Revelstoke ‘local action team’ has resources for youth substance use, mental health

By Stacie Byrne, Revelstoke Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use (CYMHSU) Local Action Team

Have you ever felt like you weren’t sure if your emotions were “normal?” Or struggled with how much alcohol or other drugs is too much? Had questions about your health and wellness and didn’t know who to talk to about it? Or maybe you tried to talk to someone about it and it went nowhere; you felt shut down, small, or like no one really “got it” or even cared to try to “get it?” Or maybe you’re a family member or a friend of someone going through this? If any of this sounds familiar I want you to know that you’re not alone in this struggle. One in four young people between the ages of 12–25 will be suffering through a period of mental ill-health and three quarters of adults with mental health difficulties are likely to have developed these difficulties by the age of 24. But this statistic is just a number until we have real, local stories behind it.

Stacie Byrne. Photo: contributed

Hi, my name is Stacie and I work with the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use (CYMHSU) Local Action Team. We are a diverse group of caring people in the community who seek to improve our mental health and substance use services for children, youth and their families. How are we going to improve our services? By hearing your stories and developing a road map also known as a “Pathway to Care.” This will be a guide for the whole community of Revelstoke: youth, families, newcomers, service providers, and all the others in-between. But we can’t do this work alone. We need to hear from youth and families in our community. We need you to tell your story about what it’s been like for you, and some of you already have started to share! These stories range from successes to failures, support to neglect and more paperwork, and from finding solutions to only finding more problems. Knowing what has worked for you will help us keep the good in place; while hearing the not-so-good will help us to identify the gaps and work to fill them.

Watch our interview with Stacie Byrne of CYMHSU here.

If any of this has sparked an interest for you and you want to find out more, please contact me, Stacie Byrne @ [email protected].

Ask questions, find out more, and share your story. If you’re already working with someone in town, ask them to help you out. Head to Community Connections, MCFD, any of the schools, your GP at Selkirk Medical, the Paramedics, RCMP, Mental Health and Addictions Services up at the Hospital, CMHA, and others (there are a lot of us out there!).   Find us at a number of community events, or on Facebook.

Our final project will be a roadmap that is locally developed for and by our community and easy to use. It will be shared with youth, families, and service providers to ensure we are all working together with youth and families at the Centre. But without your input, we’re just another group of Service Providers sitting around a table not meeting your needs.