ASK Salt Spring: Answered - Ep 27 David Forget

Episode Date: March 2, 2024

David Forget of the Mental Wellness Initiative talks about the program and how it works on Salt Spring Island.

I'm listening to episode 27 of Ask Salt Spring Answered in which we talk to David Norgat of the Mental Wellness Initiative. Welcome to Ask Salt Spring Answered on cheer.fm. I'm here with David Norgat. He is the coordinator for the Mental Wellness Initiative. We've just had a presentation on Ask Salt Spring by David and various people from his group, including the Ambassador Program. Just tell me a little bit about the Mental Wellness

Initiative. Yeah, wow, it's broad. There's lots of aspects. Essentially, it's about community coming together in how to best attend to the mental wellness needs of all Salt Spring Islanders. As I've just stated, that's huge in and of itself. So there's been various stages of it coming together, having representation of lived experience experts, having representation of agencies who attend to mental wellness needs, and working together more recently. It's a focus on three particular programs. One is around what we call Reach Out Salt Springs. So it's people who couldn't otherwise access services being able to access free services for counseling or other things.

And that is done through the donation of practitioners donating their services for free 10 sessions a year that suddenly makes it accessible and then a website that people can access it through and then also expanded peer support so the ambassador program is one of those programs and that's really about spreading goodwill to everyone in the Ganges village. That can be saying hi, that can be giving directions, that can be connecting in with business owners. So that's all part of the goodwill ambassador program. And then we're working to get funding for expanded peer support outreach. And there's lots of reasons why we're going this route.

A third facet of the program this year is really the interagency cooperation. And really, it's more than just interagency. It's the community coming together and learning how to work well together. And that does a lot of good for both service providers as well as community members, ultimately those who we're serving. So there was a lot that I just said, but I did my best. Dealing with the unhoused homeless people, I guess propane beach people, and how we're trying to get the communities to look at them as human beings, not just a nuisance or whatever. this whole mental health issue that a lot of the people who are in that situation have some issues that could certainly be helped with with some kind of either counseling or whatever is the idea to have sort of like on the scene counseling where they are how does it actually work yeah that's yeah it's a big question too so the ambassador program is really focused on everyone using the village,

but it did come up in Ask Salt Spring today around one of the ambassadors speaking to an individual thanking them for treating them well. And the ambassador saying something like, of course I would treat you well. You're a human being. And that person saying, well, not everybody treats me that way. For me, that does harm in the community. And really, all community members, we all have the things that we're dealing with. There are deeply compounded issues

with many of the folks who are unhoused. Just being unhoused is a mental health issue. I can't imagine not having the security of my possessions, knowing where I'm going to bathe, knowing where I'm going to sleep, and feeling like I could sleep safely. So for me, a good community understands and has compassion for the breadth of issues somebody might be going through. And so really, the deeper piece with the Mental Wellness Initiative is support for dignity for all our community and understanding, building compassion. The idea of just get a job is not in my mind of compassion so uh having the basic needs looked after and then being able to have resources to help or assist in the shifting towards betterment is really what the various facets of the mental wellness initiative programs this year are about and

ongoing too right yeah so what do you what's your greatest need in terms of moving forward on this? Is it donations, funding? What's the most important thing, would you say? Yeah, I would say it's a combination of people and funding. So yeah, definitely funding in order to move the expanded peer support outreach. We need funding in order to make that happen. And that's a key facet. There's also people aspects.

So we're looking for help in recruiting practitioners to donate those services. All of these things take effort. We're also, we'd love, we're looking for more ambassadors. There's some great ambassadors already out there. The program is set up, having those bodies available and interested in connecting in the community. I walked with a colleague who feels more shy about doing that, but that's why we walk in pairs as well. So we connected and we connected in with business owners and that just made it safer. So more ambassadors would be great. Yeah, of course, if people want to donate, that's fantastic. We've had lots of donations to date, totaling over 12,000. I don't know the whole figure.

