LESS TALK, MORE ACTION
Protesters want extra funding for mental health
Tanner Hallemann struggled for composure as he talked about losing Kye Ball, one of his best friends, to suicide.
“We grew up together since Grade 1 — it was just terrible to see it happen,” said Hallemann, a Grade 11 student from Indian Head.
Police were called after Kye told his friends on March 20 that he planned to kill himself. Hallemann and five other friends got to Kye’s Indian Head home at the same time as the RCMP — just as the 16-year-old shot himself.
“I remember everything — from walking up the stairs to seeing the trigger being pulled,” Hallemann said. In spite of “tons of support” he and the other youths have received, their lives are hell.
“I have nightmares and I have to take sleeping pills every night,” Hallemann said. He was among about 200 people who gathered in Regina at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and marched to the Legislative Building on Friday morning.
Ball’s parents, Wanda and Chris Ball, led the rally, which was organized to give voice to their son’s suffering.
Many who carried signs with a picture of Kye and the message “Mental Health: Why Didn’t I Matter?” have felt the anguish that accompanies suicide. The pain was palpable on the steps of the Legislative Building when Wanda made an impassioned plea to Premier Brad Wall.
“Mental illness is killing our children — the future of this province,” she said. “Don’t send another parent or another family home to grieve the loss of a loved one. This is on you, Mr. Wall. These changes you need to invest in. Call me. I have some fantastic ideas.”
Another mother told of her struggle to get mental health resources for her daughter before the suicidal teen was admitted to a psychiatric unit for a few days.
“The psychiatrist said, ‘We’re discharging her.’ And I said to him, ‘How am I going to keep her safe at night?’ He said: ‘Just go home and work on your relationship.’ A few weeks later, I’m attending her funeral.”
Alisha Tourscher tearfully spoke of the suicide of her father, Gavin Wilkinson, on May 5, 2014. After her parents’ breakup, her father’s mood tanked. At the family’s insistence, he finally got an appointment to see a mental health professional.
“He was put on the list and was supposed to go in on the Friday and died that Monday,” Tourscher said. “It’s so hard ... my oldest brothers are graduating this year and Dad won’t be at their graduation. I was lucky enough that he was able to be at my graduation and my wedding, but he never got to meet my children.”
Person after person relayed personal tragedies and urged the government not to balance the budget at the expense of mental health.
Speaking to reporters in Saskatoon, Health Minister Jim Reiter said the government has incrementally increased funding and psychiatrists in the province.
“There’s a lot of resources in the entire health system . ... But again, I’m not going to sugar coat it. We want to do better,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Health, mental health support rose 45 per cent between 2007-08 and 2015-16. In 2007-08, actual expenditures on mental health were $179,446,747. In 2015-16, they were $260,756,721.