(NUPGE) During Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW), October 2-8, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is urging Canadians to call on federal and provincial governments to fund and expand mental health services across the country.

“There has been great progress made in our understanding of mental illness,” says NUPGE's National President James Clancy.

“People shouldn't have to suffer in silence. Our country is seriously lacking the support systems and services needed to help people with mental health problems.”

NUPGE points out that almost every Canadian has had a direct experience with mental illness - either themselves, a family member, a loved one, a neighbour, a friend or a colleague.

One in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime and approximately one million people in Canada live with a severe or persistent mental illness. Despite this, the stigma that has always been associated with it continues to be a major problem.

"Unfortunately, Canada does not have a national mental health strategy. What we have is a disparate mix of programs and services across the country. Whether an individual can get the supports they need often depends on where they live," explained Clancy.

"To make matters worse some provinces have been making deep cuts to what mental health services they have been offering."

NUPGE is calling on all governments in Canada to invest more resources to ensure Canada develops a comprehensive and integrated approach to:

Combating stigma;
Preventing, diagnosing and treating mental illness; and
Promoting good mental health.

Clancy thinks that “all governments need to act to bring mental health services into the mainstream of our public health care system with the resources necessary so that people living with mental illness receive the help they need and to which they are entitled.”

Mental Illness Awareness Week is an annual national public education campaign designed to help raise awareness of the level and reality of mental illness in Canada. The week was established in 1992 by the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) and is now coordinated by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH).