My Mental Health Advocacy 2008 / 2009 / 2010

KEITH ANDERSON, LL.B., LL.M., Email: kna1960@eastlink.ca



My Mental Health Advocacy 2008/2009/2010/ I wrote a first person account of my depression and recovery for the National Post newspaper. It was titled “How I Returned to a Life Worth Living” and appeared in the paper on February 20, 2008.

As a result of my writing the National Post article, I was invited by Carol Tooton, Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Nova Scotia Division, to co-present a workshop at the Canadian Mental Health Association National Conference held in August, 2008, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It was my first time speaking in public in just over five years.
I was interviewed for the cover story of Anchor magazine’s 2008 summer issue. Anchor is a publication dealing exclusively with depression. ( http://www.anchormag.com/ )

I wrote an article, titled “Life is Over Rated ”, for the Ontario Lawyers’ Assistance Program. It is posted at www.olap.ca/keith-anderson.html

This article was edited for Addendum, a publication of the Canadian Bar Association.

I met with Deborah Rozee and Cheryl Canning of the Nova Scotia Lawyers’ Assistance Program. The article from the Ontario LAP was updated and appears in The Society Record, the magazine of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, forwarded to all lawyers in Nova Scotia in January, 2009. The Society Record article can be accessed at http://www.nsbs.org/documents/publications/sr/SR%20Vol%2027%20No%201,%20January%202009.pdf

Appearance on Doc Talk, hosted by Dr. John Gillis, on Eastlink Television, to discuss my depression, its impact on my life, and my recovery, broadcast on February 11,12,13,16, and 17, 2009.

Carol Tooton, Executive Director, of Canadian Mental Health Association, Nova Scotia Division, nominated me for an Inspiring Lives Award, sponsored by the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Nova Scotia Division. The Awards were presented at a luncheon held at Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 6, 2009, and though I was not chosen as an Award recipient, the event was certainly “inspiring.”
Interviewed by Wendy Martin for CBC Radio’s Information Morning, Sydney, Nova Scotia, on May 6, 2009.

Krista Daley, CEO of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, asked me to be a panel member at the Canadian Council of Administrative Tribunals National Conference ( http://www.ccat-ccta.org/ ) held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 31-June 2, 2009. I discussed my being one who had a mental illness (depression) and how I dealt with various bureaucracies at the time and how those same bureaucracies treated me. I was joined on the panel by Professor Archie Kaiser, Dalhousie Law School, Halifax.

Member of Mental Health Peer Advocates Training Project Committee ( June, 2009). The Committee is “to enhance the capacity of Nova Scotia communities to provide individual and systemic advocacy in relation to people with mental illness.” ( quoted from the proposal call issued by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and Disabled Persons Commission ).
I have an article in Canadian Health magazine’s 2009 summer issue.
I have an article in Law Practice Today, a publication of the American Bar Association, in August, 2009, for its Balance and Wellness issue, found at http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/ftr08094.shtml. This was at the request of Deborah Gillis, QC, Lawyers’ Insurance Association of Nova Scotia, who is on the editorial board.

Article posted on Beyond Blue’s website, which is the Australian National Program to raise public awareness about depression and to reduce the stigma associated with it.

Interviewed for an article in the October 16, 2009, issue of Lawyers Weekly.

I spoke at the 5th Annual Living with Mental Illness Conference: First Voice sponsored by the Family Working Group of the Cape Breton District Health Authority, Sydney, Nova Scotia, on October 30, 2009. Audience of 550 people.

Interview in Cape Breton Post newspaper, Sydney, Nova Scotia, on November 2, 2009.

Taped a public service announcement, called Pass It On, on November 2, 2009, for The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia for later broadcast on CTV and other uses. Available to view at http://www.mentalhealthns.ca/

Volunteer with BringChange2Mind, a not-for-profit organization established by Glenn Close and the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, Fountain House, and Garen and Shari Staglin of International Mental Health Research Organization. I am the administrator of the BC2M’s Facebook page, and help monitor its website. I also respond to people in search of certain resources. http://www.bringchange2mind.org/

Guest lecturer at Solo Practice University ( www.solopracticeuniversity.com/blog ) an online school for solo and small firm practitioners. My topic will be Lawyers and Depression / A Healthy Mind, A Healthy Practice, February 26, 2010, posted on Solo Practice University’s Facebook page for all to access (http://www.facebook.com/solopracticeuniversity?v=app_7146470109 )

Consulted with the Canadian Mental Health Association, Nova Scotia Division, for the Inquiry into the Death of Howard Hyde

Blog: http://www.myreturnkickindepression.blogspot.com/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/keithllbllm

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