De l’obscurité vers la lumière / Dark into Light

Hi everyone, Salut tous le monde,

I know I don’t write very often but I wanted to publicize an important event. I was contacted by a couple who lost their son to suicide in 2017. They are involved in this initiative that started in Ireland.

Je sais que je n’écris pas souvent mais je voulais vous informer d’une initiative importante. J’étais contacté par une couple qui ont perdu leur fils au suicide en 2017. Ils sont impliqué dans une initiative qui a débuté en Irlande.

It is a new walk in Montreal for suicide prevention called Dark into Light. It starts predawn and ends at sunrise...

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Posted on 24 Apr 2019
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17

Things you have to be OK with if you support Trump

The unfortunate thing about democracy is that we can’t get our way on every issue. We have to choose the leader who is closest to our way of thinking. Inevitably we have to accept compromises in order to get the greatest number of our preferred policies enacted. But how many compromises do we have to make when we vote in a populist leader who happens to espouse something we believe in? In the case of Donald Trump the number appears to be staggering.

If you happen to be a Trump supporter then you obviously share some of his strong views on trade or immigration or gun control or whatever...

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Posted on 16 May 2018
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Thank you, Howie Mandel!

Hi Folks, Salut

Come join me this Sunday at Montreal Walks for Mental Health

Venez me rejoindre ce dimanche à Montréal Marche Pour La Santé Mentale

________________________________________________________

Speaking of mental illness here is an article on the topic of stigma:

THANK YOU, HOWIE MANDEL!

What’s the big deal with shaking someone’s hand? Well for someone like Howie Mandel it evokes such a visceral repulsion that he avoids it at all costs. Not being able to do something so basic affects almost all social interactions. How many times in a day do you shake hands? And how would...

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Posted on 13 Oct 2017
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7

The beautiful and the ugly…of human nature

Hi folks,

I know I’ve been away a while but I haven’t gone anywhere. I am no longer at the Douglas Institute but plan to keep blogging for many years to come I hope. This blog will probably move at some point but so far let’s stick with the status quo.

Yesterday I published this article in the Huffington Post. It is on how actions – good or bad – beget similar actions form others. See: We Get To Decide Whether Or Not We’re Good Or Bad People.

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty images

From heroic acts like a firefighter running into a burning building to rescue a child to a simple act like a father...

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Posted on 03 Aug 2017
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9

Preserving life or prolonging death?

Sorry for my long absence but here is something I published yesterday in the Huffington Post. It is a follow up to an earlier post (How would you like to die, Sir?):

PRESERVING LIFE OR PROLONGING DEATH?

Let’s cut to the chase – should we allow euthanasia?

A Quebec man – Michel Cadotte – is facing murder charges after respecting his wife’s request to end her life when her dementia had progressed too far. “I gave in to her demand for help in dying. I’m waiting for the police,” he wrote in a post in March.

When the country was debating the proposed law on assisted dying I wrote about the...

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Posted on 25 May 2017
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7

I am the son of immigrants

What more can be said about Donald Trump’s America that hasn’t been said?

It isn’t even about him in particular. It’s about the mentality he represents. That enough people share his thinking is what’s most disturbing.

Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore…

My parents were illiterate immigrants. They never mastered the language, they tilled a makeshift garden next to a railroad track, they hung sausage in the cold room and made wine in their garage. One generation later their three children are all...

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Posted on 31 Jan 2017
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7

Bell Let’s Talk: Part 2

For last year’s Bell Let’s Talk Day I listed some reasons why we should be more open about our mental health struggles. But what happens when we do open up and seek treatment?
(Published Jan 25, 2017 in the Huffington Post)

Here is just a partial list of some of the biggest issues we might face:

Lack of scientific knowledge
The biggest issue with mental health treatment is that we simply do not have very many answers. It is especially problematic when the consumers of knowledge fall prey to the belief that an expert – by virtue of being an expert – knows everything. If we know one...

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Posted on 24 Jan 2017
1 comment
6

Can we learn from history?

Sorry, folks. It took a while to find my writing discipline again. Here is something I published yesterday on the rising trend of identity politics in the Huffington Post. (See: Tribalism Remains Mankind’s Most Dangerous Instinct)

CAN WE LEARN FROM HISTORY?

Here’s a disturbing thought. If human nature produced the atrocities of the last century, is it any less likely to produce atrocities in this one?

Is there any truth to the adage that those who don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it? I certainly think so. History is there for the teaching but sometimes it seems we’re just...

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Posted on 22 Dec 2016
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5

The High School Mantra: I’m a freakin’ loser!

Last March the Huffington Post was running a series on youth mental health. For that series I wrote an article about the theory of mind (the ability to imagine another person’s thoughts) and how the lack of this ability can impact children’s behaviour. This makes them point out differences in classmates because they are oblivious to the how much these comments can hurt. See On lady ‘states and why kids can be so cruel.

This month the Post is again focussing on youth mental health so I decided to follow up on my earlier article. In it I discuss what happens by high school when the theory...

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Posted on 27 Sep 2016
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9

I can still touch my ceiling!

Hi folks,
I decided to take the easy way out and honour the Rio Olympics by dragging out an old post. It was originally published in this blog in 2012. (I can touch my ceiling…and other great Olympic feats!). A slightly updated version (with unfortunately a much more bland title chosen by them) was published here in the Huffington Post.

(Voici un billet que j’ai publié durant les derniers jeux Olympiques).
I can touch my ceiling and other great Olympic feats.

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Posted on 04 Aug 2016
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4