AMI-Quebec provides mental health resource list online
by Hena Kon
When it comes to mental health, AMI-Quebec Action on Mental Illness is determined to leave no stone unturned. Now in its 46th year, this pioneering organization provides a wealth of support, education, advocacy and resources free of charge to help families manage the effects of mental illness.
For centuries, mental illness was shrouded in stigma and secrecy. Access to information and guidance was virtually non-existent, and families were often viewed by the medical profession as the cause of mental illness, Sylvia Klein states on the organization’s website. She, along with her husband Bill Klein, was one of AMI-Quebec’s founding members. The seeds for AMI-Quebec were planted when the late May Gruman, having learned about a self-help group in Australia for families of children with mental illness, contacted Klein to ask if she would consider starting something similar in Montreal. Gruman and her husband Sam, met with the Kleins, Eve and Ed Leckner, and Ruth and Ken Moscovitch, forming the nucleus of AMI-Quebec’s first self-help group.
Over the years, with the support of sympathetic mental health professionals, they gradually expanded their services. Since its founding in 1977, AMI-Quebec has grown to include 10 staff and 130 volunteers, offering a wide menu of programs and activities related to mental health.
A partner of the English Montreal School Board for many years, AMI-Quebec is praised by Despina Vassiliou, a psychologist and the board’s coordinator of Student Services, as thorough, comprehensive and very helpful for parents. Its resource list is divided into seven broad categories: illnesses, additional challenges, care-giving related issues, crisis and counselling, general information, returning to the community and special populations. Taking into account Montreal’s multicultural population, the latter category contains a section entitled “specific communities,” listing organizations that support different cultural and ethnic communities with services offered in their mother tongue, as well as agencies that cater to immigrants and refugees.
Counselling can be essential to coping with and recovering from mental health challenges. While AMI-Quebec offers a variety of support groups, it does not offer individual or group counselling. The Resource List’s section entitled Counselling and Therapy is notable for including organizations that offer therapy, including art therapy, free of charge or on a sliding scale.
To learn more about AMI-Quebec, visit www.amiquebec.org or call 514.486.1448.
Hena Kon is a writer, editor and communications specialist with extensive experience primarily in healthcare communications.
