ReThreading Madness

Peer Connections/Jamie Smallboy/Madness Canada In this program, Bernadine interviews Adam Milne from Peer Connections in Winnipeg and Cindy Jiang from Madness Canada in Toronto about their programming and resources that are made available to people who live with mental health challenges. Madness Canada has also become a hub of archival material regarding the history of the Mad Movement. Jamie Smallboy joins us reading her poem about missing and murdered indigenous women. music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

In 1895, the Canadian government banned the Sundance. Intent on destroying the first nation’s way of life and spiritual practices, the colonizers banned various ceremonies and certain practices (like piercing) along withholding sacred objects required for those ceremonies. While this was legally reversed in 1951, it took many years before all First Nation Communities were aware of this change, many more for the fear of retribution and arrest to lift, and even more to feel empowered to engage again in activities such as piercing. Overall, as Keith Chiefmoon describes, the damage to this important ceremony, based on oral traditions, has had long lasting repercussions to their sense of self, community, and mental health that stretch into our present day. In this podcast, Keith Chiefmoon of the Kainai Nation and Blackfoot Confederacy, generously describes how several decades ago, an elder told him – and sternly so - that the spirits had identified that he was to bring back the traditional Sundance. During several days of praying and fasting on Chief Mountain those spirits outlined this Sundance: the location, the arbor, dancing, drumming, singing, praying, dry fasting (no food or water for 4 days), and piercing (a very sacred offering) – “The old way,” Keith says. And the Spirits were clear: he was to accept any person who wanted to Sundance regardless of their colour: First Nation, black, white, or Asian. This Sundance is currently the only one which does so. “Natosi Okhan is the only Sun Dance society in the region that accepts pledges from non-Indigenous people who do not have long-standing connections with the community and this is highly controversial within the community itself and beyond. This Sun The Sun Dance as a Space for Experiential Learning 49 Dance started around 20 years ago when Keith Chiefmoon, who was a Sun Dancer with another community, decided to give life to a sacred dream where people from the four directions arrived on his family land to dance. In the dream the dancers were very clueless, even to the point of asking inappropriate questions. Keith was told to treat them with utmost respect because their spirits had been called by the land and by all our ancestors to be there to dance in order to heal all relations. Keith was told, and tells us often, that the sun shines the same on everyone—from the tallest mountain to the thistle on the Sun Dance grounds (which are abundant); the sun does not differentiate, and neither should he/we.” From Towards Scarring Our Collective Soul Wound by Cash Ahenakewmusic by Shari UlrichPhoto of Keith Chiefmoon by Colin BolinBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

Lack of services makes Rose Finlay’s liveable disability life-threatening. Rose Finlay has been a quadriplegic since a swimming accident at 17 yrs broke her neck. She has been a powerhouse working for change as a published author, keynote speaker, model, disability advocate, accessibility consultant, certified holistic health coach and reiki master. Up until recently, she has been able to cobble together the services she needs to maintain her daily needs. However, that has changed, and she is now in a life-threatening situation that could easily be solved with support services attending her home twice a day. But the waiting list for these support services is 6-8 months long. In the meantime, she faces dying – a wretched death in front of her three children OR exercising MAID (an option where the waiting time is only 91 days). It is as she says a heinous choice made more outrageous by the simplicity of what fixes it. Music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

“I am a Transwoman” Jodi Gray, winner of the 2023 Courage To Come Back award in Mental Health, speaks with Bernadine about being a transwoman. Jodi came from a childhood filled with severe abuse and poverty. This led to anxiety and depression that plagued her for decades and cost her jobs and relationships. The hardest relationship for her to lose was the one with her son, James. Jodi transitioned 8 years ago and now advocates for others. She has been a peer support worker and is the head of a housing project for transgender, two-spirited, and gender-diverse people. The primary message Jodi wants to get out there is that her mental health challenges do not originate in being transgendered. But don’t take my word for it. Come listen for yourself to this amazing womanMusic by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

What is it Like to be an Adopted Child?Emma Stevens, author (The Gathering Place and A Fire is Coming) and US domestic adoptee from birth during the Baby Scoop Era, has survived layers of trauma throughout her life. She visits ReThreading Madness and delves into the reality that adoptees face struggling between being the good, adopted child in fear of being sent back and finding their own true selves whether it is around identity, biological family and background, or medical history. Whether you are an Adoptee, a Late-Discovery Adoptee, a Donor-Conceived child, or someone who has discovered that one of your presumed bio parents is in fact not through DNA or disclosure you will find this program of interest. music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

Bernadine chats with two women, Jane Bouey and Isabella Mori, who live with Long COVID after a relatively short and mild form of COVID itself. They describe how COVID impacted on their brains and what they experience because of it: brain fog, exhaustion, strange emotional reactions, etc. They discuss whether this is a mental health issue from the impact of the debilitating aspect of the physical disability or an injury to one’s brain from COVID. Then Fraser MacKenzie from Coast Mental Health here in Vancouver talks with us about the services available for those who live with mental health challenges. music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

Insanity explores the disappearance of Bruce Hill-Tout disappeared during an episode of paranoia generated from schizophrenia in 1998. “Through interviews with her father and siblings, family photos and dramatizations, Hill-Tout tells her brother’s story. But it’s not a mystery. The family doesn’t spend much time in the film unravelling clues. Instead, they share their feelings of guilt, loss and confusion, which leads to a broader story about the gaps that allow people such as Bruce to fall through the cracks. “ Wendy Hill-Tout documents the human side of mental health challenges and uses the film to tell the story of her brother missing for 25 years and to push for change. She asks that people write to their MLA, MP, Ministers of Health, etc and demand change to ensure that no one else’s family member falls through the cracks this way.Music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

Rodney DeCroo’s newly released book “Fishing for Leviathan” (Anvil Press) takes us into his journey through his childhood. “At theatre school they tried to correct my posture and make my diction soft. But I was a razor wrapped in black velvet soaked in possum’s blood.” Anvil writes “these poems are from a writer who has crawled through a mile of broken glass and come out the other side more or less intact.” Rodney and Bernadine talk about childhood trauma, recovery, obstacles, and challenges.But mostly we talk about surviving sh*t and having a good life.music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

What is Structural Violence with Heather Tunold: How it impacts on the residents the DTES The question of Structural Violence came up for me as I listened to Heather Anita Tunold talk about it on a recent panel. She sat down with me to chat about how structural violence impacts on the residents of the DTES here in Vancouver BC. What she described is a unworkable situation where those who need the help are not getting the help they need. music by Shari Ulrich & Edith WallaceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

Grandparents (and other relatives) raise the children of other family members at a rate that far surpasses the number of children in our current foster cares system here in BC. In fact, even the government recognizes that they are a largely hidden and unrecognized social service system. On ReThreading Madness Bernadine, a grandparent who raises a grandchild herself, speaks with three other grandmothers Donna, Gail and Shari. So often we are focused on caring for our children and advocating for their rights and needs. But today, Bernadine shines the light on the grandparents asking what did you/do you need and where are you getting it from. Out of this the importance of Parent Support Services in BC and Fairness for Children Raised by Relatives comes into focus.Music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.