An Independent Review of Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) on Vancouver Island
An Independent Review of Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) on Vancouver Island
Why this petition matters
^Pictured above is Glen Fawkes^
Recently a Facebook page called “PES: a Pathetic Excuse for Support” was created by Emma Epp and Ella Hale. In a few short months, this community is now over 2,000 members strong with an overwhelming number of people sharing similar stories from their experiences with Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) on Vancouver Island.
On October 10th, 2020 Glen Fawkes tragically lost his life to suicide after attempting to seek support at PES and other outpatient Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) services. Unfortunately, Glen’s story is not uncommon and many similar stories were shared on this Facebook page. These accounts show how people trying to get support at PES were met with disrespect, bias, belittlement, and discrimination. We would like to recall the 2019 BC Ombudsman’s report entitled “Committed to Change: Protecting the Rights of Involuntary Patients under the Mental Health Act” and its findings that BC health authorities often act in ways that are noncompliant with the Mental Health Act. The stories that have been compiled demonstrate that nothing fundamental has changed since this report was published.
We, Glen Fawkes’s Family, have been working in collaboration with the founders of the Facebook page “PES: a Pathetic Excuse for Support”. Together we are calling for an independent review of Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) within the Vancouver Island Health Authority. PES are supposed to provide urgent response, short-term assessment, stabilization, and treatment for individuals experiencing a psychiatric or mental health crisis. When they have turned to PES, service users and their families faced bias, judgment, and discrimination. Over 2,000 people have similar experiences with the PES system. It is time for these facilities to be investigated impartially.
When enough signatures are gathered, this petition will be tabled at the Legislative Assembly. In order to reach our goal, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share it with other residents of British Columbia. More people will continue to be failed by the broken and deeply flawed mental health system if we do not act now.
Notable Links:
Knaak, S., Livingston, J., Stuart, H., & Ungar, T. (2020). Combating mental illness- and substance use-related structural stigma in health care. Ottawa, Canada: Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Comments by Ms. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar - the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities - on the Canadian Mental System in 2019:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?LangID=E&NewsID=24481
https://www.facebook.com/groups/251503620020089
