It’s vital to not just pay lip service to the importance of mental health

Well-spoken, polite, cooperative, friendly, calm, kind, caring. Always smiling.

There is so much needless tragedy with the suicide of Glenn Piche in 2013, when he was supposed to be safe in the care of the psychiatric ward of the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. The testimony heard for three days last week during the fatality inquiry into his death gave Piche’s family some answers, but also created more questions.

The ultimate hope is that Alberta Health Services listens to the recommendations that will come from the judge, and no family will have to go through what Piche’s family has had to go through.

But one thing — amongst many — that stood out during the testimony was Piche himself. He was consistently described as friendly, calm, not in distress, polite, co-operative. It was enough that even hospital staff did not assess him as being at such a high risk level for suicide that he required constant supervision.

Glenn was a good man, a loving man, although extremely troubled, as family and friends have described him. He was a man who gave out invitations to Christmas dinner to those who had no place to go on the holiday. The comments section for the Medicine Hat News is a testament to who he was, overflowing with comments about him and the impact he’s had on the community.

And it’s a reminder that people struggling with mental health, with depression, with feelings of self harm and suicidal ideations don’t fit into a onedimensional stereotype.

They can be the driven professional, the stay-athome mom, the young athlete, the person who faithfully attends church every Sunday, who volunteers, is always willing to help, never misses a day of work, who seems to have everything going for them. The person with a loving and supportive family. The person who constantly smiles, jokes and laughs. That’s the tricky thing about mental health — what’s on the surface doesn’t necessarily reflect what’s happening underneath. People can be quite good at hiding their struggles due to shame, pride, not wanting to be a burden, not wanting to admit the need for help, and more. Piche’s family knew this, they knew he was struggling, and knew they needed to get him help beyond what they could give.

And despite whatever facade a person has built up, there are usually always clues and signs that they’re struggling.

Which is why it’s vital to not just pay lip service to the importance of mental health — but for each and every person to educate themselves about what they need to look for, what they can do to help. To have frank discussions about mental health with loved ones, peers, and within the community.

So we can take care of each other now, instead of trying to piece together broken hearts with 20/20 hindsight.

People can be quite good at hiding their struggles due to shame, pride, not wanting to be a burden, not wanting to admit the need for help, and more.