More people are becoming informed about mental health, however, with that comes a lack of resources to meet the demand.
Alan Stevenson, local CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), says there has been a lot of progress over the years regarding mental health.
"The growth in our demand over the last number of years is about 60% over five years," says Stevenson. "We don't have adequate resources to meet that kind of demand so people are waiting. People are waiting well too long for services -- but at least they're coming forward."
Awareness on mental health is growing, especially so with young people. Stevenson says youth are speaking out on the topic more than ever, but sometimes factual information gets lost amidst everything else that's out in the open.
"The challenge is there's a lot of misinformation out there and we sort of have to debunk some of those rumors -- the stigma and myths around mental illness," he says.
To inform youth on the proper facts, the CMHA is visiting a few high schools in Chatham-Kent this week. One of the messages they're trying to get across is that mental illness is not something people should be ashamed of.
"Mental illness is like any other kind of illness, it's nobody's fault," he says. "There's no blame, there shouldn't be guilt, there shouldn't be shame. We just need to address that so that people have the confidence to ask for the help that they require."
Stevens says resources can be found by visiting their website at lambtonkent.cmha.ca or dropping by their Chatham office on Grand Ave. W.
-With files from Cheryl Johnstone.
