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Interior Health event to build community in Williams Lake

Interior Health mental health and substance use team members hosted a breakfast event in Boitanio Park aimed at making people feel welcome at events in the community.
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Some of the Interior Health mental health and substance use team in Williams Lake serving up a free breakfast for the community to support everyone to feel welcome in Boitanio Park on June 26.

During the Williams Lake Stampede, there are events across the city for days, but some in the community do not always feel like they can join in. 

"We find a lot of our clients aren't very welcome at some of these events," said Nancey Fenner, team lead - mental health and substance use for Interior Health, and said some have reported being asked to leave. 

To help counter this and welcome the people facing mental health and substance use challenges as part of the community, the team from Interior Health hosted their second annual pancake breakfast for the community on June 26 in Boitanio Park.

They cooked up pancakes, eggs, bacon and hash browns for anyone who wanted to join them.

Fenner said the event helps make people feel a part of the larger community.

"They're people first," she said, adding their clients are mothers, brothers, fathers, sisters.

"They're struggling with a horrible illness."

Fenner said the concerns around mental health and substance use often become politicized instead of following best practices recommended by public health experts.

"What other illness would they ask your next door neighbour how they should be treated for it?" she asked.

When people call things out on social media around substance use, she said this only adds to the stigma of mental health challenges, and just compounds the problem and results in knee-jerk reactions.

"Our clients are on social media," she said, noting this type of attack does not help those suffering with mental health challenges.

Fenner noted other countries which have followed the recommendations of health care experts have had much better rates of success by addressing the underlying social issues which contribute to the problems.

She said providing supports people need, from housing to jobs, can help reduce emergency room visits. Trips to the emergency room are expensive, so she said it is much more cost-effective to direct money at solutions recommended by the research and experts.

Hosting the event in the park also helped people connect to a range of partner organizations such as BGC Williams Lake (formerly Boys and Girls Club), Nenqayni Wellness Services Society, All Nations Healing House, and Letwilc Ren Semec Centre (Esk'etemc Recovery House). These groups had tables with staff and information for people.

Fenner said the services they offer are voluntary, and mandatory treatment has been shown not to be an effective option by the research, but services are there for those who are ready.

"If you're willing, we'll try and figure out a way," she said, noting if they can't do it, they will try and find someone who can.

"These people are our neighbours, just please be kind."

 

 

 



Ruth Lloyd

About the Author: Ruth Lloyd

I moved back to my hometown of Williams Lake after living away and joined the amazing team at the Williams Lake Tribune in 2021.
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