Mental Health & Disability Notes
Canadian Mennonite Health Assembly,
Winnipeg, October 28-30, 2002About a hundred people from across Canada met in Winnipeg for this year’s Canadian Mennonite Health Assembly (CMHA). This year’s assembly was entitled, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall and looked at different aspects of Mennonite health care in the past, present and future. Four plenary speakers spoke on four different topics related to health care. Bernie Loeppky, a management consultant began the conference with his talk, Health Care in the New Millennium. Henry Friesen, until recently Director of the Medical Research Council of Canada, talked about Interventions/Research/Changing Trends in Medicine. Working with Government Successfully was addressed by well-known local business person, Art De Fehr, and Henry Friesen, Coordinator of Pharmacoeconomics for Capital Health Region in Edmonton discussed Alternative Medicine. Each speaker brought his own expertise and knowledge and it is exciting to see what a variety of resource people we have in our midst.
Marilyn Houser Hamm of Mennonite Church Canada led in our times of worship as well as in the communion service which concluded the assembly. Marilyn’s love for worship radiates as she leads others in both thought and feeling provoking worship.
MCC Canada’s Mental Health and Disabilities Network contributed to the assembly by inviting Lynda Klassen Reynolds, a psychologist recently returned to Manitoba. Lynda spoke at a session open to the public on Sunday evening and led two workshops for mental health professionals on Monday. Her topic on Sunday evening was The Trauma Mennonites in Russia Experienced in the Early 1900s and How This Has Affected People To the Second and Third Generation. Much of her presentation was based on research she did on this topic for her doctoral dissertation and it was of interest to many people in Manitoba as well as elsewhere in Canada because many Canadian Mennonites are descendants of people who experienced the trauma in Russia. Some of the people who attended were people whom Lynda had interviewed for her dissertation.
Mondays workshop sessions with Lynda focused on skills to use in therapy when working with people who have been effected by trauma and many people appreciated her input both in terms of their professional involvement with people who have experienced trauma and for their own better understanding of people whom they relate to who have experienced trauma.
The MCC Canada Mental Health and Disabilities Network met in conjunction with CMHA. The network accepted a new mission statement and a new terms of reference policy. They also elected an executive for 2001-2002. There was also a sharing of things that are happening across the country from their respective provinces and some discussion about what we need to undertake in the future. The time was too short to spend much time in actual goal and direction setting so that will remain as one of the ongoing challenges of the executive.
It was a good event and hopefully you can make it to the next one which will be in Ontario in October of 2002. Watch for further information!