data<\/a> from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows only half of Canadians who were referred to mental health counselling received care within 30 days of referral.<\/p>\nOf patients who were hospitalized, 30 per cent did not have a followup with a doctor within 30 days.<\/p>\n
Many families find themselves lurching from crisis to crisis, often including short-term hospitalizations that end without adequate followup care in place.<\/p>\n
Experts say this leads to patients deteriorating as a result, landing back in hospital repeatedly, with nothing to stop the vicious cycle.<\/p>\n
The subject has become a topic of discussion in the wake of the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting, where police revealed the 18-year-old shooter had previously been apprehended and taken to hospital for mental health issues.<\/p>\n
People with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators, mental health experts emphasize, but make the point that short-term crisis responses are not enough to treat serious mental illness.<\/p>\n
Saunders\u2019 family tragedy highlights some of the barriers that block parents trying to get adequate help for their loved ones with serious mental illness.<\/p>\n
Saunders begged her son to call the provincial intake line and he finally did.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gave him an appointment. They assessed him as low risk and gave him an appointment four months out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saunders called them back and pleaded with them to get him in earlier, trying to explain that Brennan\u2019s condition was much more severe than he had expressed, but with no luck.<\/p>\n
“I’m calling the intake line, providing information like ‘my son’s off his meds. We witnessed a psychotic episode. He has withdrawn from all of his favourite activities. He can’t finish school. He had to drop out of school,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would not accept my information.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did convince Brennan to go back to his family doctor to get back on his medication.<\/p>\n
For a while, that seemed to bring some relief while Brennan waited for his mental health appointment.<\/p>\n
“He was showing signs of improvement,\u201d Saunders said.<\/p>\n
Saunders is convinced that if any of the services she reached out to had listened to her, her son would have received psychiatric treatment in time and would still be alive today.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe very quickly plummeted to a place of not being able to see any other option to end his pain. This will haunt me every second until I take my last breath\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had such a beautiful life ahead of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Allison Crawford, a psychiatrist and senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said far too often patients and their families are left on their own to figure out where to get help, even though referral to that treatment should be considered just as much a part of a patient\u2019s care plan as their hospital admission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to not only step people up to that intensive care, we need to be able to step them down in safe ways so that they make good transitions back to their communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a major failing of our health system.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mother in Fort McMurray, Alta., said her 25-year-old son is a victim of that failure. The Canadian Press has decided to keep her identity anonymous and refer to her as Lauren to protect the privacy of her son.<\/p>\n
Lauren said her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia six years ago, but that he does not accept that diagnosis. Since then, she says he\u2019s been trapped in a cycle of anguish.<\/p>\n
As she recounts it: It begins with an altercation, one of which is soon to be before the courts. Police are called, and take him to a hospital. He\u2019s admitted and medicated for about two weeks before he\u2019s discharged. He doesn\u2019t have a therapist or family doctor. He starts to feel better and stops taking his medication. The cycle repeats within about six months.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost every day, he’s like, \u2018Mom, I just want my life back. I’m done with this.’ He’s exhausted. And he’s been exhausted for years,\u201d she said from her northeast Alberta home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would say at the hospital that he needs to be seeing a proper therapist for his issues, but the problem was it would take about six months in order to get to see somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo in that time frame of six months, his medication would stop working and then we were back to square one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fort McMurray mother said her son declined a request sent through her to be interviewed.<\/p>\n
She describes her son as a hard worker with a gentle spirit. He previously enjoyed his work on an oilfield. Sometimes he would work 40 days in a row, he was so committed to the job, and earned \u201cbig money.\u201d As a child, he was the kid who insisted on taking a spider outside rather than squashing it.<\/p>\n
Until recently, he was homeless. He can\u2019t get an appointment to see a therapist until April, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s nothing, nothing in place for him,\u201d his mother said.<\/p>\n
Her son is not alone. More than 5,000 people in Alberta were hospitalized for mental health disorders from 2024 to 2025, according to Canadian Institute for Health Information data.<\/p>\n
In British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, schizophrenia and delusional disorders were among the top reasons people were admitted to hospital during the same period.<\/p>\n
PARENTS WHO WANT MORE INPUT<\/p>\n
Kathleen Mochnacki, president of Family Alliance on Severe Mental Illnesses, said there needs to be \u201ca continuum of care.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Society really needs to recognize how compromised an individual is with a psychotic illness, and we can’t just throw them in hospital, expect them to be well when they come out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The national alliance \u2013 called FASMI \u2013 is lobbying to increase the ability of parents to have a say in their adult children\u2019s care, including providing information to mental health care staff to paint a full picture of the patient\u2019s symptoms. They also want the ability to sign off on involuntary hospitalization.<\/p>\n
