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Taking Your Calls on Mental Health

After last Friday's special program on mental health -- guest- hosted by Steven Page -- our inbox was overflowing. People shared their stories of hope, desperation, frustration. Many poured their hearts out openly. And many asked for more.

So this morning, we turned the entire program over to you for a special national phone-in program about mental health and mental illness.

To help field calls from listeners, we were joined again by Steven Page, former frontman of the Barenaked Ladies. Steven has struggled with mental illness himself over the years and he openly shared some of his experiences on our Mental Health Special.

Click here for the full Mental Health Special program

Listen to Steven Page's interview with Anna Maria on depression:

And Doctor David Goldbloom also joined Steven and Anna Maria in studio. He was the first physician in chief at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is now their senior medical advisor for Education and Public Affairs. He is also is the Vice Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Click here for Dr. Goldbloom's Recommended Reading List

AUDIO

National Phone-In Segment:






Included in our Phone-In Segment:

Cheryl Whittleton - Nurse

To address this, British Columbia's Interior Health Authority is giving special workshops to its health care providers to try to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness. Cheryl Whittleton is a nurse at the health centre that piloted the program, Castlegar and District Health Centre in B.C. We asked her to give us a sense of the problem they're trying to address.

Richard Schneider - Judge

Canada's courts often struggle with how to deal with people with mental illness. Richard Schneider knows that first-hand. He's a judge at the Ontario Court of Justice. He was in Toronto.

Jane Robinson - English Teacher

Mental illness often presents itself for the first time in late adolescence or early adulthood. That's something teachers have to be aware of. In most provinces, high school curriculum encourages teachers to talk about mental health. But according to Jane Robinson, an English Teacher at Eastview Secondary School in Barrie, Ontario, there are other ways to address it too. We heard from her.

Arlene Dickinson - The Current's Friday Host

Arlene Dickinson will be in this chair tomorrow. She is the lone female dragon on CBC Television's Dragon's Den. She's also the CEO of Venture Communications, one of Canada's most successful marketing companies. She'll be The Current's Friday Host tomorrow and she shared her thoughts on the issue of mental illness and the workplace.

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