Moving the Mental Health Agenda Forward in Canada

Posted on 13/05/2011 | 0 Comments

There was some large scale news reported in the Globe and Mail recently: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-news/bells-10-million-donation-hailed-as-mental-health-game-changer/article2018049/. Kudos to Bell Canada for stepping up and making a huge (yes, 10 million dollars is a lot of money) donation to CAMH in Toronto. This is also yet another public statement from corporate Canada as to its awareness of and support for mental health. And this is very much appreciated.
 
Now comes the next very important part. How to ensure that this interest is not merely a reflection of the “flavor of the moment” and how can this translate into substantive and sustainable improvements in mental health and mental health care for all Canadians?
 
Some of this responsibility will of course need to be undertaken by CAMH, as they are the recipient of this largess. Some of this responsibility however will need to be undertaken by those who work in other parts of Canada, parts not as fortunate as Toronto, but where innovative and life-altering work is being done and new directions are being forged. 
 
Perhaps the generosity of Bell will rub off on other corporations. Perhaps the innovation and improvements that this generosity will help develop at CAMH can be used to encourage and support other parts of Canada as well – so that research conducted and lessons learned there can swiftly and effectively be used to improve the lives of all Canadians. Perhaps all provincial/territorial governments will realize that more and more effective investment in mental health is needed. Perhaps mental health will make it to the table in the discussions in the upcoming national Health Accord (I hope that we will have another Health Accord).
 
Who know? What is clear however is that the generosity of Bell and the innovative changes un
 
--Stan

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This is a great set of comments and rings very true. 

I totally agree that scientists (just like everyone else) have their biases and foibles.  After all, scientists are human beings too!  But science is different than scientists. 

The scientific method is the most objective frame that we have by which to evaluate and predict.  Science is not about finding truth.  It is only about being less wrong most of the time.  The scientific method (experimental design and mathematics) gives us the ability to test what we believe.  The scientific method is not used to prove something is correct, on the contrary, the scientific method is designed to prove that something is not correct!  It is designed to test what is called the “null hypothesis”.  It takes ideas that come out of left field (or wherever else they come from) and puts those ideas to an independent test.

t does not drive our beliefs.  It does however challenge our beliefs.  In that way it is self-correcting. Of course scientific inquiry and understanding lives within a wider social context.  That is one of the great features of science. 

But gravity is gravity, social context notwithstanding.  And thus it is nasty, brutish and long.  As Brecht said, (something like this) - the purpose of science is to save us from everlasting error.

By Christina Carew on May 11th

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