Harper appoints Evangelical Pastor to "Study" Marijuana and Schizophrenia

The new Canadian Mental Health Commission is "a wonderful opportunity" for Christians to be involved in dealing with one of the most pressing issues in our society, according to one of its members.

Chris Summerville is one of 11 non-government members of the new Commission's board of directors. Besides struggling with mental health issues himself, he is the interim CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, executive director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, and a certified Psychosocial Rehabilitation Practitioner. He is also a committed Christian and an ordained pastor with the Associated Gospel Churches of Canada.

Summerville said he hopes to bring a holistic approach to the issue that addresses body, mind, soul and spirit.

According to the Associated Gospel Church website, history section: "The AGC traces its beginnings to the early 1890s when a group of independent evangelical churches became known as the Christian Workers' Church of Canada"

UPDATE: The Canadian Schizophrenia Society Board of Directors contain no apparent Medical Doctors or PhD's, and the first name of the list appears to be a police officer from Toronto.

Update 2: Pam Forsythe is a practising Psychiatrist

For more info, check out the announcement yesterday:

THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG – The Harper government is putting up $550,000 to gather research on marijuana use and mental illness.

The Schizophrenia Society of Canada will use the money to further research the links between cannabis and early psychosis as well as develop promotional materials warning youth about the dangers of smoking pot.

The money is part of Ottawa's $30 million national anti-drug strategy announced in 2007.

Chris Summerville, CEO of the Schizophrenia Society, said the public doesn't realize that cannabis users have a seven-fold increase in risk of developing schizophrenia.

He pointed to recent research out of Victoria, B.C., linking pot smoking and mental illness.

As part of the society's research, some 30 youths who have experienced psychosis will be trained to gather information about the reasons their peers use cannabis.

The results will be used to develop educational materials aimed at decreasing the use of illicit drugs among young people.

Winnipeg Conservative MP Joy Smith said Tuesday that while the public regards marijuana as a soft drug, there may be very serious consequences for young pot smokers who have a predisposition to mental illness.

"Science has shown that cannabis may actually trigger the onset of psychosis and may also intensify the symptoms for those who already have a psychotic illness," Smith said in announcing the grant.

"It has been suggested that up to 80 per cent of youth who have had a psychotic episode were using cannabis. And that's pretty shocking," said Smith, who was filling in for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq at news conference.

For more info on Chris Summerville and his opinions on the role of his religion in mental health treatment:

By Jim Coggins

The new Canadian Mental Health Commission is "a wonderful opportunity" for Christians to be involved in dealing with one of the most pressing issues in our society, according to one of its members.

Chris Summerville is one of 11 non-government members of the new Commission's board of directors. Besides struggling with mental health issues himself, he is the interim CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, executive director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, and a certified Psychosocial Rehabilitation Practitioner. He is also a committed Christian and an ordained pastor with the Associated Gospel Churches of Canada.

Summerville said he hopes to bring a holistic approach to the issue that addresses body, mind, soul and spirit.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the formation of the commission on August 31. It grew out of a study by a Senate committee chaired by Senator Michael Kirby, who will chair the new Commission.

The Commission's board of directors includes 11 non-government experts and six government representatives. The Commission will receive $10 million in start-up funds until mid-2009 and then $15 million a year after that.

Stigma

The Commission has been given three main tasks. The first is to launch a 10-year campaign to combat the stigma associated with mental illness. "We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do what William Wilberforce did in regard to slavery -- to combat the social injustices associated with living with a mental illness," said Summerville.

These injustices include everything from discrimination in employment to people who don't want a group home in their neighbourhood, he said.

Removing the stigma is also key, said Summerville, because people are reluctant to seek help for mental problems until they become very severe -- sometimes due to pressure from family members who "don't want to let the family secret out." This is unfortunate, he said, because when problems are addressed early, "the outcomes are much better."

Marja Bergen, who facilitates the Living Room, a group for people with mood disorders in Burnaby, BC, agreed that "reducing the stigma is the most wonderful thing" about the new Commission because this will lead to more research and better care. Because people don't want to talk about mental health issues, nobody is establishing runs to raise money for the issue, she said.

Knowledge is power

The second task of the Commission is to establish a national information exchange, available to anyone who needs it.

Summerville said the goal is to establish a set of "best practices" so that people are not "working from prejudice."

This is important, said Bergen, because churches, for instance, often avoid addressing mental health issues because they just don't understand them.

Strategy

The Commission's third task is to devise a coordinated mental health strategy for Canada. Canada is the only G-8 country without such a strategy.

Summerville said the goal is to "address disparities" so that people can get "the same quality of care and services across Canada." For instance, it takes six months to see a psychiatrist in Winnipeg, and a year in Toronto. In some cases, said Summerville, people have to go "hundreds of miles away from home to find a crisis stabilization centre."

"This shouldn't be in one of the wealthiest countries in the world," he said.

Implementing such a strategy will require much more than the $15 million a year budgeted so far. Bergen said that amount is "pretty puny when you consider the amount of need there is out there." She said she recently received a desperate call for help from a man who had gone to a hospital seeking help but was turned away because there were 20 patients ahead of him. "There are just not enough doctors, not enough counselling services," she said.

Medical and spiritual

Summerville said one of his goals is to "bring the presence of Christ" into the different perspectives that will be present in the Commission.

There has been a "prejudice against religion" on the part of some mental health professionals, he said, and "historically clinicians have been reluctant to discuss religion with their clients."

However, that is changing, partly because clients themselves are saying that finding purpose and meaning are an important part of their healing process. "Young people especially want to be defined more than just chemically," said Summerville.

As a result, the Spring 2007 issue of the Journal of Psycho-Social Rehabilitation and the Fall 2007 issue of the Journal of Mental Health Ethics are both devoted to examining the connections between mental health and spirituality.

"The recovery of wellness is as much a spiritual journey as a psychological or biological one," said Summerville.

Satan will use any opportunity to attack, including mental illness, said Summerville, but mental illness and spiritual should not be equated. "I know some wonderful Christians who have schizophrenia, and I know people in deep spiritual bondage who have no mental illness."

Mental illness has many aspects, he said, from chemical imbalances and genetic dispositions to traumatic experiences that may trigger problems.

Mental health and the church

Both Summerville and Bergen said churches often don't do a good job of dealing with mental illness because they tend to "treat it as a spiritual problem exclusively."

The Christian church was at the forefront of mental health reform in the 19th century but has since lost that role, said Summerville.

He added that there are two attitudes in the church that need to be corrected. First, some Christians have trouble understanding "messy people" and recognizing that we live in "a broken world." Such Christians think those who are mentally ill should experience complete and immediate healing and become impatient when they don't.

Other Christians believe that "signs and miracles" have ceased and those who are ill just have to endure it. Summerville said these people need to be reminded that Christ can bring more healing than they can ever imagine.

The church sometimes stigmatizes the mentally ill more than society in general does, said Bergen. She said she would like to see the church "at the forefront" of the struggle for mental health rather than "straggling behind."

Bergen said her own bipolar problem is purely a chemical imbalance problem that is treated by medication. However, the nonjudgmental support she has received from her church, Brentwood Park Alliance Church, has enabled her to "feel God's love at work in my life and helped me cope with my illness. I wouldn't be where I am today without my church's support."

The Living Room currently offers this kind of holistic support to 40 people, being connected to the Brentwood Church and to the Mood Disorder Association. Bergen has written a manual to guide other churches in setting up similar groups.

September 6/2007