December has always been a challenging month for me. Lots of extra things to do, parties, late nights, irregular sleep schedule, get togethers with family and the overall anxiety which revolves around the holidays. It is a time for me to be extra careful with the energy that I do have and choose wisely what I will do with it.

For me, it is also a time of reflexion on what has happened in the past year and to say "Thank you" to all the people, organizations, institutions, family members, friends, acquaintances, etc. who have helped me throughout the year. I know that without their support, I would not make it through. The time and effort they devote to being there for me means a great deal and I am very grateful.

Bonnie, Chelsie and I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a New Year filled with health, love, enjoyment and peace.

Mike Santoro

On Wednesday November 19, 2008 I was one of the guest speakers at the 9th Annual Symposium on Research and Quality of Care for St. Mary's Hospital in Montreal which took place at The Ruby Foo's hotel. Present were about 120 medical professionals from St. Mary's Hospital and from other hospitals in Montreal. I was asked to speak about the patient's perspective. I only had 30 minutes to speak and answer questions so I had to keep it short.

I started by showing 3 chapters from The 80/20 Project DVD:

Chapter 4 Building a support network
Chapter 8 Learning from relapses
Chapter 19 My employer and my illness

The following were the points I tried to make:

1) Treat me as a human being, it's not just medication that I need

2) In Chapter 19 “Dave” refuses a promotion in order to gain something else later, medical professionals need to help me with that

3) The importance of community organizations and how they helped me

4) People have to organize their lives in order to be and stay stable and that has nothing to do with medication

5) Medical teams don't always take time to help patients with organizing their lives

6) Take time to focus on other aspects of a patient's life

7) Educate medical staff on other aspects of patient not just the medical aspects

8) For me, Medication is 20% everything else is 80% and medical professionals can help me with this 80%

9) In order to stay well, I need the 80/20 but I need help from medical professionals to apply it

10) Everyone around me helped me apply the 80/20

11) I am aware of your reality (as medical professionals). The interventions you do with people you see in crisis, medication is often more important than when they are stable. Once they are stable and you see them as out patients, this is when the 80/20 applies.

Once again, thank you St. Mary's Hospital and to the organizing committee of the 9th Annual Symposium on Research and Quality of Care for giving me this opportunity.

Mike Santoro

In my work environment I often deal with people who are having mental difficulties. What I have noticed is that in general, my co-workers are less and less resistant to consulting a professional in the mental health field. We are fortunate to have an employee help program, free of charge. If we are to give everyone a fair chance at life we all must realize that most of the stereotypes are kept alive by the co-workers. The boss is often sitting in an office somewhere. Furthermore your boss hired you; he or she was willing to give you a chance. Now if all the co-workers could do the same we would have taken a great step forward. People with a mental illness have a lot to teach us all. We must all stop and listen. I have learned a lot about mental illness through my brother Mike. In turn I am applying what I have learned to try to help others in my workplace. I am involved with my union at work at the executive level and I now help others by assisting them in their battles to be respected and accepted on all levels. I have often heard one co-worker judge that another co-worker is not really sick and is just faking in order to get some time off. I always respond that they should quit their job and should work as a doctor if they are qualified to make medical diagnoses. No doctor will knowingly diagnose a mental illness just so that the patient can get some time off work. This is considered fraud on the part of the doctor. He or she can loose their license to practice medicine. I don't know of a doctor who would take that chance when he or she has nothing to gain. Think about it!

It is up to every one to intervene and insist on respect and acceptance of all people in the work place. As of 2006 in Quebec, the law dictates that employers must provide an environment of work which is free of all forms of harassment or discrimination. The law is placing the responsibility on the employers to ensure that everyone is valued and respected by all. Sometimes we need to set one example and everyone else just kind of "gets it" after that. Unfortunately in some cases recourse is the only option left to correct the situation.

Carmy Santoro