Life Unscripted - Stories of Mental Health and Addiction
Life Unscripted has one goal - to break down stigma by sharing the inspiring stories of people living with mental illness and addiction. Shame and fear often stop people who really need help from reaching out. COVID 19 has created a mental health and addiction pandemic. For many, anxiety is now part everyday life. Alcohol and drug use has increased as people try to cope. Host Janice Arnoldi has lived with bi-polar (manic depression) disorder for more than 30 years. She has a half hour radio show and speaks regulary to groups about mental illness.
Episodes
123 episodes
Part Two Leonard Buschel Author of High: From Cannabis to Clarity
This is Part Two of my interview with Leonard Buschel, author of High: From Cannabis to Clarity. Leonard got sober in 1994 and in this interview we talk about his 30 years helping people recover from addiction and the Addiction Recovery eBullet...
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20:56
Megan Glosson - Tips to Overcome Lonliness
Megan Glosson is a contributor to The Mighty, an online resource for mental health. In this episode Megan shares tips for people who are lonely during COVID.
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23:52
High: From Cannabis to Clarity - Author Leonard Buschel's Story From Drug Dealer to the Stars to Recovery Champion
Leonard Buschel was 17 when he decided he wanted to be a sucessful drug dealer and became the drug dealer to the stars for more than 30 years. He was also an addict who smoked cannabis from morning, noon to night and spent most nights using coc...
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23:43
Climate Change Anxiety is Becoming a Major Mental Health Issue
Climate change anxiety is a growing mental health issue. In Canada, massive fires across the country leading to evacuations and homes burning to the ground are leaving people with a sense of dread.Laurie Sarkadi is a journalist and autho...
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24:00
Welcoming Streets Peer Support Workers Helping the Homeless
If you’ve been downtown in St. Catharines recently you may have seen some people wearing bright yellow tee shirts. They are peer support workers, all who have been homeless, and are out every day connecting with and supporting people who are li...
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25:00
The Kristen French Child Advocacy Centre - Turns Trauma into Triumph
The Kristen French Child Advocacy Centre in Niarara has released the new Kids First Project for schools. Kids from kindergarten to grade 12 learn about safe and unsafe touching, secrets and recognizing potentially dangerous online behaviour.
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25:01
Rise in Rage Increasing Anger in Adults and Youth
Therapist Julie Christiansen is an expert on anger. One of her most recent books is titled Rise in Rage. Julie talks about how Canadians are experiencing more bouts of anger and even rage, in part because of the helplessness and the threa...
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23:18
Peer Street Outreach for People Living Homeless
Experience shows that peer support is extremely successful. I’m going to start off with a new pilot program in St. Catharines called Welcoming Streets. It’s a partnership between Reach Niagara and Positive Living Niagara (POS), supported by Nia...
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24:07
One in 4 teen age girls experience gender violence
We know that gender violence against women and femicides in Canada continue to grow. But an alarming 1/4 of adolescent girls who are dating boys are experiencing an abusive relationship. Nicole Regehr, executive director at Gillian'...
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24:38
CASON Niagara - Help for Alcohol, Drug and Gambling Addiction
CASON - Community Addiction Services of Niagara - provides comprehensive alcohol, drug and gambling addiction treatment for individuals and their families.Executive Director Janice Rutger talks about the challenges people and families f...
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25:21
More And More People In Canada Are Going Without Food
In 2023, 22.9% of people across Canada lived in households that struggled to afford the food they need. That's 8.7 million people and a devastating 2.1 million children. The new numbers for 2024 from Feed Ontario shows an increase of 30%....
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23:58
Sammy - Part Two of a Young Woman's Story of Suicide
Sammy Bazely was on the show last week to talk about suicide and the overwhelming feeling that the world, and especially her young daughter, would be a better place without her.Sammy talked about the time leading up to her suicide attemp...
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19:42
Sammy - Part One of A Young Woman's Story of Suicide
Sammy Bazely is a young woman who is telling her story of struggling with suicide in the hopes that other people can recognize themselves in her story and reach out for help. Sammy is young, married, has a beautiful daughter and run...
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24:41
Valery Brosseau and Validate Mental Health
When Valery Brosseau was diagnosed with bipolar 2 and borderline personality disorder in her early 20s it didn’t take long for her to realize that talking openly about her illness was healing for her and helped reduce stigma so other people cou...
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26:32
Young Caregivers Are Providing Basic Needs for Their Parents and Siblings
Young caregivers are an invisible and little known support for family members who need day to day help for basic needs. They provide personal care like grooming, helping with medication, getting dressed and feeding. But a growing nu...
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23:53
Meet Zane! He's A Cuddly Mental Health Facility Support Dog
There’s a special new dog in town! His name is Zane and he’s a mental health facility support dog at Pathstone Mental Health. That sounds a bit formal and it’s easier to think of Zane as a cuddly assistant.Zane was specially traine...
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23:49
Recognizing the Warning Signs of Suicide.
September is Suicide Awareness Month.Every year, approximately 4,500 people in Canada die by suicide, that equals 12 people dying by suicide every day. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in young people aged 15 to ...
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23:00
People Will Die! Ontario Closes 10 Supervised Consumption Sites
Ontario Health minister Silvia Jones made a surprise announcement at the Association of Municiplaties of Ontario's annual conference in mid-August that no one expected – the closing of 10 supervised drug consumption sites across the provi...
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23:30
Prescribing Nature to Improve People's Health
P-a-R-X is an initiative of the BC Parks Foundation that started about 3 years ago with the idea of medical professionals – like doctors, nurse practioners, dentists and pharmacist - prescribing time in nature for their patients. This uni...
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23:25
Getting Kids Back to Nature
We’ve reached the stage where people are starting to acknowledge cell phone addiction is real. The issue is critical to childrens mental health and their ability to learn. It also means our kids are not getting outside, playing in the dirt and ...
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24:30
Help Kids Put Down Their Cell Phones
The Ontario government has announced a new policy banning the use of cell phones in classrooms. The question is what will this new policy achieve? Erin Clayton, who is the Director of Quality Assurance, Research and Planning at Path...
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24:05
Niagara's Homelessness Plan Gets Ontario Wide Recognition
Niagara Regional housing has put together a 10 poinr plan to reduce homelessness and, importantly, provide some space and programs for people living rough. A temporary 24-hour a temporary shelter has opended where people have their own ro...
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24:28