FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

Karen Liberman, recently retired Executive Director of the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario (MDAO) and the inspiration behind M.A.P. describes healing as a passage from “darkness to light” and feels privileged to have shared her own journey to recovery with many “courageous, resilient, powerful, fellow travelers.” ²

To find out more about MDAO: www.mooddisorders.ca

To go directly to M.A.P.: www.mymentalhealthmap.ca

Sources:

(1) Canadian Mental Health Association website. Available: www.cmha.ca/ mental-health/understanding-mental-illness/ mood-disorders/

(2) From Karen Liberman’s personal story as she tells it on the M.A.P. website at www.mymentalhealthmap.ca/MDAO/ Stories.aspx

With more than 500,000 Canadians absent from work every day due to a mental illness, seven forward-thinking companies and a government ministry have joined with the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario (MDAO) to create a groundbreaking online tool to offer support and education at home and in the workplace. Called Mental Health: My Action Plan (M.A.P.), it is the first of its kind in Canada, offering a free one stop support resource.

"We’ve seen the life-changing power of peerbased recovery programs in the lives of our participants," says MDAO’s executive director, Ann Marie Mac Donald. "Mental Health M.A.P. is really an opportunity to build on and extend our successful groups so anyone living with a mental illness can work towards healing and recovery."

M.A.P. pilot participants already see M.A.P. as a valuable tool, especially for helping them share information about their illness. Here is what they have said:

"I believe sharing where we are at with others is critical to our wellbeing as it is very easy to close up and store our thoughts and fears within us which, thereby allows them to fester. Only by releasing these thoughts and feelings are we able to dis-empower them. This tool allows me to do that. I can share my journey with my family so that they understand what I am going through."

"Support is everything. You can’t support without sharing. This tool allows you to do that."

Mood Tracker, one of M.A.P.’s features, "allows the person to be able to communicate in a way that for them, depending on where they are in their mood journey, is easier."

WHAT IS M.A.P.?

Mental Health M.A.P. is an on-line resource to support recovery from depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders. Using M.A.P. individuals can:

• Create personal action plans.
• Learn from others that have been there.
• Keep their own personal journal.
• Track their mood, medications, appointments, exercise and other activities.
• Share action plans with others.
• Choose to receive email reminders and supportive feedback.

M.A.P. was inspired and developed by individuals who have been affected by mental illness. It takes a holistic approach, borrowing from both the medical and recovery models. Entries and plans are entirely confidential unless individuals choose to share them with others. The site is rich with content and video footage. Coaches, including Karen Liberman, who have lived with mental illness themselves, guide users through its 11 modules. With videos from professionals such as psychiatrists, personal trainers, registered dieticians and peer support workers, the site can be used by people living with a mental illness to guide their own recovery, or by health care workers to support their clients.

M.A.P. IN THE WORKPLACE

Mental illness is a significant drain on the Canadian economy, costing at least $51 billion per year in lost productivity – more than any other chronic health condition. It is the most expensive cause of workplace disability, costing each Canadian employer an average of $18,000 per claim. Given that the Canadian Mental Health Association¹ estimates that about 10% of the population experience mood disorders, it is highly likely that at some point, every organization will bear costs arising from mental illness and that employers and managers will be called upon to understand and support individuals impacted by mental illness. In these circumstances, M.A.P. is a valuable new tool to both enable employees to privately assess their own mental health and source necessary resources, and help employers and managers promote early intervention. It encourages development of a comprehensive, integrated approach to recognizing and addressing mental illness issues and creating healthy work environments.

To find out how supportive your organization might be, MDAO offers two free resources that complement M.A.P. – the online Workplace Mental Health Checkup – (www.mooddisorders.ca/ check-up-work) and a soon to be launched new app for employers.