That's wonderful. Yeah, and also organizations. I heard of organizations or businesses. Some businesses have actually reached out to say, how can we assist with the ambassador program? That's lovely as well. If they can assist in getting the word out or, you know, let's keep making those connections because when we connect as a community, we strengthen the bonds in the community. So how would people donate or get in touch with you if they wanted to? Well, they can email me. Certainly the article of Ask Salt Spring will be informative about how to do that. There are links in that, but the easiest is to email me davidnorgett at gmail.com. I'd prefer not getting a whole bunch of emails, but if that's the only way you can find me, do it. But there are links in the recent Ask Salt Spring article through the Salt Spring Exchange. Right. Okay. Now you said, I think I made some notes during the meeting and you talked

about four things being important, building community, making connections, caring for the village, and spreading goodwill. Are these sort of like the four pillars of what you're trying to achieve, would you say? I don't know if those are the four pillars, but they're certainly in there. Yeah, this is really, we all want to feel a sense of connection and belonging. So whatever furthers that, a lot of it is just with the ambassadors. I love some of the stories that were spoken to that really we have no agenda. We're just here to listen and to connect. And in some cases that was listening to somebody's poetry. In some cases it's connecting to a business owner. All of these pieces help us feel better. And just to be present and not have any agenda goes a long way. I'm a professional counselor. A lot of my work is simply to be present and

listen and to understand. And that is huge in and of itself. I think you talked about, and you've touched on this already, getting a group of therapists and counselors to be available for, I guess, sessions or whatever, right? And there was talk about a mobile vehicle. I don't know. Is that something that's going to be happening? Yeah, the mobile vehicle isn't with the Mental Wellness Initiative. That's with the Salt Spring Community Health Society. Their dedication is to the mobile unit so it just recognizes there is a an importance of reaching out with primary

health care a lot of people are especially marginalized insecurely or unhoused feel a great trepidation of going into any building or any institution. And so outreach becomes invaluable in terms of the needs. And I think this came up with ambassadors speaking to, these are two former nurses and they recognize health, primary health care needs, and just that there are a number of those needs currently needed for people in our community and so the mobile health van is a project of the salt spring community health society they're also working to have a community health center on the island which yeah there's lots around that so separate piece but not unrelated for sure it wouldn't be a mobile mental health facility then as such? Could it be? Yeah, absolutely.

Mental health comes in. This is where it crosses, intersects with all places, the library, the hospital, the RCMP. I'm sure we've all encountered it in some ways in our life. So, yeah, it's the whole. We're not separate silos and separate entities and that's also part of the idea of the mental wellness initiative but it's not unique to it we you know how do we respond as a community and how are we cohesive as a community would you say you're

hopeful about the future and and how much we can do in this area? Oh that's a tough question Damien. I haven't lost hope. I see lots of reasons to feel sadness. I clearly haven't lost hope because I'm still willing to do things and I know there are others out there. That's where the hope is in those who are willing to engage, willing to give, and understanding the importance of doing this. Certainly there are a lot of things that I can feel despair around, sadness around, no question. I think that's also part of being realistic of what we're seeing out there am i lost in that no i'm not lost in that in that sense i haven't lost hope for sure right i mean you've

got a very extensive background in this field right you've been working on this for you've been on salt spring for 25 years or more i think yeah yeah 89 is when i first, yeah. Oh, over 30 years then. Yeah, yeah. So obviously you're very familiar with the problems on Salt Spring. Would you say they've become increasingly difficult as years have gone by? How do you? Yeah, that's hard for me to answer. Certainly the pandemic seemed to exacerbate a lot of trauma, a lot of issues. At the same time, it's brought things to the fore that always were there that weren't necessarily recognized.

That's not a bad thing. I'm not sure. It's certainly heightened. I'm not sure if It's certainly heightened. I'm not sure if it's worse, maybe. Certainly, we're working through what seems to me a lot of polarization or even black and white ideas or binary thinking. And it's way more nuanced than that, in my experience. What I know and ground on is that we all feel well when we have people who are willing to connect and sharing in good ways. And that's inspirational. And there's numerous people that do that kind of work. Yeah. It's quite distressing when you go on social media sometimes and you see that polarization and you know on some of the main salt spring Facebook pages for example there's a lot of people with you know very extreme viewpoints on this thing and it's kind

of worrying to me that you know people are reading that and possibly being influenced by that but yeah I don't know how you really resolve those things. But everybody's entitled to their opinion. I guess that's the bottom line. But how would you go about changing people's minds? Do you think? Is it possible? You sound desperate here, Jamie. Yeah, well, I relate to the disheartening. I can feel disheartened in seeing that. I actually see, yeah, stating opinions isn't necessarily helpful. Listening to each other, seeing our commonalities, fostering that, having the courage to be more humble. There's lots of things that really aid the coming together. And actually, creating a position doesn't serve our own mental wellness. It's an approach.

