How Schizophrenia Survivors Are Offering a Helping Hand

(August 24, 2006) -- Mark Callingham beams as he talks about his job as co-ordinator of a new peer support program at the Royal Ottawa Hospital. It's given him the chance to connect with people who, like himself, have been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

"I'm a survivor of schizophrenia," says Mr. Callingham. "I have an understanding of it that no university degree can give you."

Mr. Callingham, 40, was diagnosed 12 years ago with the mental illness, and his struggle left him with the desire to help others with their recovery.

"You always think there's a reason why it happened to you. When you're recovering, you wish there was something positive you could do from your experience."

The two-month-old Wellness Project pairs the hospital's schizophrenia patients with volunteers who have all experienced mental illness, and went on to rebuild their lives. The volunteers undergo 10 days of training and a police check.

The patients, usually on the cusp of being discharged from hospital, are referred by their doctors. They fill out a questionnaire about background and interests, then are matched with a volunteer for weekly meetings where they can confide in, and learn from people who have endured similar experiences.

At the same time, the patients develop a wellness plan -- a strategy for coping and managing their health, based on what they've learned from their mentor.

The program is run by Mr. Callingham and Dr. Ron Bell, the project leader and psychologist, who said such a program is unique, and that others in the mental health field are watching with interest.

"We've taken two really good and new ideas, and put them together in a way that's never been done before," says Dr. Bell.

"First, there's the notion that peers can help peers, and to link these people who are peers to individuals as they're going through their illness," says Dr. Bell.

"The second notion is people taking control of their own health by developing a plan to manage their health and wellness -- a plan that focuses on an awareness of what they need to do to stay well and what happens if things start to go off the rails, whether triggered, or symptoms become more active."

The project is delivered in partnership with the Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa, a peer support organization.

"The people we're training are at a point in where their lives -- after having been through the medical treatment -- where they feel they're strong enough and they can help other people," says Sonja Cronkhite, co-ordinator for psychiatric survivors.

"They feel they want to give back. People in the hospital right now are feeling very vulnerable, they're just about to come out and they can look at these folks and say, 'well, if you're doing it ... then it's possible, and I can do it as well, with some help.'"

The ROH received a $100,000 grant from the Change Foundation for the project, and matched it.

"We're modelling not just to the inpatients," says Dr. Bell, "but to the staff of our hospital. Our hospital is trying to redefine itself in a recovery mode.

"That's part of our vision for the new building: People who are currently working here have to understand the strengths of the people who they've been working with and the people they've seen at their most sick."

Volunteers can derive strength and resolve from their project experience, says Ms. Cronkhite.

"Most who have been through the system have been told, 'you're going to have to settle. You're not going to be able to work or have a real life, you're just going to try and maintain and not be too sick. That's all you can realistically expect.'

"Now there's a bunch of people who are going out there and saying, 'screw that -- we're going to have lives and build them. And then we're going to help other people build them.'"

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Mr. Callingham says for survivors like himself, the project work holds special significance.

"It gives you one more reason for being. It's trying to give hope and relief to other people.

"My recovery has been a tough haul, with many steps forward and a few slides back," he says, then adds he's finally found balance amid the highs and lows of schizophrenia.

"You often get a sense of grandeur and magic. Then it all comes crashing down. Now, I'm not in the clouds; I'm mucking through the swamp, learning to deal with the good and the bad, like everyone else.

"The worst is over, and I'm helping other people get on board."

Last updated: 8/06

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