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Thursday, April 12, 2018
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Family struggles with suicides, frustrated with lack of support
able to see. When Kyle and I started it, I don’t think either of us ever expected to see such a response, which shows so much how its needed.” Talking about suicide within one’s family is not easy, but Cherie says her family is willing to share its story if it helps save more lives. Within a group of four first cousins, three have lost sons to suicide, and her own son has made the attempt. “We lost Gregory to suicide two years ago,” says Cherie in a Mental Health Matters post. “He had never received any long term services. This January we lost our 15-year-old family member to suicide. This came as a shock to all of us because we had no idea he was struggling … On March 12 of this year, only six weeks after Ash’s funeral, we lost Joe to suicide. There had been signs for Joe and only two weeks before his suicide he had been taken to Mental Health. He was seen by a doctor and then released. The doctor released Joe to the family and the family believed the doctor that all was OK. That was not the case and we had to say goodbye to another young man, he was only 18 with his whole life ahead of him.” Continued on Page 13
By Jayne Foster Interim Editor
In the past two years, three young men have been lost to suicide in Cherie Hamilton’s family, and just weeks ago she nearly lost her own son. “I am still fighting for treatment so he does not become the next family member we say goodbye to,” says Hamilton, a member of the Lascelle family.
Cherie Hamilton and son Kyle talking with the Regional Optimist about how their family has created a Facebook group after a family member’s suicide attempt and their frustration with lack of support. Photo by Averil Hall
Sports Young wins national title Page 18
News
Crash deaths top the news Pages 10, 11
Feature
Part 2 Transparency creates division Pages 6, 8, 9
Canada Post says it will return to Battleford main street by June 4 By John Cairns Staff Reporter
Canada Post will not be returning to its old location at the Battleford post office building for a few more weeks yet. In an email Wednesday morning, Phil Legault, media relations for Canada Post, confirmed that Cana-
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da Post is “looking forward to serving our customers on 22nd Street starting Monday, June 4.” “We sincerely apologize to our Battleford customers for the delay in returning to our newly renovated post office,” he stated. Canada Post continues to operate at its temporary location on 35th Street.
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Hamilton and son Kyle are the administrators of a new Facebook group called Mental Health Matters. Created when his brother was rushed by ambulance to hospital after a suicide attempt, the group, hopes Kyle, will help change the way mental illnesses are dealt with. Kyle says his family is frustrated with not getting help for someone who clearly suffers from mental illness. He sees it as a case of not enough money, not enough psychiatrists and long wait times. He is frustrated that, even though his brother, 25-year-old Chase, told a Saskatoon psychiatrist he still felt suicidal once he had been treated for the physical effects of the attempt, the doctor was prepared to send him home. His mom said, “I had two doctors tell me. ‘He’s already got that thought pattern, there’s nothing we can do for you, we are sending you home.’”
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Basically, she said, they are saying, “You take him home to finish the act.” She is incredulous when she says, “We heard it from the doctor at St. Paul’s [Hospital], we heard it from the psychiatrist in emergency at [Royal University Hospital] and it’s, like, that is not okay. Take our children home to finish the act? How do they know because nobody every tried to treat him!” Cherie says their family is not alone in feeling frustrated. There are already more than 900 members from across the country who have joined their Facebook group Mental Health Matters. “They are sharing their own struggle, families reach out sharing their struggles, people sharing their own struggle with mental illness and asking for advice and some people who aren’t even struggling are sharing information on strategies,” says Cherie. “It’s actually quite remark-
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