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
112 episodes
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
Homeless - It Could Happen to Anyone
When people see someone who is homeless they probably think it could never happen to them. But at some point in time a person living rough and in a shelter did have a home. They may have had a family, friends and a good job. There are so many r...
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23:53
How to Use Mental Health Skills to Cope with Pain
Darcy Patrick is a Mental Health advocate, speaker, coach and author of 5 books about his journey from severe depression to wellness. Two years ago he ended up in hospital in excruciating back pain. Doctors still haven’t figured out...
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24:02
Schizophrenia – The Most Stigmatized and Misunderstood Mental Illness
Schizophrenia is the least understood and the most stigmatized any mental illness. Imagine how scary it can be for the person living with schizophrenia when every minute of the day voices in their head talking to them. When we hear...
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23:54
Find Possibilities And Hope From Personal Stories About Mental Health
Tara Mckendrick is Executive Director of Canadian mental health association Niagara. Taratalks about CMHA Niagara crisis services and also help define what is a crisis. Like most communities Niagara has a homeless and addiction crisis but...
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24:05
9-8-8 - A New Canada-Wide Suicide Help Line
9-8-8 is a new 3-digit suicide crisis help line is being rolled out across Canada. The line will connect people who are experiencing thoughts of suicide to their to their local suicide prevention lines and make it easier for areas that don’t cu...
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23:57
Not Everyone Has Warm Socks - Everybody Deserves Warm Feet
No one likes to have cold feet and most of us take for granted that we can buy warm socks and be comfortable during the winter. But so many people who are homeless or struggling financially to keep food on the table aren’t able to buy basic nec...
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23:57
More People Need Food While Fewer People Can Donate
Feed Ontario has released it’s annual Hunger Report. Five million people visited foods banks across the province in the past year. One in 6 identified as having a job. Sadly, food bank visits have increased at the same time p...
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24:01
Medical Assistance in Dying for Mental Illness -Yes or No?
A decision on whether to offer Medical Assistaince in Dying – or MaiD - to people living with a mental illness in Canada has been delayed again until March of 2024.It’s such a complex issue and there’s a real division in the ...
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24:01
National Addiction Awareness Week Focuses on Inspiration, Innovation and Inclusion
National Addiction Awareness Week (Nov. 10-25, 2023) is spearheaded by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. Inspiration, Innovation and Inclusion is this year's focus. CCSA has released a report on the cost of substance use...
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23:09