Mental Health Division

BROCKVILLE MENTAL HEALTH CENTRE
 

A cry for help…but is Ontario listening?

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas
Brockville Recorder and Times – October 31, 2009
 

The death of a female inmate who took her own life in an Ontario federal corrections facility two years ago is not only a tragedy for the family, but should serve as an alarm for the Province of Ontario as well.

Ashley Smith was only 19 years old when she hung herself in a cell in Grand Valley Institution on Oct. 19, 2007. First jailed when she was only 15, Ashley became a “product of the system” and was transferred from institution to institution across Canada, spending most of her incarceration in isolation.

Ashley’s story will be told by others in the months ahead. Regardless of how a lawsuit filed by the family plays out in the courts, what has become apparent is that Ashley suffered from varying degrees of mental illness…and that she went relatively ignored and untreated for most of her youth. As a young adult, it looks like she never stood a chance.

What is disturbing is that Ontario appears to have little in the way of treatment programs for women who come into conflict with the law and are suffering from mental health issues. And this must be addressed immediately.

A recent study commissioned by the Canadian Mental Health Association found that the number of women who suffer from mental illness is on the rise. Often, women who experience sexual abuse or physical violence can develop depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, dissociative identity disorder, psychosis, and eating disorders. Women also make three to four times more suicide attempts than men.

In some cases, arrest and incarceration is the result. It is estimated that up to 30 per cent of female inmates in the provincial corrections system suffer from mental health issues. Often, the only reason these women are behind bars is because there are no mental health beds available anywhere. These women go undiagnosed, untreated, and ignored. Upon their release, the same brutal cycle begins again.

So what can the Ontario government do? Step One: Be proactive. Ontario should immediately take the lead on the provision for specialized mental health services for women. Treatment must be the first priority. An unprecedented opportunity to do just that has presented itself in Brockville, Ontario.

The ill planned bed and services reduction at the Brockville Mental Health Centre (BMHC) could be just the answer, if our provincial government has the vision to act upon it.

With few modifications, the site of the BMHC could easily be turned into a mental health treatment centre for women across the province. Instead of incarceration only, women could get the help they need to turn their lives around. Brockville already has the infrastructure in place. It already has scores of staff trained in the provision of treatment and programs. It could be a beacon of hope for many troubled women across Ontario for whom the light of hope has dimmed to almost nothing.

As I said, the province has a golden opportunity to be proactive and forward-thinking. There should be no added delay waiting for another report from the federal corrections watchdog. Instead of destroying services in Brockville, the BMHC could be a phoenix rising from the ashes. It could provide hope for women who suffer in silence, have no one to turn to, or worse, are repeatedly ignored and forgotten at the very time they need care.

This cannot be allowed in a province as prosperous as ours. Despite our economic problems, investments in people always pay a high rate of return. Will there be a cost involved in providing mental health services for women who need secure care? Absolutely. But the cost of doing nothing is far greater, in both money and lives.

For Ashley Smith, it is too late. But many others are crying for help. Is the McGuinty government listening? More importantly, will they act before another tragedy occurs? For the women and their families, we hope so. Because one death is one death too many.