Interview with Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan: Sean Barschel, Associate Executive Director

May 15

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we caught up with Sean Barschel, the Associate Executive Director of the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan. He shared his story and the different ways the SSOS advocates for mental health awareness and support in Saskatchewan. At the end of this article, find different online support materials that SSOS has created.

What’s your story?

I was born and raised in Regina. Like many people my age, I had my fair share of experience with anxiety but it was never something that really something that got talked about. I was lucky enough to have a good support system, a caring family, and some friends to help me get through any kind of situation that I encountered. I attend the University of Regina where I got a degree in psychology. I was always fascinated with mental health and the brain in general, I certainly didn’t expect to be working for a non-profit, let alone for the last five years, and finding myself potentially moving into a management role here. It was a little bit of fate that led me to find a job here.

What led you to be involved in the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan?

I started off volunteering for this organization, as a third-year psych student at the university as a way to build up my resume. I had an interest in public speaking, I still remember my first presentation was at the RCMP Depo and I had to go up and act like a mental health professional and not a third-year psych student. I remember the feeling after the presentation and listening to the other presenters with lived experience sharing their souls with a room full of complete strangers was like nothing else I’ve really experienced. I was originally planning on attending neuropsychology at a university for a graduate program but due to, I suppose notorious low acceptance rates I wasn’t successful there. I ended up discovering a deeper passion for helping educate and helping the other residents of Saskatchewan better understand mental health. That is what made me stick to it.

SSOS Programs and Initiatives:

The one that makes up the biggest part of our programming is our Partnership program, which is our education about mental health initiative. We go out into the public and share positive stories of recovery from a variety of mental illnesses, not just schizophrenia as our name may suggest. We pair that with a mental health advocate who talks about stigmas, wellness tools, and key differences between a few illnesses, and resources and how to access them. The other ones, I find equally as important. We’ve got free courses for the public, one for family members called Family Recovery Journey, one for people with lived experience of mental illness called Your Recovery Journey with “WRAP” which is Wellness Recovery Action Plans. The one is peer-led, which can be an important component as well. We have another important program called Meet the Resident Psychiatrist, where we have someone who is a resident in their final stages of study who is available for in-person and phone appointments once a week. The average wait time to see a psychiatrist can be very between four and six months so getting to speak with one ahead of time and learn a little bit more about their role and ask some preemptive questions. We also offer peer support now on a full-time basis, as well as a small rec program up in Saskatoon that helps provide a social experience for people living with mental illness to have a chance to meet others who have similar experiences and enjoy one another’s company. There's a fair bit that we do with our programs.

What do you find the most important that SSOS is doing for the community?

I think it is a combination of two things, it is providing education and a better understanding of mental health, and the second part is giving hope to all kinds of youth and adults that living with a mental illness is not the end of the world. It happens more commonly than we tend to think, there is hope and there is help. Recovery from a mental illness, it’s not just possible, but it is likely. Those stories that they get to hear [through our programming] are proof right in front of them, that somebody else has been through something like this and they’ve come through the other side so I can too.

What has been the most inspiring thing you’ve witnessed?

It’s got to be seeing the connection that our audience members make with our volunteer speakers program. Just in the last year and a half, we have grown into elementary school presentations, so were presenting to youth as young as twelve years old. Seeing a gymnasium full of kids aged twelve to fifteen with all of their hands raised up asking questions is just such a great thing to see. They are connecting to the topic and are interested in learning more about it and they often want to come up afterwards and talk more about it to us. You have some who share a little bit about themselves even, and like I said before, they are sharing with complete strangers that they are meeting for the first time but they’ve felt this connection that this person going to understand what I have to say which I think a lot of people miss in their lives.

Do you think that mental health awareness has improved recently?

I think it definitely has. It still has a long way to go but we're definitely moving in the right direction. Since the inception of our program back in 1998, we have done presentations for about 160,000 people, but it seems like a big number but in reality, it is only about 16% of the province. There are still lots more people to reach with this message and to communicate with other people. I think there are a lot more people engaged in the conversation, you’ve got Bell’s Let’s Talk day, even going into the high schools and finding out that there is a mental health class. When I was in high school that was never a thing. I think for sure there are champions in the community who are bringing this topic of conversation more into the light, more still to come, but it’s moving in the right direction.

What part of the impact SSOS is making are you most proud of?

I am really proud of the number of people we have reached and that not only are we helping them understand, but we are providing an opportunity for those who have lived experience with mental illness to have a voice, to share their struggles, to share their story of recovery with audiences all over the province from kids in the schools, to RCMP and law enforcement, and even people on the ward at the hospital. It really gives people the chance to feel like they're involved in the movement and they are making an impact, and definitely helping break the stigma there is around mental illness.

What do you want Regina to know about your organization?

That we are here, and we want to help anyone who has been affected by schizophrenia, psychosis, and related mental illnesses. I think some people are a bit trepidatious of our name because it has the word schizophrenia in it and they think “I don’t have schizophrenia so what help could they give me?” but we help anyone that expands to people with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and pretty much any mental illness in-between. Were about helping provide education and provide some hope. A lot of parents, support programs, and for everyone who gets involved in these sorts of things, to better understand that it can be a scary and confusing time for somebody. Going back to one of our common slogans is “Helping provide the means to cope, and a reason to hope”.

What is the biggest barrier facing people affected by mental illness?

That’s a tough question. I have thought about it before, I think it comes a little bit back to ignorance of what people are really going through when it comes to mental illness. There is still all of this stigma attached to mental illness, like “it’s just a phase” or “they're just doing it for attention” or something like that. Having people understand that mental illness is something real, that almost a quarter of the population goes through each year, and education is the cure for that. It is going out and connecting with people and sharing information.

How can people affected by mental health navigate power structures?

It’s difficult for your average individual to navigate bureaucratic processes, I think they often need some support and someone to champion their cause. I think having a support structure in place, whether that is family members or peer support. There are some groups like that that can offer to help someone along in the process. I mean, I need help sometimes with just filing my taxes, I can’t imagine trying to apply for disability benefits on my own. I think not being afraid to stand up and ask for help, which i honestly one of the most difficult things because often we are told from a young age to be strong, to be independent, don’t ask for help because that is a sign of weakness. Standing up and raising your voice to say that you need help and not stopping until you get the help that you need because it is out there and you deserve it as a human being.

What is the future of the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan?

I see the Schizophrenia Society reaching the rest of the residents of the province with the message of hope and recovery. We want to help more and more people understand that mental illness is a prevalent thing. It is not going away any time soon, and helping more people have that hope. I can see us becoming more mainstream, reaching a grander audience. Our primary target is helping people understand schizophrenia and psychosis, which isn’t a large part of the population. It’s about 1% of people that go through schizophrenia, not a lot of people realize that is 12,000 people in Saskatchewan and almost 350,000 people in Canada. There are other schizophrenia societies in other provinces, I would really like to see us all really working together more to reach the entire country with some of the information and the message we have to give.

Resources:

Take a look at Schizophrenia Societies online resources page for books about recovery and early intervention, as well as find other helpful websites! https://www.schizophrenia.sk.ca/resources/online-resources

Tenille Bryan