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Editorial

The Barrie Examiner
Date Published: Saturday, July 24, 2010
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Hyperkinetic Disorder. That's what they called it 40 years ago when my mom took me to the doctor wondering why I wouldn't sleep at night. She often tells the story of wanting to throw me out of an airplane during a long trip east. She loved me, of course, but she still tells the story and looks at me with those, "I wanted too chuck you out the window, child" eyes.

The doctors at that time prescribed, you guessed it, drugs. And not just any drugs, at that time it was "speed" (amphetamine). Known to have the opposite effect on ADHD kids, it also caused me to hallucinate. Thankfully, my folks flushed them down the toilet.

Luckily for me, I seemed to out grow the intenseness of the disorder, but still grew up a very hyperactive child. Other issues also seem to plague me. I remember in public school struggling with words. Words wouldn't sit still enough for me to read them and thus writing them down was a struggle. When we switched to cursive, I was dead. To this day there are some words that I just can't spell. I was a bright child, yet my teachers would put me at the back of the class because I would bug the other students, or just fidget to the point of distracting all around me. Mixed grades were awful for me. I couldn't focus and would often spend time trying to listen to the other class lessons and thus get in trouble in the back of the class, again.

Overall, socially, I overcame some of these disorders but school progressively became difficult. A C-was a good grade for me. Eventually I dropped out of high school to get a job, bought a guitar and a car and said so long to academics.

I did eventually go back to school and attended bible school, was an A+ student and working in the arts.

Back in Barrie, six years later, I'm the owner of a successful design studio in downtown Barrie. I find it ironic. A Chigh school drop-out now employing A+ honour roll students.

The breaking down of the barriers and stigma associated with children's mental health is a huge task. Not only do we not have the professional staff to serve the families and children who struggle, we have a school system that teaches the status quo and generally from the neck up.

Creative thinkers or alternative thinkers are left behind, singled out or sent to the back of the room.

I'm blessed to be a father of three very bright children (11, 13 and 15) who do very well in school, but struggle to stay focused and with being allowed to be creative.

The one size fits all system is killing creativity and not serving the students who suffer from all levels of mental health. The gifted have to slow down, those with so called mental issues have to catch up. We all lose.

Something has to change and Parents for Children's Mental Health ( www.pcmh.ca)is doing its part by educating, inspiring and supporting parents and their kids to talk about it and then to act. It was an easy sell for us to host the Invisible Disability workshop at The Creative Space and we were impressed to see the potential leaders of our community show up.

The Creative Space, Barrie's first creative co-work environment, is a labour of love of my wife, Sandra and I, who feel a strong call to mentor the creative hearts and minds around us. We hang out with many very bright individuals, but many who suffered some stigma growing up. Somehow most have pushed through, but sadly, many do not.

We hope one day to see The Creative Space become a place of change for those marginalized by mental disorder, pushed aside because of their social status, or lost to addictions.

One day, we see hosting classes and clinics for the these individuals in the arts, in order to enable healing and to show the world, we with mental issues cannot only contribute to society, but help to shape it.