This year, Beyond the Blues: Depression Anxiety Education and Screen Day will take place on October 10 and throughout October.

Each event is organized by a community organization, but you can expect some combination of screening tests for depression, anxiety or risky drinking, an opportunity to speak privately with a clinician about your screening test results, presentations or other learning opportunities, and time to connect with mental health-related groups in your community.

This issue of Visions: BC’s Mental Health and Addictions Journal explores recovery. Recovery is much bigger than checking off a list of clinical symptoms or substances. It isn’t about living without symptoms or difficulties. It’s about living well despite challenges—by connecting with new social groups, finding meaningful work, embracing creativity, developing the skills to deal with problems, and refusing to let life pass by.

The latest info sheet from HeretoHelp explores violence, mental illnesses and substance use.

This issue of Visions: BC’s Mental Health and Addictions Journal explores families and relationships. Families and family relationships can be complicated at the best of times. Add mental illness or substance use, and it can be difficult to figure out where to turn. How does caregiving affect your relationship with a loved one? How do you support a child when you can’t tolerate their behaviour? How might parents who experience a mental illness maintain their own wellness? These are just a few of the questions that writers in this issue cover.

The Safer Use series from the Centre for Addictions Research of BC shares harm reduction strategies for people who use substances. While all substances have different risks of harm, you can take steps to reduce some of the risks. In this series, you’ll find tips to help reduce risks around cannabis use, drinking alcohol, injecting, smoking crack or crystal meth, and tripping (using hallucinogens). Learn more about the Safer Use series >>

This issue of Visions: BC’s Mental Health and Addictions Journal explores Health Literacy. What does literacy have to do with health or mental health? If we think of literacy as reading (understanding information) and writing (communicating information), we can see how it might apply to mental health information. You need to understand information from professionals like doctors, of course.

Visions: BC’s Mental Health and Addictions Journal is looking for external members to join our editorial board. External editorial board members bring their diverse experiences and perspectives as we work together to educate, enlighten, inspire, and spark conversations about well-being and empowerment.

We relaunched the HeretoHelp website in December and we're keen to know what's working well and not so well on the new site. That's why we're doing some more indepth usabillity testing with a small focus group. If you're chosen to be in the final group, you'd receive a $50 honorarium for an hour of your time for a face to face meeting in Vancouver or a webconference if you're outside Vancouver. You need to be living in BC, be available for a block of time between 9am and 5pm on May 14 or May 15 (one-hour slot to be confirmed). We've already filled a few spots.

From Grief to Action’s Coping Kit is for parents or caregivers who are dealing with a son or daughter’s substance use. It’s a helpful tool whether you’re concerned about a loved one’s early, experimental substance use or are concerned about a more serious substance use problem. It’s also useful for other family members or friends.