‘I will not stop being loud about it until something changes’
Mental-health advocates continue weekly demonstrations to raise awareness about care
ST. JOHN’S – One hundred and seventy-five — that’s the number of weeks a group of people advocating for better mental-health care marked when they gathered at Confederation Building in St. John’s on Monday, April 8.
Kristi Allan of Petty Harbour-maddox Cove started the weekly demonstrations in December 2020.
For 51 weeks, the demonstrations were held at the Waterford Hospital and then moved to the Confederation Building.
Allan told Saltwire that she wanted to do something long-term to serve as a constant reminder to the provincial government that more is needed, and she’s not alone in doing so.
FIGHT TO BE HEARD OR SEEN
Kaiden Dalley has struggled with his mental health for a long time.
He grew up in central Newfoundland and after he moved away he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had things put in place for his care.
“Then I moved back, and suddenly lost everything again. I had to start all over again,” he says.
Dalley was living with his parents and seeing a mentalhealth nurse for counselling. It was a recommendation from the nurse that prompted him to move to St. John’s because there was nothing in central for him.
“I kind of had no choice,” he said.
Still, it wasn’t easy.
“I had to fight for quite a few years to even be heard or seen at all.”
FINDING PURPOSE
Dalley started attending the demonstrations in April 2021.
Around that time, he had availed of some of the services at the Waterford and had a difficult time with it.
“I was looking to see what other people’s experiences with mental-health care were here,” he said.
He stumbled across something on Twitter (now X) about the demonstrations and
contacted Allan to see if he could attend to see what was happening.
“I decided to just keep coming back, definitely because the message and the meaning behind it means so much to me personally," Dalley said.
“I’m lucky I’m in a better place with that now, but it’s still something that I’ve faced and seen the people around me face every day and it really resonates with me.”
ACCESS TO CARE
For the most part, Dalley now has access to care.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot more than I had in the past and I’ve been able to kind of move closer to the stage of I’m doing this so other people don’t have to go through it while I have the energy to do it and I know other people don’t," he explained.
"Before that, it was very much kind of my reason to keep going in a way. It was like, if I yell about this, then maybe something will change for somebody else, and maybe even for myself.
“I will not stop being loud about it until something changes."
INADEQUATE RESOURCES
“There’s so many things the system needs, but as it stands right now, there is no access to long-term supports,” Dalley said.
Counselling options are limited, or often people are offered one-time sessions, which don't work, he said.
Seeing a psychiatrist involves getting on a list first and then waiting up to three years to get one appointment.
For young people, there can be a gap in services.
When he was younger, Dalley saw his school counsellor during the school year.
“Then summer would come, and I’d be left in the dark. There’s no long-term care. There really isn’t.
“It’s gotten to the point that it almost feels that you can’t even say there is resources because what is there is just so inadequate,” he said.
“It’s hard to see somebody long term when you don’t have enough people to see everybody, which I think is how we got in this pickle.”
Dalley said there needs to be more focus put on retention, something that applies to medical care as a whole.
“It’s fine and dandy to say we’re going to pump out more doctors from our med school this year, but it doesn’t mean anything if they’re not staying. And the system isn’t set up very well for them to do that.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Allan may get the credit for starting the demonstrations, but she says it’s Dalley and the others who stand with her week after week who deserve the recognition.
“I have seen them do incredible things. I have seen them just rise to occasions to speak and to speak truth to power and to do whatever they can and quite frankly they’ve kept me going when I’ve wanted to stop it," Allan said.
“I’ve seen them be so much braver than me and, honestly, I think they are the ones that should be talked about and not me because they’ve done a lot."
She says that while she sometimes wonders if the demonstrations are making a difference, she has seen that they are.
The demonstrations have been in the news, she’s built a following online and when she has asked for donations, people answer the requests.
Money that’s raised goes to the Jacob Puddister Memorial Foundation, which provides mental-health resources to youth.
It’s the people who have listened and donated that she said have made a practical difference.
“It does make all those weeks worth it. It does make the mental toll of the demonstrations worth it,” she said.