Thread by @javeedsukhera

This week will mark the first #bellletstalk day since I have moved from Canada to the US. Now that I have begun a new chapter I want to share the story of the past 10 years of fighting for change in Canada. Buckle your seatbelts…this is a long thread 🧵

I grew up idealizing Canadian healthcare. I trained/worked in different countries yet moved back to Canada 10 years ago expecting something better than what I found. The truth is that Canadian decision makers have systematically neglected/underfunded mental health for decades. /1

I have witnessed the horrible consequences of a system that is built on a foundation of prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness. I worked in busy inpatient units and emergency departments and watched those suffering offered blame instead of empathy. /2

https://twitter.com/javeedsukhera/status/1090461095867736066

I knew I didn’t have answers so I tried to reach out. I did not invite people for meetings in the hospital or between 9-5. I went out to community centers and coffee shops and listened on evenings and weekends. I sought ways to co-create change. /3 globalnews.ca/news/3282922/p…

I advocated day and night yet came back to the same backwards Canadian system that encourages so many young people to build up the courage to ask for help yet accepts that the help they need is not available for them when they need it. /4

https://twitter.com/javeedsukhera/status/1182273321905377280?s=21

The truth is that Canada has accepted long ago that it is perfectly ok for people suffering from mental illness to continue to suffer. No matter how much we talk or tweet, the Canadian health system is built on the shards of a broken promise. /5

https://twitter.com/mhcc_/status/1355649242392653828?s=21

I’ve worked in this beyond broken system. I have been cut by the broken shards and have scars. I have witnessed 18 year olds waiting for weeks in hallways for access to inpatient care after suicide attempts. I’ve watched families fall apart while their kids wait for years. /6

https://twitter.com/javeedsukhera/status/817603409490624512

And I’ve wondered how can Canadians continue to accept such a horrible system? Why can’t governments recognize the evidence that investing in early intervention saves money? Why have politicians of all parties lacked the moral courage to make a change? /7

https://twitter.com/javeedsukhera/status/1355019420670832640?s=21

It makes sense to me know. Canadians struggle to confront the reality of a discriminatory system because it disrupts an idealized image we have of ourselves of being a country with a fantastic health system that does not leave vulnerable Canadians behind. /8

I’ve served on boards and committees. I’ve advocated as President of my provincial association and through it all no government has been willing to make the needed investments. They prefer to sprinkle funding on pilot projects and for photo ops. /9

Meanwhile families and loved ones raise money at bake sales and tea parties donating to provide access to the most basic psychotherapies that are inadequately funded by Canadian governments. /10

Meanwhile Canada’s mental health workers keep going and burning their emotional energy while their needs are systematically neglected. They are asked to do more while being stigmatized and discriminated against because they work in mental health. /11

https://twitter.com/javeedsukhera/status/1091487881753837569?s=21

And now with the pandemic and increases in demand with a dwindling workforce there remains no plan. No sustained investment. No human resource strategy. Just decades of reports saying the same thing, Canadians waiting for years, and yet year after year nothing changes. /12

I’ve always said that when you love a country you tell it the truth. The truth is that Canada will never build the mental health system Canadians need until there is power and policy change that centres those with lived experience of suffering. /13

https://twitter.com/acadmedjournal/status/1375145970510524431?s=21

But there is hope. There is always hope.

My greatest inspiration for Canada is the remarkable young people I was fortunate to serve. They spoke up without fear about the absurd system that has abandoned them. They have built networks of support and are demanding change. /14

And if my fellow Canadians want something better than I encourage them to follow the lead of young Canadians and demand change. Refuse to vote for any politician of any party who offers anything less dramatic increases in sustainable mental health funding. /15

Refuse to vote for any Canadian politician who does not commit to accountability metrics that ensure mental health is funded at parity with physical health. /16

Because the Canadian government can afford it.

And because Canadians cannot afford another year of hashtags without action.

The human cost of inaction remains too great to bear. /17

https://twitter.com/javeedsukhera/status/1355672115526168581?s=21

And although I will continue my fight to build something better, it will be from afar. My fight will take a different shape and a different form but I will always remain steadfast in my support for co-designing a less coercive, more humane, and dignified system of care. /END