I
n our home we have everything but a kitchen sink — and counters.
We had wanted to do a modest renovation to be able to cook and clean, and basically live well.
We are now, after months of saving, in the middle of it.
When I was at Riverview Hospital (a mental health facility in Coquitlam) before it closed down in 2012, I spent six months eating hospital food. When I was committed, my father jokingly told me that I was going to stay at a “spa” — hardly.
I vowed that when I got out, I would cook meals that were tasty and to my liking.
I’m not saying the hospital makes food intentionally bad to scare you away, but it might not want you too comfortable, either.
It costs around $7,000 a day to stay at the hospital. If the mental health community can live independently, everyone saves time and money.
The catch, however, is that not everyone has that option.
In fact, most people at the hospital when I was there were in serious danger of being homeless if they left.
So, they are caught costing taxpayers millions of dollars to stay in a hospital that was not even giving them what they needed, which, in many cases, is supported housing.
In other words, the medical community can help people deal with some of the symptoms of mental illness, but, as a society, we are not recognizing that other, pernicious disability — poverty.
Granted, homelessness and mental illness can get interwoven and it’s hard to know which came first, but, frankly, it doesn’t matter.
The fact is, we are more than our disabilities, we are whole people who have a range of needs, just like anyone else.
And, if you think about it, anybody could end up in the same boat.
All you need is some of life’s unpredictability and society’s unfair rules.
The point is that when people are released from hospital, they need a community to come home to.
That means a suitable roof above your head. Under that roof, mental illness can be treated better than in a hospital.
It is where life and living to the fullest can flourish, despite the challenges of living as a person who is vulnerable.
It is not that the vulnerable don’t try. It is that they face challenges that cannot be overcome by effort alone.
But effort can certainly lift the spirit. Trying is better than not trying, even if failure is the result.
So, we are trying to make life better under our roof.
I am very aware people need a home, including a kitchen sink. When basic needs are met, humanity is the solution. We all want to live in a society like x house wins.
Jenny Cam is a member of Richmond’s mental health community and advocate therein.
