Life Unscripted - Stories of Mental Health and Addiction

There's been a shocking 57.8% jump in intimate partner violence investigations in Niagara in two years. Jennifer Guathier, executive director of Birchway women's shelter talks about why there has been such a dramatic increase. She says part is the extra number of officers added to the domestic violence unit. Birchway Niagara - https://birchway.ca/

Darcy Patrick started 2022 on a high. He was releasing his 5th book and had started his dream job as a peer support worker, using his years of experience with depression and mental health recovery. Then he was hit by a severe infection that was eating his spinal cord. The never ending pain was excruciating. Darcy used all the tools he had developed over more than a decade and just released his 6th...

Mental health crises rarely start as an “emergency” and that’s exactly why people need clear options before things hit the breaking point. Kristen Dyell, Clinical Director of Operations at Canadian Mental Health Association Niagara, talks about what supports  CMHA offers, from no charge same day counselling to the Mobile Crisis Rapid  Response Team, which pairs a police officer and a social worker...

A two-and-a-half-year wait for youth mental health care can turn a manageable struggle into a crisis. Angela Simo Brown, President & CEO,  of Capitalize for Kids, talks about a different way to tackle the problem: not just raising money, but bringing pro bono business and technology expertise into child and youth mental health agencies to remove bottlenecks, reduce paperwork, and help clinicia...

Cassidy McKinnon shares what it looks like to transition from male to female in your 50s. Cassidy talks about how she slowly made the transition to ensure her wife, and especially her little girl, were OK. How the depression she'd been living since she was a teenager suddenly lifted once she began hormones. Cassidy's message to others thinking of or in the process of tranisitioning: Don&...

Former Ontario member of parliament Lisa McLeod has always talked openly about her depression and living with bipolar 1 disorder. She now shares regularly on Substack in Diary of a Bipolar Wandering Woman.   In this episode Janice and Lisa have an open conversation about what it's like to live with bipolar 1 and some ideas on how to bring calm into sometimes chaotic days.

What if the most dangerous sports hits aren’t the ones you see on highlight reels?  U.S. bobsled Olympian William Person was on the team for 9 years and he experienced G-forces, track vibration, and micro-concussions that left him with dementia-like symptons from a chronic brain injury - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Person uses a hyperbaric oxygen chamber - HBOT- to help with symptons, a trea...

The Consumption and Treatment Services location in Niagara may have to close because a school is opening close to the site. Evidence shows that consumption sites save lives, including 1,500 in Niagara since it opening in 2018. Recent provincial policy has mandated that a CTE can't be near a school even if it is already in the location. It also can't relocate so the Niagara CTE will have...

Recovery feels different when someone who has walked the same road shows you where the ground is solid. We sit down with peer supporter Chantel Bellingham to unpack how lived experience can cut through shame and build trust fast. Chantel has been on the show to share her journey with addiction and how her experience is now her superpower.

Parents and children can be confused, hurt and hopeless when a loved one  seems to put their subtance use and addiction ahead of their loved ones. Amber Hollingsworth is a therapist who helps families understand the grip addiction can have and tools to help themselves.  Lately, Amber has focused on her YouTube channel Put the Shovel Down , which is full of helpful videos. Put the Shovel Down Hope...

 The Working Mind is an evidence-based program developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada teaching employees and managers about mental health, reducing stigma, and building workplace resilience. Participants learn to recognize mental health changes, have open conversations, and develop coping and stress-management skills, creating supportive and psychologically safe workplaces. This cours...

Sean Bennett served for more than 25 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and 35 years as a firefighter. For him, the worst of his post traumatic stress disdorder are horrible nightmares - often reliving some of the worst of his calls as a firefighter, which include 23 children. Sean and his partner Graham Bettes, a police officer for 32 years, run a non-profit program in Niagara called Valhalla Pro...

Imagine both parents dying within a month of each other. The grief is overwhelming. That's what happened to mental health advocate Jennifer McCready in 2024. Jennifer has lived with depression most of her life. This was the biggest challenge she'd faced. For more than a decade Jennifer has empowered women with self-love, self-acceptance, and self-confidence through her Lady Luck photogra...

There can be immense pressure to drink during the December Holiday Season. Work, friends and family are having parties and alcohol is synonymous with celebrating. It can be particulary difficult for people who are in early recovery. Janice Rutgers, Executive Director of Community Addiction Services of Niagara, shares practical, non-judgmental tips on making the holidays healthier for everyone.

Chantel Bellingham was born 3 months early, weighed just over 3 pounds and addicted to methadone and possibly other opiates. She was adopted by a wonderful family but it’s not a surprise that addiction reared it’s ugly head when she was in college. Chantel is with me today to talk about using substances and how she is using her experience to help others.   She is now a peer support worker at Commu...

More than 5,000 people have called the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline in 2025.  The hotline is run by the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking and is there for people who are being trafficked, including sex and labour, or knows someone who is being exploited.  The number to call is 1-833-900-1010 and help is available 24/7.   The Centre's Ashley Franssen-Tingly talks about what it mea...

For more than two decades Ted Mouradian, president of the 2% factor, has helped hundreds of businesses create long-term, sustainable behavioral change using his infallible Law of Cooperative Action. Ted has written five books and his latest book Yep, Sh!t Happens uses the power of story to take the reader on a journey with Cooper that changes the way Cooper sees the world.

 Ian Fee had his first sip of beer when he was still in a stroller. His parents liked to party and as he got older so did he. Ian's memoir Wild Ride to Sobriety: Transformation from Drunken Oblivion to Profound Clarity takes us on the road from the culture of drinking with co-workers and clients, two lost marriages and how he got sober and stays sober.   Buy Ian's book on Amazon

The first "wind phone" was an unconnected telephone booth installed in the back yard by Japan artist Itaru Sasaki in 2010 to help him process the grief of losing his cousin who he had spoken to every day. After the devastating 2011 tsunami, hundreds of people came to his house asking to use the wind phone so he moved it to a public place. The unconnected telephone booth became a space fo...

Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT®) is a form of therapy that combines hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, and neuroscience principles. RTT® was developed and launched by hypnotherapist/psychotherapist Marisa Peer in 1985. It is based on a detailed  3-session approach beginning with hynoptherapy. Diane Konkin trained with Marisa Peer and is on the show today to talk about RTT® and her practice Advance...

This is Part Two of my interview with Leonard Buschel, author of High: From Cannabis to Clarity . Leonard got sober in 1994 and in this interview we talk about his 30 years helping people recover from addiction and the Addiction Recovery eBulletin.  In the previous interview, Leonard about talks about his decision to be a successful drug dealer when he was only 17. Leonard's book chronicles s...

Leonard Buschel was 17 when he decided he wanted to be a sucessful drug dealer and became the drug dealer to the stars for more than 30 years. He was also an addict who smoked cannabis from morning, noon to night and spent most nights using cocaine.  In 1994, Leonard stopped using drugs and for the past 3 decades he has worked helping people recover from addiction. His book High: From Cannabis to...

Climate change anxiety is a growing mental health issue. In Canada, massive fires across the country leading to evacuations and homes burning to the ground are leaving people with a sense of dread. Laurie Sarkadi is a journalist and author who lives off the grid outside of Yellowknife in the North West Territories. Her memoir - Voice in the Wild – in part chronicles her deep connection to nature a...

If you’ve been downtown in St. Catharines recently you may have seen some people wearing bright yellow tee shirts. They are peer support workers, all who have been homeless, and are out every day connecting with and supporting people who are living on the street now.  More and municipalites across Ontario have successful versions of Welcoming Streets. Welcoming Streets is a one year pilot project...