Medical treatment must be primary in a treatment program that also provides a comprehensive system of rehabilitative supports and services, with an emphasis on housing and vocational opportunities. The best medications, including the newer atypical medications, must be included in the Ontario Drug Formulary, so that each person with schizophrenia receives the best possible medication. It is unconscionable to do less. Establish a mental health Commission at the Provincial level, with responsibility for those with major psychiatric disorders. The Schizophrenia Society of Ontario represents families.
Families care for two-thirds of persons with schizophrenia.
History demonstrates that Schedule 1 facilities and community services gradually 'drift' from their mandate when faced with the complexities of treating and supporting persons with schizophrenia. Our family members must be constantly aware of this tendency and aggressive in exposing it wherever it occurs, so that the resources that should go to persons with schizophrenia are not consumed by the distressed and the dissatisfied. Persons with schizophrenia who are too sick to be in the community belong in hospital, not in jail or prison. The increasing criminalization of the mentally ill is inhumane, unlawful and totally inappropriate. The crisis in the Provincial Psychiatric Hospital system presents critical care and human resource issues that must be addressed.