Through one-on-one support via
phone, email or face-to-face, Callum
helps clients navigate the mental health
system by informing them of their legal
rights under the Mental Health Act and
through proper referral to the right organization or service. Last year, Callum
spoke with to 1,748 people requesting
Advocacy support.
Advocacy also revived the SelfAdvocacy Skills workshop, where
Callum speaks to groups of people in
the community about their rights and
how to self-negotiate.
“People should know what their
rights are and most don’t. People
should know how they can get treatment and many don’t know that either,”
he says. “It’s even more important to
know your rights if you’ve got a mental
health condition because you’re a lot
more vulnerable.”
Perhaps the greatest achievement
for Callum was Advocacy’s leading
role alongside Mental Health Patient
Advocate Office and Alberta Human
Rights Commission in developing
provincial-wide guidelines around the
release of a person’s mental health
status in their police background check.
The effort was built upon previous
work done by Advocacy in 2010 that
had achieved official procedures for
Calgary. And because of the work, out
of 156,000 police checks requested in
Calgary last year, only eight people’s
mental health status was released.
Calgary police have also invited the
Advocacy program to participate in
the appeals process when someone’s
status does appear on their background check.
Advocacy
Navigating through the mental health system can be a daunting experience. The
Advocacy program assists any person with a mental health service need. Support
may include assistance in navigating complicated systems, assisting people in
overcoming challenges and identifying opportunities while ensuring the protection
of human rights.
The program assists with such issues as health care, finances, completing paperwork, filing complaints, residential tenancy issues and more. Advocacy also maintains close working relationships with community and provincial organizations
and systems to move big picture systemic and policy issues forward for improved
service delivery.
People receive support to obtain information on available community resources,
and for assistance with developing actions or steps to address their issues and
improve their situation, promoting their skills for advocating for themselves.
In 2012-2013:
1,748
individuals
with
mental
health concerns receive support from
Advocacy (an increase of 508 from
last year)
10%
37%
35%
97%
8
self-advocacy workshops were
offered (an increase of 5 from
last year)
required support for family
required assistance for mental health issues and access to care
required assistance for legal, financial, housing or social support
issues
reported they now know what steps they will take to address their
issue
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