They argue the goal is not to violate the patient’s privacy or autonomy, but to be \u201cpartners in the treatment and care of their loved ones\u201d<\/p>\n
FASMI says the same self-decision-making standards shouldn\u2019t apply for people with severe mental illnesses because one of the symptoms can be anosognosia \u2013 a medically recognized phenomenon in schizophrenia, dementia and other conditions when patients lose insight into the seriousness of their own illness.<\/p>\n
A Toronto mother says her 31-year-old son is caught in a cycle of hospitalization after psychotic or manic episodes, followed by a petition to get himself discharged after a few days \u2014 even when his health-care team says he\u2019s not ready.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press is also keeping her identity anonymous to protect the privacy of her son, and is calling her Nikkita.<\/p>\n
A member of FASMI living in Toronto, Nikkita said her son\u2019s life was turned upside down after a bicycle accident about 10 years ago. He had a traumatic brain injury and was later diagnosed with bipolar and schizoaffective disorder, characterized by delusions, hallucinations, mania and depression. During one episode, he thought he was on fire, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he’s on medication, he gets stabilized, he’s good to go,\u201d his mother said.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019ll often stop taking medication because of unwelcome side effects, including sedation, she said.<\/p>\n
“My son has a very high work ethic. So when he starts feeling sedated, he doesn’t like it,\u201d Nikkita said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey haven’t found a medication where he’s not feeling that sedated as yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said if it weren\u2019t for the co-op they live in, her son would be homeless.<\/p>\n
Family members and friends there have known him since he was a kid and see him as a \u201cpeaceful, helpful person\u201d who volunteered his time on the co-op board, is an athlete and has a great sense of humour.<\/p>\n
But when he has a psychotic or manic episode, his mother says it\u2019s frightening, especially for newer neighbours.<\/p>\n
“If you have someone in an apartment building who’s broken walls, who has, you know, gone screaming up and down the hallway, most people are not going to be putting up with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When he gets depressed, it\u2019s heartbreaking, she said, and she fears he will harm himself.<\/p>\n
“I’ve heard \u2018I want to jump in front of a train.\u2019 I’ve heard \u2018I wanted to jump off the balcony. I wish I was hit by a bus.'”<\/p>\n
\u201c(He says) \u2018I just don’t want to be here anymore.'”<\/p>\n
She\u2019s frustrated that her son can repeatedly convince a provincial capacity and consent board that he should be discharged.<\/p>\n
“The challenge, especially when they’re manic or (have) psychosis or anything like that, is that the hospital has seen them presenting one way and depending on the person, they could probably have what sounds like normal conversation, but it’s not normal conversation,\u201d Nikkita said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially if you don’t know them, you won’t know when they’re not telling the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also frustrated that the hospital hasn\u2019t been able to discharge him to an outpatient psychiatrist with whom he can build a trusting relationship. Instead, he\u2019s been referred to an assertive community treatment (ACT) team that checks in with home visits.<\/p>\n
She said the ACT team hasn\u2019t been able to meet her son\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
“It baffles me, this Russian roulette that we’re playing with people… We’re seeing a lot of unwell people on subways and on trains and streetcars. And people say they don’t want help, and I’m like, that’s not true.”<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press did not speak with her son because as of Tuesday, Nikkita said he was in hospital and unwell.<\/p>\n
Nikkita said he had once again been discharged while still ill and she had to call police to get him taken back to hospital when he had another crisis.<\/p>\n
Dr. Louise Gallagher, chief of the Child, Youth and Family Services division at CAMH who was speaking generally and not about this particular case, said she\u2019s always encountered families who want to be more involved in care.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a tricky balance of knowing a patient may not fully understand why they should stay in hospital, and the law, which protects \u201cautonomy and people\u2019s rights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the risk is reduced, we can’t actually keep them in hospital always against their will. And in a way the illness itself can kind of drive that refusal of treatments.”<\/p>\n
The Fort McMurray mom, who recently moved into a cheaper apartment in order to financially support her son, has tried taking legal action to disrupt his cycle of mental illness crises.<\/p>\n
She convinced a judge several years ago to issue a court order to apprehend her son to get him reassessed. She also obtained a court order that mandated he take his medication.<\/p>\n
Both worked for a time, she said, until they were eventually dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy responsibility is to fight with the courts and fight with doctors to get him the help that he properly needs and I will continue to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t give up on my kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24\/7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO – Nancy Saunders says her son Ben Brennan accomplished so much in his short life. He was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,166,410,411,324,1603],"class_list":["post-334582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lifestyle","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-national","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}