The importance of looking at the need to support families with a mental illness arose, in part, out of the Gove Inquiry, which identified issues relating to child protection and the relationship of custody and parental mental illness.
In 1998, a small group of people gathered who were interested in the needs of children growing up with parents who had a mental illness. This group of people, the Supporting Families with Parental Mental Illness Provincial Working Group, decided to hold a community forum to talk about parental mental illness and the effect on children. This forum, the first of two, was held at the Vancouver Public Library in September 1998. The group wondered if there were many people interested in this topic and it turned out there were as over 150 people arrived at the library that day, interested and willing to talk. This led to support from the Ministry of Health Services and the Ministry of Children and Family Development and a second forum, this time provincial. Approximately three hundred people from all regions of the Province met at the Roundhouse Community Centre in September 1999. Everyone spent time discussing what worked and what did not work for families where there is parental mental illness. The comments were carefully recorded, grouped by general themes, and later presented to participants as a record of proceedings. This information was used to prepare the first draft of the “Community Best Practice: Self-Assessment Checklist” (Section F).
The aim became the promotion of integrated community planning to support families where there is parental mental illness. To this end, the planning committee developed the vision of a “Best Practices Document” as a guide for any community in the province wanting to consider the needs of these families. It was thought that a community education guidebook, along with steps needed to hold a community workshop, could be published for use by any person or group in the province who wanted to replicate this event.
What is the "Support Families With Parental Mental Illness" Manual?
The manual "Supporting Families With Parental Mental Illness" contains all the information needed to hold a successful workshop that will inform audiences as to the issues involved in supporting families with parental mental illness. The manual supports four functions
1. To educate the community in understanding mental illness and its
effects on parenting and child development
2. To assist communities in critically assessing existing services.
3. To bring service providers together in an effort to encourage collaboration in working with families where there is parental mental illness.
4. To help communities answer the question: "What are we as a community doing to support families with parental mental illness?"
This manual is not a guide on interventions that can be used in working with families. Instead it provides an opportunity to see the broader picture, to envision the community where families reside and the services they can possibly access.
The Provincial Working Group gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Ministry for Children and Family Development, and Mental Health and Addictions Policy Division that assisted the group in developing this manual.
We welcome comments and feedback on the manual. We'd also love to hear how your workshop went. Please email Nicole Chovil and I will share your feedback with the Provincial Working Group.
The manual is in PDF format and requires a PDF reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 8.0 or the most recent version of another PDF reader, you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free here .
Vancouver Coastal Authority- People First Awards
Would like to congratulate: Susan, Roz, Sue, Eileen, Nicola, Melissa, Tina and Clem (click thumbnail below) in recognition of your work related to Supporting Families with Parental Mental Illness
"Your names were put forward in recognition of your work related to Supporting Families with Parental Mental Illness. You have all participated in diverse ways, either through group facilitation, direct client support, and / or supporting Family Fun Nights, your support, commitment and enthusiasm in this initiative has led to improved outcomes for families. Parents that have participated in this program have described it as "amazing" and have stated that they have seen their "children grow, come out of their shell", and that they have been able to grow as parents and have had the opportunity to understand the impact of their illness on their family as well as allowed their family to communicate and grow. Your people first approach to this tremendous initiative is inspiring and I would like to thank you for commitment to providing family centered care that demonstrates a People First commitment."
Yasmin Jetha, MSW, MHA, Director, Mental Health & Addictions, Richmond Health Services , VCH
Back row: Roz Walls, Tina Lee, front row, r-left Nicola Bulter, Sue Paul, Susan Rechel, Melissa Kelly missing are Clem Lamb and Eileen Oxendale
On December 4th , 2008 a meeting was held with numerous managers and leaders from Fraser Health, Mental Health and Addictions and Fraser Region MCFD. These organizations serve similar geographic boundaries, home to 1.5 million British Columbians, the biggest region in the Province of BC. Both organizations share a concern about families where parents have mental health and addiction issues. Sunrise Golf Course was the venue for this meeting of about 60 participants. The purpose was- to define achievable opportunities, given current system demands, for improving outcomes for families affected by parental mental illness or addiction. Both organizations recognized that the problems faced by these parents and their children are complex and require comprehensive solutions that are not within the abilities of any organisation on its own.
Discussion focussed on six possible areas of connection:
1) Knowledge Transfer (co-training),
2) Family Engagement, (developing family sensitive, family focused care, inclusive practice)
3) Collaborative Practices (ex Partnerships, Shared Care),
4) Service Development (ex - shared services such as EPI, Eating Disorders, Youth Concurrent Disorders, ECE)
5) Continuity of Services (insuring family members don't fall between the cracks or missed service opportunities)
6) Early Identification and Intervention
Small group discussion questions focussed on;
What do we currently do that is a good or promising practice?
Is there anything else we could easily do?
What should we be working to do together, despite how difficult?
Linda Doig, Manager of Collaborative Practice for MCFD brought greetings on behalf of senior executive of MCFD. Lois Dixon, Executive Director of Mental Health and Addictions opened for Fraser Health. Susan Waldron, Acting Director of Integrated Practice provided closing remarks, along with Fraser Health Director Andy Libbiter. Dr. Rob Lees was MC and provided input to the meeting, including showing two video clips depicting the impact of parental mental illness on the whole family system. Input from this meeting will be considered by executive in both organizations as they consider future meaningful partnership.
This is the first such major collaboration in BC between a health authority and the ministry, focussed on future partnership possibilities.
