  • Say things that demonstrate you hear them, that they are not alone in this experience, and their feelings make sense to you.
  • Offer to be a listener again, or if you can’t, suggest who else could be a consistent listener.
  • Ask if there is anything you can do to help, or if you could suggest a supportive resource in your community.
  • Know that their experience could happen to anyone.

 

Upper Island Counselling has formed community partnerships with over 80 businesses/organizations from the Comox Valley to Port Hardy in an effort to support the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and workplaces.

For more information, or to access professional counselling through our Employee and Family Assistance program or our private counselling program, call 250 287 2266, or toll free at 1 866 789 2266, or visit www.uics.ca.