I belong to a wonderful Facebook group called “Ontario Mental Health Support Group”.
It’s a safe space (you can post anonymously if you like) for people all across Ontario (Canada) to share mental health resources, local events, experiences, spread awareness, ask for advice, educate others, gain peer support or simply vent your frustrations. It is a much needed forum, now more than ever.
There are over 12,000 members to date.
Over the past few months I began sharing some of my blogs to the platform where it pertains to my advocacy work or what feels relevant in the moment. This has included my recent frustrations with both our healthcare system and my personal thoughts on ways we can help our police better equip themselves to handle mental health crises without stigma or intimidation.
My experiences and frustrations have been very welcomed and supported by the members of this group, many of whom have found themselves or a loved one in similar situations and have been very thankful that I am speaking out on these issues, but last night the comment thread took a turn I never saw coming by a couple of members in the group; one in particular.
We are all entitled to have our own opinions whether one agrees with you or not but last night I felt both confused and saddened which led me to once again question my purpose in life.
My post quickly turned into a debate about defunding the police. It was the last thing I intended it for and the furthest thing from my mind when I began to speak out about my experience.
I don’t hate the police at all. Are there “crooked cops” out there? Absolutely there are but overall, I still believe in my heart that police officers deserve to be treated with the utmost respect and that they truly have the hardest and most honorable job in all the universe.
I don’t want to see police budgets cut, I want just the opposite of that. Instead I want to make sure that they have the proper funding available to them in order to ensure they are given more training and proper resources to better handle mental health crises which also needs to include hiring enough social workers and other mental health professionals to accompany them on their calls whenever needed; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is my hope that this will help to alleviate the sometimes scary, forceful and often intimidating tactics being used now.
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YouAreEnough 