The Douglas Institute is proud to once again be associated with the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Week, which takes place May 5 to 11 and is dedicated to prevention and dialogue.

In fact, for this 63rd edition, the CMHA is launching the first-ever Be Mind Full initiative. They are starting a conversation, asking Canadians to tell us how they really feel. Are you fine or phine? Too often people claim to be feeling fine when they are not. The result: approximately seven million Canadians – 20 per cent of the population – live with mental illness. And, many do not seek treatment because of the associated stigma and discrimination.

The Salon de la santé mentale du Sud-Ouest-Verdun

This edition of Mental Health Week offers all sorts of events. One of these is the 3rd annual Salon de la santé mentale du Sud-Ouest-Verdun which will take place at the Centre Champlain (1201 Argyle St.) in Verdun on Wednesday, May 7 from 10 am to 4 pm.

Building on its past successes, the Salon gathers 44 organizations whose mission is to offer help and support to people living with mental health problems and their loved ones.

The day is packed with conferences:

• Vivre avec le stress… un défi pour tous, by psychologist Marie-Josée Boileau
• La face cachée du sommeil, by Dr. Diane Boivin, Douglas Institute researcher and author of “Le sommeil et vous”
• Quand les valeurs du travail nous envahissent, by another Douglas researcher Michel Perreault, who wrote the book “Je ne suis pas une compagnie! L’intrusion des valeurs corporatives dans notre intimité”
• Immigration and mental health by Angela Stoica, a teacher and specialist in intercultural relations and communications.

At 3 PM, you can watch a stage play, “Si prêts, si proches”, presented by the société québécoise de schizophrénie. It’s all free and open to everyone!

Blue Met

The Blue Met Festival and the Douglas Institute present “Literature and Mental Health” for this 2014 edition. We are pleased to invite you to events hosted by experts from the Douglas:

Saturday, May 3 – Coffee Talks: Writing Dementia at 1p.m.
Luc Gagnon, Laura Lacoste, Dr. Judes Poirier

Sunday, May 4 – Coffee Talks: Writing Dementia at 12:30 p.m.
Camillo Zacchia, Katharina Hagena, Karin Derouaux

Living with bipolar disorder

On May 12th, you can attend a discussion on bipolar disorders and mental health. Presented in collaboration with our expert Dr. Serge Beaulieu, as well as the Executive Director of Revivre Jean-Rémy Provost, and Manon Teasdale Gravel, a Revivre Board member, “Living with Bipolar Disorder : Daily challenges for caregivers ” will discuss the realities of the illness from both the patient’s and caregiver’s point of view. Details.