Laurels & Darts

Every Saturday in the T.O. Star, in the editorial section, they always list two laurels or darts. It's their version of a shout out to someone who's done something really great or done something really stupid. This past weekend the Star posted double laurels and in both cases they speak directly to mental health issues in this country. So I thought it'd be appropriate to tell you who was graced by these most recent laurels.

First, to Michael Kirby. You may recognize his name. He chaired the Kirby Commission and is in my opinion, one of the most important players in the game of reformation of the mental health system all across this country. Currently Mr. Kirby chairs the National Commission on Mental Health. He is now launching a new charitable organization to raise research dollars for illnesses like depression through what he hopes will become "an army of volunteers" across the country.

The second laurel goes to, believe it or not, the Saskatchewan Police Commission. Yup, you read that right, the Saskatchewan Police Commission. Why? For exercising appropriate caution in making a decision about authorizing the use of tasers by regular municipal police officers, at least for now. The Commission, taking into consideration the recent death of a 17 year old boy involving a taser incident, wants more information on conducted-energy weapons before making a decision. My hats off to the Commission for at least demonstrating the need to be well informed about this particular issue.

When did the word schizophrenic become an adjective?

I'm totally amazed at moments at the way people lob the word schizophrenic around like it is an adjective. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people use it in everday chatter to describe everything from bad fashion tastes to sports commentary. I remember being heart broken when my beloved Stacy London from tv's "What Not To Wear" said "what is up with this schizophrenic style of dressing!". Chris Berman, a long time veteran sports broadcaster used the word when he was doing his color commentary on a running back who's performance had been inconsistent. To add insult to injury, they use it in a way, that isn't even reflecting what the word means. All this education and awareness around mental illness yet most people think schizophrenia is some sort of personality disorder.

I guess we've got a long way to go.....

Finally, our fameKids Coordinator

Anie Najarian joined the FAME team approximately three months ago and oversees not only the fameKids programming but is also developing a new area of one to one support for children between 7-12 years of age.

This is the Lynds.....

Meet Lyndsay Wright. She's works out of Edenplace in Mississauga and is the newest member of the FAME family support team.

There's something about Mary

That would be something very special about Mary. Mary J. (the J is for Jursinic) is the FAME veteran agency staff member (7 years and counting!) and she has seen many changes over the years.

Meet the boys!

Meet Paul O'Donnell and Frank Logue .
Paul manages the Scarborough location and is our Dual Diagnosis support person.
Frank manages the Brampton office and has been with FAME for just over two years.

Afrooz Eghbali, Administrator Coordinator

Afrooz is the Manager of Administrative Systems and she keeps things running very smoothly at FAME central in Etobicoke. She has been with FAME for three years.

Please meet Stephanie Baker.....

Stephanie Baker is FAME's Manager of Community Development. Stephanie also oversees the volunteer programming.

Introducing the Travelling Gnome....

Annoying as they are it seems like gnomes are popping up everywhere! So why should it be any different out here in the blog'o'sphere! Here's the deal people. If for whatever reason you get an email from me with the travelling gnome on it you'll have 48 hours to respond by putting a comment or sharing something here on the blogsite. You can easily add your comments.

If you blog....share something.....tell a story....leave a message....there will be great rewards!

Rewards you say? Danegeld? Giveaways?

Uh huh, you read that right. I've got a velvet purse here (insert the sound of tinkling and jingling)....all sorts of really great swag.....iTune cards, chocolate, cards to the Second Cup, things you can lick, chomp, bite, slurp and savour. All of that for a blog moment. C'mon....ya know you want to do it .... :)

Bob Dylan said a mouthful when he penned "ahh...the times they are a changin...."

These are different times now for many small agencies. So many changes, changes that we are hopeful are for the better. The agency, while tiny, somehow still seems to manage to continue doing its business and being there for families when they reach out.

Reaching out can happen in so many ways. The straight truth on the goods of how we communicate is changing at such an exponential rate of speed that it is almost blinding. How do small not for profits agencies, such as ourselves, keep abreast of how we can be a part of the paradigm shift that we've come to know as Web 2.0

Most are just boon-doggled at that expression. After a few minutes many people will say, oh yeah, we're on Web 2.0, we've got a website, we're with it, we're happening. Websites, are only a very small piece of the communication community engagement pie. So we've decided to expand the horizons of the way we can engage a community, from corner to corner, north to south, east to west, urban & rural, culturally and generationally.

Ok, enough of that blather. At the end of the day this is really about sharing each others days, lives and the moments that fill them. Some are "a ha!" moments, others are quiet and somber. Regardless it's time to share.

Ask my staff what I always tell me, day in and day out......

at the end of the day, for us, it's all about the families.

Respectfully,

Christine