Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined

Serious question: Why is it that when people show signs of serious mental illness or psychosis -- calling the police for help is often viewed as a "last resort" by families and loved ones? Historically, when law enforcement and mental illness intersect, the results have been patchy. But Sgt. Cara Thomson of Surrey RCMP's Police Mental Health Outreach team wants to change that. Her unit handles pol...

It's a hard reality that mental illness and substance use often coincide. Combine these factors with poverty and social marginalization, and you have the snowballing problem known as "concurrent disorders." Dr. Bill MacEwan has spent the last 20+ years working with patients in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that is home to around 20,000 people with almost 25% of the people sufferin...

On this episode of  Look Again  we’re asking: what’s at the root of the hesitation around using medication to treat mental illness? How do the medications actually work on the brain? And what other treatments work in combination with medications? Host Faydra Aldridge speaks with Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia....

Right now, there's an idea that cannabis is a harmless drug and some people say they use it to help their mental health. But for those predisposed to serious mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia, science tells us it’s not that cut and dry. Host Faydra Aldridge of BCSS, along with her guest Dr. Nick Mathew, a practising addiction and forensic psychiatrist, look at how society grapples with...

In this special episode, learn about the alarming statistics revealing Schizophrenia as the second-highest risk factor in COVID-19 mortality rates, and discover what it’s like to live through a pandemic with a mental illness. In part one, host Faydra Aldridge is joined by a woman who witnessed how the stress and uncertainty of living in the time of COVID have exacerbated her brother's mental...

In this episode, host Faydra Aldridge illuminates the reality of what it's like to experience auditory hallucinations, or “hear voices,” by speaking to people who have lived it. Faydra is joined by Dr. Randall White, the Medical Director of Community Mental Health in Vancouver and the clinical director of the BC Psychosis Program at UBC Hospital, to talk about what is psychosis, what i...

While mental health is a well-covered topic, people often lump it together with mental illness. We want to challenge the idea that disorders like Schizophrenia are 'mental health' issues. Listen in to our first episode of Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined, where host Faydra Aldridge of BCSS along with her guest Dr. Diane McIntosh, a clinical assistant professor at the University of British Co...

"Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined” is a groundbreaking new podcast brought to you by the BC Schizophrenia Society and supporting partners. The podcast brings forward the humanity of mental illness while dispelling the myths by sharing the voices of medical experts, family members, and people with lived experience with mental illness. Host Faydra Aldridge, CEO of BCSS, speaks with medic...