Toronto, Ontario, Thursday, September 11, 2014

I am happy and honoured to be here to accept this Special Recognition Award, and also to accept this on behalf of my husband, David.

With so many psychiatrists in one place, I feel I should ask for a free consultation!

Professionals like you, and your colleagues in mental health care, have made my family and me stronger. Every person has a story and it is for him or her to tell. But we must ask ourselves the question: why did our family and many of our friends believe that getting help was sensible and not stigmatizing and others not?

David and I came of age in the turbulent sixties. At that time, from one year to the next, we went from no co-ed residences to men and women sharing the same washroom.

And we believe we are undergoing another social revolution. Today, more people than ever are speaking openly about having mental health issues. They are also expecting tolerance and understanding from family, friends and co-workers. 

I was an occupational therapy student during this time and it was Dr. Robin Hunter, psychiatrist-in-chief at the Clarke Institute, who introduced me to psychiatry when I attended his lectures.

During the same period, large psychiatric institutions like 999 Queen Street were closing. Patients who had spent decades in hospital were being discharged to families who had no idea how to cope with these strangers. 

My mother personally witnessed this dilemma when she began at 50 years of age her Master’s degree at the University of Toronto in Rehabilitation Social Work in 1966.

One patient on her caseload was the brother of a close family friend. He had been in an institution for 40 years. His family did not feel they could care for him.

Like many others discharged with mental illness, this man now lived in a lonely rooming house. Situations like this led to society equating mental illness with craziness because mental illness was now visible and no longer hidden behind closed walls.

Fast forward to the past four years. David and I feel privileged that as a governor general and myself as his wife, we have been able to speak up about mental illness and mental health.

To be advocates, we first needed to witness and familiarize ourselves with the innovative practices in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

Discovering what is being done has been an amazing journey.

Programs for at risk youth, outreach for rural residents, mental health care tailored for aboriginal peoples and dozens of innovative practices targeted to specific mental health needs abound in our country.

For example, some of my most meaningful conversations took place in the Montreal subway where I met people with different poignant stories. 

I was taken there by dedicated professionals from an organisation called Exeko, a charity whose goal is to promote inclusion and development for the marginalized people through innovation in culture and education.

Our hope is to connect people across Canada in order to share the innovation that we have seen so that professionals in mental health care can share their best practices.

One in five Canadians suffer from some type of mental health problem. And the suffering is made more acute by the shame a person feels at needing help.

Decades ago, a wealthier person seeking help might have asked to pay in cash to avoid any medical record that they had received mental health care.

Of course, mental illness knows no social class. Many have sought to hide the help they receive. Or worse still, deny that they had a problem.

So we still have much to do including in the Canadian Armed Forces. Yesterday was Suicide Prevention Day. Many including General Lawson have highlighted the day by encouraging dialogue and urging men and woman in uniform currently combatting mental illness to seek help.

But I am confident that those amongst us needing psychiatric care can and will step forward and ask for help, thanks in no small part to your efforts.

And so, I want to share this award with everyone here who works on the front lines, who delivers care directly, who speaks up on a daily basis, who takes care of our mental well-being.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my appreciation for what you do on a daily basis. David and I, along with all Canadians, are grateful.