TVO launches the online home for Mental Health Matters

Mental Health Matters Logo (CNW Group/TVO)

TORONTO, April 16, 2012 /CNW/ – TVO announces the launch of the Mental Health Matters website that will be the online home for Mental Health Matters Week, an initiative of TVO in association with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to inform and engage Ontarians in issues of mental health and
addiction.

Beginning today (April 16), and available during and after Mental Health
Matters Week (May 7-13, 2012), visitors to Mental Health Matters online
(www.tvo.org/mentalhealthmatters) can find in-depth resources covering all aspects of mental health
issues and register for special in-the-community events from TVO’s
current affairs flagship program The Agenda with Steve Paikin and its lecture series Big Ideas.

Some of the features of Mental Health Matters online include a powerful
info-graphic mapping mental illness across Ontario, web exclusive
videos, expert guest bloggers, live streaming of special Mental Health
Matters broadcasts and live chats, as well as catch-up-viewing videos
on topics of mental health from The Agenda with Steve Paikin and Allan Gregg in Conversation archives. Mental Health Matters online will also launch The Next Day, an innovative TVO-NFB online documentary that opens up the discussion
on suicide.

The Agenda and Big Ideas Audience Registration
Mental Health Matters week will be anchored by the broadcasts on TVO of The Agenda with Steve Paikin May 7-13 at 8 pm ET, as well as a special lecture May 12 and 13 by Dr.
Allen J. Frances on Big Ideas. Members of the public are invited to register for free tickets to be
part of the audience for two of The Agenda‘s programs as well as the Big Ideas lecture, which will be recorded at the University of Toronto’s Hart
House in downtown Toronto on May 6.

Mapping Mental Health in Ontario
TVO has created a powerful interactive info-graphic called Mapping Mental Health in Ontario, which illuminates the burden of mental illness in Ontario. Every time
you visit a doctor or are admitted to a hospital, the results of that
visit are recorded for use by research organizations. One major
conclusion this research has drawn is that mental illness is a major
health issue in Ontario.

Using data published by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (a
federal agency connected to Health Canada), Mapping Mental Health in Ontario examines the prevalence of mental illness and its impact on health
resources in the province. The user can explore and compare this data
by navigating through short animated sequences and data visualizations.

Exclusive Videos
Exclusive to Mental Health Matters online, TVO has produced a series of
videos that tell the personal stories of people who have struggled with
mental illness and addiction. The online series begins April 16 with
Jackie Nourse from CAMH, who talks about living with depression and the
stigma associated with it. Beginning April 17, Matt Watts, star of the
comedy series Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays, will talk about his own struggle with anxiety disorder, followed later
in the week by a story of a young woman who fought back against
addiction as a teenager.

More videos to roll out over the following three weeks leading up to
Mental Health Matters week will cover topics ranging from bipolar and
personality disorders to depression, addiction, schizophrenia, and
anorexia. The videos will also include a look at addiction in the
family, cognitive behavioural therapy, and will take you on a tour of
the CAMH facilities in Toronto.

The Next Day
Launching today, TVO and the National Film Board of Canada present the
animated online and interactive documentary The Next Day. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated one million
people die from suicide every year—the equivalent of one death every 40
seconds. The Next Day asks: What if they had just waited one more day? Told in graphic novel
form and constructed from interviews with four survivors of near-fatal
suicide attempts, The Next Day offers haunting insight into life, the decision to end it, and what
comes after.

The Next Day was produced by Pop Sandbox with the NFB in association with TVO as
part of the NFB-TVO Calling Card program, which provides an opportunity
for emerging filmmakers and new-media teams from Ontario to work with
the NFB and TVO to create documentaries for new-media platforms or
television broadcast.

Streaming Video and Catch-Up-Viewing Videos of Mental Health Matters
Programs

If you can’t be part of the live audiences of The Agenda with Steve Paikin or Big Ideas on May 6 but still want to catch the conversations as they happen,
Mental Health Matters online will provide live streaming of the events.

Visitors to Mental Health Matters online will be able to view any of The Agenda with Steve Paikin and Big Ideas programs that will air during Mental Health Matters week, as well as
past episodes on the topic of mental illness. Some recent programs
include The Agenda‘s look at the sources of mental illness, the pros and cons of SSRI
anti-depressants, and understanding addiction. A Big Ideas lecture with Dr. Iain McGilchrist will also be available after May 5.

The website will also be the home of a special Allan Gregg in Conversation online mini-series on mental illness. Featured interviews include
Margaret Trudeau on her lifelong struggle with bi-polar disorder; Dr.
Gabor Mate on addiction; Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison on suicide; Patricia
Pearson on anxiety disorder; Dr. Paula Caplan on psychiatry; and Scott
Simmie and Julia Nunes on The Last Taboo, their consumer guide to Canada’s mental health system.

Mental Health Expert Bloggers and Web Chats

Mental Health Matters online blogs and web chats with guest experts on
mental illness will open up the conversation to visitors to the site.
Some of the guest bloggers include Roger McIntyre, head of the Mood
Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at University Health Network, on
whether mental illness is preventable, and Steve Lurie, Executive
Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Toronto Branch, will
be writing a post about the housing crisis and the mentally ill.

About TVO
TVO is Ontario’s public educational media organization and a trusted
source of interactive educational content that informs, inspires and
stimulates curiosity and thought. TVO’s vision is to empower people to
be engaged citizens of Ontario through educational media. TVO is funded
primarily by the Province of Ontario and is a registered charity
supported by sponsors and thousands of donors. For more information,
visit tvo.org.

About CAMH
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as
well as one of the world’s leading research centres in the area of
addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research,
education, policy development and health promotion to help transform
the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.

Where to Find TVO

Video with caption: “Video: Mental Health Matters May 7 -13″. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Fhd_xfJRE

Video with caption: “Video: Matt Watts on Anxiety Disorder – Excerpt of an interview with of actor and writer Matt Watts on his struggle with anxiety disorder. See the full interview at www.tvo.org/mentalhealthmatters.”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pp_GoI_7g0

Video with caption: “Video: Jackie Nourse on Depression – Excerpt from an interview with Jackie Nourse of CAMH on her struggle with depression. See the full interview at www.tvo.org/mentalhealthmatters.”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clVIvI4_X8Q

Video with caption: “Video: Ali on Teenage Addiction: Excerpt of a young woman dealing with teenage addiction. See the full interview at www.tvo.org/mentalhealthmatters.”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqJzK8WQLA8

Video with caption: “Video: It’s Someone You Know”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doBcMjLIyNU

Video with caption: “Video: Dr. Norman Doidge on the importance of neuroscience.”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4TbXJMap5A

Video with caption: “Video: Dr. Ian McGilchrist on the rise of mental illness in the West.”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLFoAYQsvr8

Video with caption: “Video: Dr. Jordan Peterson on the definition of mental health.”. Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIOCVEy0eac

Image with caption: “Mental Health Matters Logo (CNW Group/TVO)”. Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120416_C6020_PHOTO_EN_12347.jpg

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