A room filled with user-friendly material on mental health issues left the province’s coordinator of Mental Health Projects incredulous during the launch of Western Counties Regional Library’s mental health collection on Monday, Jan. 28.
“I was overwhelmed when I walked in,” Tony Prime said during a brief speech before more than 30 people at the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Library in Yarmouth.
A mix of mental health providers, consumers and advocates braved bad weather to attend the event that featured more than $14,000 worth of mental health books, audio books, CDs and DVDs laid out on tables and shelves for all to see.
“The collection left me speechless,” said Dianne Crowell, a board member with the Yarmouth Digby Shelburne branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). “That doesn’t happen too often.”
Eating disorders, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, autism, bipolar illness, defiant children, anger, depression, the impact of divorce on children and Alzheimer’s disease are just some of the topics covered by the collection.
It is all possible because of a partnership between the Yarmouth Digby Shelburne branch of the CMHA, Mental Health Services and Western Counties Regional Library.
Regional library chairman Gary Archibald said such partnerships are vital to the region. They enable organizations to combine their efforts to serve the people of Digby, Shelburne and Yarmouth better, he said.
“The regional branch of the CMHA is there to support people dealing with mental health issues, and we are here to provide the material to help people make informed and healthy decisions relating to mental health issues,” Archibald said.
Mental Health Services provided a startup grant of $40,000 for the regional branch of the CMHA of which $14,000 went toward the creation of the mental health collection for the regional library to serve the people of the Tri-Counties.
Prime said he has a very tight budget to work with annually and he was very pleased to see how well this project worked.
“Thank-you for spending the money wisely,” he said.
“It’s remarkable what we’ve been able to pull in,” said Jim Stockman, president of the regional branch of the CMHA. He said the CMHA’s job is to raise awareness about mental health issues and work toward removing the stigma attached to mental health issues.
Western Counties Regional Library Deputy Director Joanne Head compiled the collection following input from mental health professionals, advocates and consumers to make it as hands-on and user-friendly as possible while providing the critical information.
“It’s been a real enhancement to our collection,” Head said.
The Yarmouth launch was the only time the collection is available to see in one location. Following Monday’s launch it was to be divided up and sent out to the library’s 10 branches. A comprehensive bibliography is available at the library’s 10 branches and online at
www.westerncounties.ca. The collection will also enhance provincial resources because materials can be lent out to any public library in Nova Scotia through an inter-library loan.
There will be subsequent mini-launches at the Isaiah W. Wilson Memorial Library in Digby at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12 and at the McKay Memorial Library in Shelburne at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
