East York Community Mental Health Town Hall

The uptick in community town halls, government focus, media reports, and interpersonal discussions regarding mental health underscores the fact that the pain from an unhealthy mind is as real as the pain from a stubbed toe.

The Toronto Danforth neighbours and community leaders organized an April mental health, community town hall meeting because, “at the beginning of lockdown, I was having good days and bad days. I was feeling like I could use some help, then probable other people would too. And this [town hall] would be a good way to reach out to the community and try to help each other,” the organizer said.

The East Yorkers are part of a growing number of Canadians reporting difficulties coping with the strain of COVID-19 and its related stresses.

The stubborn, difficult to discard stigma toward mental health issues is now being challenged due to the scope of current day concerns resulting in an increase of reported cases of anxiety and depression by a large swath of Canadians.

In a recent interview with CTVNews.ca, Dr. David Dozois, a psychology professor at Western University, and a member of Mental Health Research Canada’s (MHRC) board of directors, commented on a survey he helped design, asking Canadians if they believed additional months of isolation could affect their mental health.

The survey asked respondents to estimate their levels of depression and anxiety if social isolation continued for just two more months. The number of respondents anticipating a high level of depression went up in response, including the number of people reporting an increase in some or more of existing anxiety levels. The rate of high levels of depression has more than doubled -- and experts believe it could get worse. The number of people, across all provinces, who reported their anxiety as high, has quadrupled since the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The prediction is, if it continues, depression is going to get worse and anxiety will sort of remain relatively high,” Dr. David Dozois told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.

The Toronto Danforth mental health town hall meeting, which can be viewed in its entirety at www.commediaportal.ca, is a snapshot of one of Ontario’s distinct communities discussing their personal struggles living in an age of a pandemic, echoing the questions and concerns of Canadians nationwide. The big take-away from the small community discussion is that mental health pain is real, there is no stigma and help is just a neighbour away.