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Crisis Hotline
“There are no hidden costs to mental illness; the hidden costs
are just the ones we choose to ignore”
– John Hockenberry
Did You Know?
1. Youth now suffer the highest distress levels in the population. In comparison, they were the lowest 20 years ago.
2. Suicide is the second most prevalent cause of death among young people: 73 out of 440 suicides were committed by young people ages 15-19.
3. 15% of all children in Canada live with mental illness.
4. Fewer than one in 5 children with mental illness receives treatment.
5. Children as young as 6, are showing up at hospitals, shelters and mental health centres with mind-boggling disorders.
6. Mental illness untreated looks like this: Jail-time. No job. No education. No home.
7. Mental illness can not be cured with a pill, operation or splint. But there is hope. There is Wood’s Homes.
(Source: Canadian Mental Health Association)
Children's Mental Health in Alberta
- what is the cost of not paying attention?
Pretending that mental disorders are not diseases that need treatment and - like any other malady - early intervention and prevention in order to minimize symptoms and long-term effects – is foolhardy and expensive.
• The estimated total burden of $14.4 billion (at minimum) places mental health problems among the costliest conditions in Canada (second only to cardiovascular disease).
• Two-thirds of people with mental disorders never seek treatment – even though 60-80% report improvement with interventions. In 2004, 440 Albertans committed suicide. For every suicide there are about 100 attempts. The cost of suicide to the Alberta economy is $755M.
• 1 in 4 Canadians suffer from a mental disorder or distress. Countless other family members, friends & co-workers are affected by this illness but are not included in this number. (It is pretty hard not to be affected!)
• Canadians with untreated mental illness use the health care system 4 times more than other Canadians, stay longer and 1 in 3 will be re-admitted each year.
Focusing on children and youth saves money, saves service overload and saves countless hours of emotional pain and secondary problems (such as family dissolution, loss of work days, etc.). Nipping problems in the bud – paying attention in the early days and using treatment services to stop problems before they begin, or identify challenges just makes good business sense.
• 73 of those 440 suicides in 2004 were young people 15-19 years old.
• Mental illness begins early – often evident by age 11 and many problems can last a lifetime.
• Young people with mental-health disorders are more at risk for dropping out of school, ending up in jail and not being fully functioning members of society. This robs Canada of productivity (15-24 year olds are most at risk.)
• And more than 70% of people with a mental illness are unemployed.
Research shows that every $1 spent on psychological services equals $5 saved in medical costs.
• Hospital bed-days for mental-health services cost $2-3,000 per day – depending on the severity of the problem. These are the direct costs. Indirect costs include other services offered post-hospitalization (social work, ambulance, emergency room costs, medication reviews, etc.) as well as services required for family members. The staggering economic burden for workplaces is also deemed an indirect cost. It is estimated that businesses foot $33-44 billion of this bill (about 200 million days of missed work).
• Incarceration costs are a mixture of direct and indirect costs.
Paying attention to that 14-year-old who is behaving strangely (the one who is obviously troubled by something and acting it out) not only makes good emotional sense in both the short and the long term but good economic sense as well. It costs 5 times as much to keep people in a psychiatric hospital than to support them in the community.
See what it costs at Wood’s Homes . . .
The cost for families:
• Calling the Community Resources Team for advice at 2 a.m. – Cost $0
• Taking her to the Eastside Family Centre (Mon-Sat) – Cost $0
• A five-day crisis stay in Stabilization (including school) – Cost $0
• Residential treatment for a serious problem for four months – Cost $0*
The operational costs:
• One home visit or crisis conversation costs - $25
• One psychological session at the Family Centre costs – $20-80
• 5 days in Stabilization – about $1,500.
• 4 months of residential treatment – $36,000
All of these services are in community-based buildings with accessible and family-focused locations.
Twenty two out of 26 young people who resided in the Exceptional Needs program for four to six months in 2004-2005 (after a lengthy hospital stay) now live back at home and are attending their regular school .
Some disorders explained:
Psychosis
There is a group of illnesses which disrupt the functioning of the brain so much, they cause a condition called psychosis. When someone experiences psychosis they are unable to distinguish what is real - there is a loss of contact with reality. Most people are able to recover from an episode of psychosis.
Among symptoms doctors look for are:
Confused thinking - when acutely ill, people with psychotic symptoms experience disordered thinking. The everyday thoughts that let us live our daily lives become confused and don't join up properly.
Delusions - delusion is a false belief held by a person which is not held by others of the same cultural background.
Hallucinations - the person sees, hears, feels, smells or tastes something that is not actually there. The hallucination is often of disembodied voices which no one else can hear.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a major mental illness affecting the normal functioning of the brain. It is characterized by psychotic symptoms and a diminished range of expressions of emotion. It affects one person in every hundred.
First onset is usually in adolescence or early adulthood. It can develop in older people, but this is not nearly as common. Some people may experience only one or more brief episodes in their lives. For others, it may remain a recurrent or life-long condition.
For information about schizophrenia, visit: www.schizophrenia.ca
Bipolar Mood Disorder
Bipolar mood disorder is the new name for what was called manic depressive illness. The new name is used as it better describes the extreme mood swings - from depression and sadness to elation and excitement - that people with this illness experience.
People with bipolar mood disorder experience recurrent episodes of depressed and elated moods. Both can be mild to severe. The term 'mania' is used to describe the most severe state of extreme elation and over activity.
Some people with bipolar disorder do not experience depressive episodes-only the episodes of elation and excitement.
For information about bi-polar, visit: www.obad.ca/canada_supports