Canada Post teams up with mental health services

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By Bryan Tait

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Speak Up

The numbers are dramatic. Approximately one in five Canadians will suffer from some kind of mental illness in their lifetime.

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PHOTO BY BRYAN TAIT

Sharon Kelly, far left, local area superintendent for Canada Post, holds a book of the new commemorative stamps. Next to Kelly, from left, are community mental health nurse Stacey Walton, Woodstock/Perth-Andover Mental Health Services manager Noelle McHugh, and community mental health nurse Paula Wilson.

In an effort to raise awareness, Canada Post issued a new commemorative stamp on Monday. When customers purchase a book of the semi-postal stamps, a one dollar donation will be included in the purchase price. A semi-postal stamp is one where a surcharge is added to the face value of the stamp, in this case 10 cents. The only other semi-postal stamps issued were from 1974 to 1976 in support of the Montreal Olympics, and in 1996 in support of literacy in Canada.

In addition to the stamp, post offices will be asking customers if they'd like to make a one dollar donation to the Canada Post mental health campaign.

Canada Post based the concept for the stamp on a report co-authored by Michael Kirby, chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The report focused on the lack of knowledge and services keeping mental health patients from receiving proper care.

In a press release issued by Canada Post, president and CEO Moya Greene said the stamp is a key part of the postal service's effort to raise awareness of the scale of the problem of mental health care.

"Mental illness is an issue that is relevant to everyone in every community across our country," Greene said in the release.

The initiative is part of the recently established Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health. In Woodstock, the post office is teaming up with River Valley Health to raise awareness. Mental Health Services set up a small booth at the post office where people could get information about the various treatment options available through River Valley Health. Community mental health nurses were available on Monday morning to answer questions.

"We have two centres in the area," said Noelle McHugh, manager of the local mental health services. "One in the Woodstock Bicentennial Centre and one in Perth-Andover."

There is also a mobile crisis response team, established in October 2007.

"It's for interventions when our offices are closed," McHugh said.

Canada Post will be accepting donations through October for the foundation.

For more information about the mental health services provided by River Valley Health, you can contact the office in Woodstock at 325-4419, or the office in Perth-Andover at 273-4701. For more information on the Canada Post foundation, checkout the website at www.canadapost.ca/foundation.