If you are Canadian, and reading this post - you need to take action right now.

This is time sensitive.

Set aside 10-15 minutes to deal with this. Shut off the phone, close the door, get a drink if you need it, because you don’t want to be interrupted.

In May 2006, a committee reviewing the Mental Health System in Canada made recommendations. One of these recommendations was the creation of a Canadian Mental Health Commission with a mandate to address mental health and mental illness in Canada.

The Federal Government is now collecting information via an online poll about Canadians’ thoughts on the establishment of such a commission.

This is a chance for your voice to be heard. This is also a chance to have an influence on future priorities for mental health care in Canada.

The government website says:

The purpose of this consultation is to allow you and all Canadians to share your views on mental health and mental illness, particularly federal priorities in this area and the proposed mental health commission. You are invited to provide your perspective on the need for such a commission, in addition to activities that a commission could undertake. In particular, we would like your views on the following:

1. the need (or lack thereof) for a mental health commission;
2. the mandate, functions and activities of such a commission;
3. the structure of such a commission, including possible choices for advisory committees and special areas of focus; and
4. the appropriate federal government priorities in mental health and mental illness.

Your input will be provided to the Minister of Health to better inform and guide the Government of Canada’s efforts to address mental health and mental illness in Canada.

You can find the online poll here: online poll.

The deadline for the poll is tomorrow - January 25th, 2007.

• So, if you have had frustrations with the mental health system in Canada, act now.
• If you have felt that there are insufficient programs and professionals to help with ADD or ADHD, act now.
• If you feel that we need an educational campaign in Canada to decrease stigma, act now.

Your voice can have a big impact, if you act now. We may not get another chance for this one.

I want to share some well thought out suggestions for recommendations to make on this online poll. Pete Quily, an ADD/ADHD Coach in Vancouver is an active advocate for ADD/ADHD. He has written some great suggestions that you may consider making on this survey. Rather than reproducing these here, I am going to point you to his blog post with these suggestions. Click on that link to review these suggestions, and then go to the online poll right now to have your voice heard.

A quick summary of suggestions to make:

1. We DO want a Mental Health Commission in Canada
2. We want a program for education and destigmatization of ADD/ADHD, as well as all mental disorders.
3. We want an increase in resources and funding for mental health.
4. We want increased training for Medical doctors to assess and treat ADHD - including Family Doctors, Pediatricians, and Psychiatrists.
5. We want improved legislation that will protect the rights of people with ADD/ADHD in the educational system and in the workplace (we are way behind the Americans on this one).
6. We want increased access to the newer long acting medications - so that everyone with ADD/ADHD will be able to have access to the newest and most effective treatments.

Thank you for taking the time to share this information with the government.

Here is the link again for the poll: Mental Health Poll - complete by January 25, 2007.

All good wishes,

Dr. Kenny Handelman

p.s. If you do complete the poll, please take a moment and add a comment to this blog post, just to share with us that you did it. We can then see how many readers of this blog have taken action. Hopefully, we can get a whole bunch of people to share their opinions and advocate for ADD’ers.

p.p.s. Please share this article with friends and family so that they can share their messages as well.

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Kids and teens with ADD, ADHD or a Learning Disability rarely get the chance to be recognized for their outstanding achievements. I am happy to report that there is an opportunity to change that.

Do you know an outstanding child or teen with ADD, ADHD or a learning disability?

Do you want to show this special child how proud you are, and how much you respect him or her?

Here is your chance:

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities is seeking nominations for its 2007 Youth Achievement Award.

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities is a non profit organization dedicated to empowering the parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) and attention-deficit disorder (ADHD).

The application for the award can be found here: application. The deadline is January 31, 2007.

The Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities website says:

“Nominations are now open for the fourth annual Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities Youth Achievement Award. This year’s $1,000 award recognizing the great strengths of young people with LD and/or ADHD will be given to a high school (or younger) student who has demonstrated initiative, talent and determination resulting in a notable accomplishment in any field—including art, music, science, math, athletics or community service. Honorable Mentions will also be awarded.”

The award will be presented on May 17, 2007 at a benefit dinner. The 2007 award will be presented by David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue Airways, and honorary chairman of Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities.

It has been reported that last year, Smart Kids received applications for 22 states and Canada. If you live outside of North America, please contact Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities to find out if you are eligible to apply.

Here is what I would like you to do:

1. Visit the site for the application: http://www.SmartKidswithLD.org/award.html
2. Imagine how the outstanding youth that you are thinking about would feel just knowing that you nominated him or her…
3. Go ahead and fill out the application form and send it in.
4. Please consider posting a comment to this blog so that we can all share in the success of your outstanding youth.

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