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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. —

Darcy MacIsaac hopes a new P.E.I. government will translate into better mental health care.

MacIsaac, 22, of Charlottetown says the system he has experienced – to great frustration and near fatal outcome – only has room to improve.

He is certainly pleased voters sent the Liberal government packing in last week’s provincial election.

“Well, I’m definitely glad that (government) changed, for sure,’’ he says.

He is “cautiously optimistic’’ the new Progressive Conservative government will improve the mental health-care system that has long been maligned as under-resourced and filled with holes.

Care has fallen far short, he says, in helping him effectively address his anxiety and depression, not to mention his suicidal thoughts and even attempts to end his life.

His aggravating encounters with mental health care began in December 2017 when, while experiencing a panic attack, he saw a doctor at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s emergency department in Charlottetown.

“I couldn’t breathe and I was shaking,’’ he recalls.

The doctor prescribed anti-depressant medication. It did not help.

One week later, he returned to the emergency department a couple times. Each time, there was no psychiatrist on duty.

He was admitted to the mental health unit that month. A psychiatrist told MacIsaac, who had come to terms with being gay two years earlier, that he may not be gay even if he believed he was.

That made him more anxious.

On another occasion, MacIsaac was admitted to the QEH’s mental health unit for six days. He did not see a psychiatrist during that stay but saw a psychologist three times.

After swallowing all his sleep-aid, anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication, he was rushed to hospital and once again ended up in Unit 9, the hospital’s mental health unit.

He was put in a safe room, which he describes as four white walls with paint coming off, a bed and a chair.

“That drove me stir crazy,’’ he says.

In six days, he saw three different psychiatrists.

One of those psychiatrists discharged MacIsaac, telling the young man his situation was not serious enough for him to remain in the mental health unit.

He protested, saying he was still feeling suicidal, but was still sent on his way.

“I’m coming forward with my story, but there are far too many people who have been taken from this world far too soon.’’ - Darcy MacIsaac

He went to community mental health and addiction services in June 2018, where he was put on a list to see a psychiatrist.

He spent a month trying to contact the manager about getting a referral. He only heard back after his father, a friend of then Liberal Health and Wellness Minister Robert Mitchell, got Mitchell on the manager’s tail.

Mitchell, who was re-elected last week but saw his Liberal government go down to defeat, declined to discuss MacIsaac’s struggles to get the care he sought or to talk about problems he may have saw with the mental health-care system in general during his run as minister.

MacIsaac hand-delivered a letter to Mitchell spelling out his “ongoing issues surrounding the ineffective mental health system in P.E.I. from the perspective of a young adult who has experienced it in its entirety”.

He described in the letter a disturbing mental health-care system - one where he has had to wait and wait and wait to see a psychiatrist; one where his suicide attempts are downplayed or dismissed by professionals.

He urged Mitchell to start listening to young people when they plead for a change in the mental health system.

“I’m coming forward with my story, but there are far too many people who have been taken from this world far too soon,’’ MacIsaac wrote, “because the help we need, and the help we are promised, we don’t receive.’’

Now, MacIsaac says his call for an improved mental health-care system must be directed at a new government.

Making inroads

Health P.E.I. says it takes the health and well-being of Islanders “very seriously’’ and has placed an intense focus in recent years on enhancing and expanding mental health services across the province. Here are some highlights of what Health P.E.I. believes is moving the province in the right direction:

Introduction of several community-based programs to make it easier for Islanders to access the right care at the right time. Examples include the mental health walk-in clinics, realigning psychiatry resources to further support community-based care, collaborative partnerships with primary care centres, training for staff so they can offer additional services and supports such as dialect behavioural therapy (DBT), child and adolescent specific programming (INSIGHT Program, Strongest Families Program, Student Well-Being Teams, etc.), as well as a transitional housing partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Last year, more than 1,300 Islanders accessed mental health walk-in clinics across the province, up from about 600 in 2017.

A comprehensive plan to modernize the mental health system over the next five years, improving care for Islanders in communities across the province and through a new mental health and addictions campus.

More information about mental health programs is available at www.healthpei.ca/mentalhealth.

While Health P.E.I. would not speak specifically about MacIsaac’s experiences with the mental health-care system in the province, it spoke generally of the approaches used to help people in similar circumstances.

“When someone expresses that they are in crisis, this includes experiencing thoughts of suicide, our staff carry out clinical assessment using a standardized suicide assessment tool (which has been implemented across the province) and immediately put a treatment plan in place based on the outcome of that assessment,’’ said Health P.E.I.

Health P.E.I. acknowledges more work is needed to improve access to mental health services for Islanders.

“We are working closely with our mental health staff and psychiatrists, who are committed to caring for Islanders, as we continue to take the important steps to enhance mental health programs, services and resources across Prince Edward Island,’’ it said.

“We will continue to identify opportunities to introduce and enhance community-based mental health services in a timely way.’’

Health P.E.I. announced last fall a comprehensive plan to modernize the mental health system over the next five years, improving care for Islanders in communities across the province and through a new mental health and addictions campus.

Resources

How to get help: If you or someone you know needs immediate mental health help, go to the nearest hospital, call 911 or call the province’s crisis line at 1-800-218-2885.

For additional provincial resources, visit princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/health-pei/mental-health-services

Anywhere in Canada, contact: Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868 or kidshelpphone.ca), Crisis Services Canada (1-833-456-4566, text: 45645,chat: crisisservicescanada.ca), Canadian Mental Health Association websites (cmha.ca, pei.cmha.ca).

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