GUELPH – Residents of the Guelph/Wellington and Waterloo regions are looking for community support and leadership as they face mental health issues born out of challenges such as food insecurity and housing shortages, a new survey reveals.
The survey also shows residents of Wellington County and other areas outside major urban centres in the region may be feeling the pinch the most.
“It’s been a really tough few years and the crisis in our community on many levels is not subsiding,” Helen Fishburn told Wellington County council at its Oct. 26 meeting.
Fishburn, the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHCWW), presented council with the results of an association survey asking “How Mentally Healthy is Your Community?”
She said 530 people from Wellington County, Guelph and Waterloo Region were surveyed through an online form.
“It’s not a deep dive, but just enough that we could get a check on how our folks are doing,” said Fishburn.
The survey found that 92 per cent of respondents believe municipal leaders play a vital role in supporting mental health in their community and should work more directly with other levels of government on related issues.
“We know that health care, for example, has been historically funded by the province and there’s been these rigid funding ‘swim lanes,’ if you will, for health care,” said Fishburn.
“What we’re hearing really from our residents is their wish, their hope, their invitation, is for all of us who work in this space, to really begin to lower those walls, between the municipalities between the province, between the feds, given the unprecedented and continued … suffering that’s going on in our community.”
She added, “We’re in a very different climate now and some of these traditional, kind of rigid, funding pathways no longer apply and they won’t help us solve this problem as one community.”
Main issues
Respondents were asked to identify the most significant areas where community contributions can play a role in mental health .
Access to sufficient/healthy/affordable food topped the list, rating 8.4 out of 10, followed by access to affordable housing at 8.2.
Fishburn said the connection between these areas and mental health is not surprising.
“Housing and mental health came up over and over again in our survey,” she said.
“We know that they’re deeply linked. And with the housing crisis that exists in our community, with the financial crisis that people are experiencing, I really see it as a house of cards for many people in our community right now who are living paycheque to paycheque.
“One change, whether it’s a renewal of their mortgage rate, or it’s a loss of income of some kind, or a change in personal status and that house of cards comes crumbling down.”
Rounding out the top five areas were:
- public order and personal safety at 8.2/10;
- availability to parks and green spaces for the public, 8.1/10; and
- access to mental health/addictions services at 8/10.
Low county score
Asked “How mentally healthy is your community,” City of Waterloo residents rated their community at 6.8 out of 10, while Wellington County scored a five.
In between were Guelph at 6.7, Waterloo Region (outside the tri-city area) at 6.3, Kitchener at 5.9 and Cambridge at 5.8.
“When you look at the highest rating of 6.8 and the lowest rating in Wellington County at five … none of these scores are awesome,” Fishburn explained.
“When we think about our mental health and mental wellness, we’re not striving for 6.8. That’s not something that we can feel proud of, or feel like we’ve reached the bar and we can take our foot off the gas.”
“Certainly based on the score in Wellington County and some of the other townships in Waterloo Region, we know we need a specific strategic focus relating to how we’re supporting our folks in rural Wellington and in rural parts of our community.”
She continued, “There are not as many service providers who actually have a shop in the community … We know that transportation to and from services are barriers for people.
“And then layer on the pandemic, where that level of loneliness and disconnection was incredibly deepened.
“We know that there have always been historical issues relating to focus and challenges serving folks that live in rural areas.”
“I was a little surprised to see Wellington County at five,” said councillor Campbell Cork.
“I see we’re being compared with four cities. Does that have something to do with it? Or is the perception the reality? That in Wellington County that we’re a five and not a six or a seven?”
“This was a survey not a deep dive,” stressed Fishburn. “However, we weren’t surprised with the number that was in the county.”
Adult services lacking?
Noting the survey targeted people over the age of 18, she said the creation of The Grove Youth Wellness Hub sites, which offer one-stop access to a wide range of programs, many related to mental health, has been helpful for younger people in the community.
“We have seen a massive influx of youth attending our Grove sites … yesterday in Palmerston we reached a high, 109 youth came in one day … and that tells you the need right across the county,” she said.
“Sadly, we don’t have youth concepts for adults – and adults are represented in this survey.”
Fishburn added, “The Grove has resonated so much with our youth and our families, because literally it’s a place you can show up, you can plug your phone in, you can just talk to somebody to get help.”
A similar concept would be helpful for adults, she suggested.
“The formal health care system can’t be everything. For our community, the need is just too great. So we have to continue to build this informal networking system, where we’re really creating that safety net across our system,” she explained.
“That includes workplaces. Workplaces are massive right now. It’s really a frontline offence for mental health. We need to create community settings and conversations.”
“Is there no model out there for an adult version of The Grove?” wondered councillor Shawn Watters.
“Our Here 24/7 service that operates seven days a week, you can walk into any of our … sites and get care immediately through Here 24/7,” said Fishburn.
“People tend to think of Here 24/7 as a phone service. But you can literally walk into any of our sites … and you can be seen immediately.
“It’s not quite the same as a Grove, where there’s a whole continuum … there’s 30 providers connected to a Grove.”
Councillor Jeff Duncan noted males make up “the largest portion of suicides” and “a large chunk of the mental health issues.
“And a lot of that is middle class men, middle-aged men and I just was wondering what specific programs we have for them?” he asked.
“It’s very concerning, for sure, that we see men in that middle age group struggling and suffering, and often very quietly,” said Fishburn.
“This is going to be a focus for us, in our community to specifically target at-risk populations, including the group that you’ve just mentioned.
“But I will say, we’re seeing risk fall across our continuum. So as much as we want to really focus and targeted outreach for specific groups, we know that much of our community is at risk and we have to continue to make sure that people know what is available, what resources are available, that we are connected to those folks,” she added.
“We need the help of our informal network to support the formal system. Those folks like hockey coaches … dance teachers, those folks like the person in the cubicle next to you at work, your next door neighbor, we need eyes everywhere, in order to link people from a global network,” she continued.
Role of municipalities
Councillor Diane Ballantyne said she “really liked that you said municipal leaders have a role to play.
“And even if we don’t have the big purse that we have at the provincial and federal level, I think that shared experiences are what can reduce isolation.
“And that’s true, whether it’s middle-aged, middle-class men, whether it’s agricultural workers and farmers or whether it’s young people.”
Ballantyne added, “As municipal leaders we know that we have limited dollars. But I think one of the lenses that we can look at is when small groups are just looking for a small amount – $500, $1,000 $1,500 – and we can look at that, as ‘Are they building a shared experience that multiple people can get together and start to build community and build relationships?’
“That reduces isolation, that reduces homelessness.”
Councillor Dave Anderson, chair of the county’s social services committee, also commented on the survey’s findings that residents are seeking leadership from the municipal level of government.
“I think to a point we are taking the lead. But the only way we can succeed is that open communication and breaking down those silos,” he stated.
“I know we’re always dealing with looking for funding from the province and the feds for affordable housing for shelter systems. So that’s where we come into play. We sort of organize that perspective.”
Anderson told Fishburn, “From your perspective, we need your expertise in dealing with mental health and addiction and working well together.”
He added, “I think also we have to look outside of the box and we have that already, through Stonehenge (Therapeutic Community), through United Way.
“We’ve got to go outside of the federal/provincial governments and municipal taxpayers because there are a lot of services other than healthcare and that’s the communication field.”
