Weyburn celebrated Canadian Mental Health Week last week with a series of events, including the Mayor's Luncheon.
Weyburn celebrated Canadian Mental Health Week last week with a series of events, including the Mayor's Luncheon.
The luncheon was held at McKenna Hall on May 7 during the noon hour, with many mental health representatives and the mayor giving speeches.
Erskine Sandiford emceed the luncheon and entertained those in attendance with a few poems and jokes.
The first speaker Sandiford introduced was Tasha Collings, program director of the Canadian Mental Health Association's Weyburn branch.
Collings reminded the audience that Mental Health Week is always the first week in May and that this is the 62nd year the nation has recognized it.
Collings said the theme of this year's events was youth mental health.
An estimated 3.2 million youth in Canada are at risk of developing depression or some other form of mental illness.
After injuries, suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people aged 15 to 24 and is the second highest cause of health care expenditures, after injuries, for youth.
An estimated one in three Canadians will have mental health problems at some point, but only one in five will get any sort of help.
Collings said those last figures were important and a good reason to continue Mental Health Week because it helps people to reflect and change the stigmas and attitudes surrounding mental health.
After Collings, Sandiford introduced Velda Coulter, who said grace before everybody was invited to eat.
When the speeches resumed, Sandiford introduced Mayor Debra Button.
Button spoke about how busy her life was as Mayor of Weyburn, the first female president of SUMA, a wife and a mother of four.
She said being president of SUMA was "not a job I ever imagined I'd have."
She spoke about her issues breaking into the "old boys club" of SUMA and goals of promoting women leaders.
Button said respect and balance were important aspects of helping her accomplish her goals while staying mentally healthy.
She said sometimes parents have to redefine typical gender roles to care for the family and still allow everybody to feel fulfilled and reach for their goals.
Ultimately, Button said she feels most out of balance when she forgets to take a little bit of time for herself and that balance is always her biggest challenge with so many balls in the air.
"I'm living the dream," said Button, who added that she still needed somebody to do the laundry and clean.
After the mayor's speech, Sandiford advised the audience to take a lesson from the weather and the long winter we just experienced.
"It pays no attention to criticism," said Sandiford before introducing Phyllis O'Connor, assistant executive director of the CMHA Saskatchewan division.
O'Connor spoke briefly about new CMHA initiatives in the province, including a partnering with the police, courts and hospital to work with violent offenders at risk to re-offend and pushing for more mental health programs and facilities.
She urged the communities to form a "united voice to push government ahead."
Duane Schultz, a Sun Country Health Region regional director of mental health and addiction services, spoke next.
Schultz said last time he was on stage at the mayor's luncheon was 10 years ago and he had a cold both 10 years ago and again that day.
He said 10 years ago, people knew how to respond if he said he had a cold, but didn't appear to know how to respond when he said he had bouts of depression.
When he told the audience at this year's luncheon the same thing, he said the response was very different.
"We've come a long way. Virtually all of you looked me in the eyes when I said that," said Schultz to demonstrate the progress made on reducing mental health stigmas.
To finish the luncheon, Sandiford introduced the guest speaker, David Jones, the southern coordinator of problem gambling community programmer with CMHA.
Jones' speech was titled "How I single-handedly have curbed problem gambling in Saskatchewan".
Jones said gambling is not a problem for about 80 per cent of people who enjoy the activity, but for the other 20 per cent, the "attraction to gambling can just be too enticing to resist".
He said youth were at a particular risk because of their "general inclination towards risk taking" and desire to be like the adults in their lives.
Then, he spoke about various ways in which toy developers and gambling marketers are targeting the youth audience to help them create patterns of enjoying the past-time at a young age. He used examples of free smart phone gambling apps, the Webkinz online arcade, and gambling conferences which showcase new software geared towards a young audience as evidence.
Jones finished his speech by saying gamblers will always lose in the long run because the games are rigged to make the gambler lose.
