The Catholic Women’s League is in its second year of the theme, Inspired by the Spirit: Women Respond to God’s Call, and is focusing its attention nationally on mental health. In keeping with this national theme and focus, we invited two speakers to come to the October meeting from the local mental health association.
In opening, the pair asked the questions: Do you have mental health? Do you have stress? Of course, both answers are yes. The bigger question is how do you handle stress. For those who have difficulty handling stress, 2 out of 3 do not get the help they need.
A handout sheet entitled ‘Where to Find Help in Grey Bruce’ listed 4 full pages of assistance, everything from addiction and crisis services to housing and public education services. Our guests freely talked of their work in the area of mental health education and their own experiences dealing with issues.
Another area of focus was providing care for the caregivers and the benefits of peer support. Caregivers struggle at times and need the support of peers to successfully carry on.
The speakers interacted with the audience by enlisting discussion on various points and offering insights to personal situations. At the end of the talk, our guests were warmly thanked for coming and for bringing a wide selection of information on local services to assist those in need. In addition, our council made a donation to the local mental health association.