I understand the approach. It's an approach that's common all through society and in the world, but it doesn't actually build connection. Now, I think at the end of the discussion today, we were talking about funding, and Gary Holman said that he felt that funding should be a provincial area, I think, for this kind of thing. Now, you met with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, I believe. What came out of that meeting?

Yeah, and I don't know if Gary was thinking that it needs to come at a provincial level. I don't recall that comment. And certainly we're thankful to CRD Grants and Aid for funding or contributing to the mental wellness initiative. Yeah, I know Adam Olson has certainly spoken to funding from a provincial level for supporting programs like this. And he's been a great support around the mental wellness initiative and sees the novelty of it. And I've forgotten your question having just also met with a minister. Oh yeah,

the minister. So we met with the Honorable Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Jennifer Whiteside. It was curious because we did prepare or send things to her ministry, and she thought we were just going to be advocating for the Reach Out Salt Spring program. But actually what we were advocating for was support for community coming to solutions for what it is needing. I can't imagine, you know, here's a piece. We tend, I think, in our society to look for governments or somebody to fix our problems. And what we are proposing actually

is that we as a community come together and work out what we are needing and wanting. And yes, we want support from the ministry for that. And so it seemed that we were getting some raised eyebrows in good ways, like, ah, this is a different approach than what we were expecting. So whether that translates in money, we'll see. I'm pragmatic enough to not expect that to occur, but I'm also not going to say it won't occur. So it did seem like we had an in there. We have been invited to submit a design proposal, and we will do that, and we will see what comes of that. And Adam Olson was great. He was also participating in that meeting,

and he can translate things in really good ways and is certainly a wonderful advocate, and I'm very grateful for who he is. Is there anything coming up in the immediate future that people should know about in terms of activities or anything? Obviously, you want more ambassadors. That's key, I think. Maybe just spell out a little bit about what an ambassador does.

Some people might be a bit put off at the thought of walking the streets and bumping into people. Sure, yeah. What actually happens um and can you choose if you're not comfortable say meeting with um unhoused people can you you can do other other things obviously absolutely yeah so really uh if somebody chooses to become an ambassador we orient them for sure and then they'll also get paired up with an experienced ambassador who they will do the walkabouts with and they will decide the two of them where they want to go and who they're connecting with we want to broaden it it's for everyone in some cases ambassadors sit and have

a coffee and because of the green vest it draws attracts a certain thing There's enough notoriety now that some people are recognizing the green vests. So really, they're free to adapt where they want to go and who they want to connect to. And if there's discomfort, then that's to be factored in. Yeah. And really, the pairing decides when they go out. Usually they're for two hours, one and a half, two hours. You determine the day and it'll be an ongoing orientation. Right. So it's not too onerous a commitment then, really, is it? No, even if you're shy shy you can go out and hopefully

your partner is is not as shy um i i'm pretty gregarious at times i like my alone time also but i you know i'll connect to anybody um my partner was more on the shy side and she loved it so that's again we're about building connections so there's a connection in terms of the partnership and then you get to create it as you as you want so how many do we have at the moment uh there are probably seven or eight uh i could be wrong i'm not tracking this um uh it's not a huge number then it's not a huge number we're looking for six more but the more the merrier yeah and is there somewhere that people can go to volunteer for that program that isn't maybe your email yeah it would be gloria's email and i don't know that offhand but uh i think i think

it's in the assault spring Spring piece. Okay, great. Well, thanks, David, for coming in. And this has been Ask Salt Spring Answered on cheer.fm, the voice of the Gulf Islands.