Now

Here it is 2013 and unfortunately it seems to a greater extent not much has changed since I began my journey in late 1977.
Certainly, we have better technology.  We have several generations of improvements in CT Scans, MRI's and the awareness in sports has taken a great leap forward in acknowledging the consequences of concussions.
Mental health unfortunately has taken a back seat and is constantly being undermined by the powers to be in hopes to save a buck not recognizing the enormous cost of sweeping all of this under the table mentality.

If we do not establish strong treatment facilities, bring back hospitals that can house those in desparate need of constant care then we will see our society pay an awesome cost.
I have mentioned that back in the early 80s, the cost to Canada was over a billion dollars.  Now add to this the cost to society as we close treatment centers and house our most vulnerable on the streets or prisons.
The cost to do nothing but turn a blind eye to this sees a blight upon all of society.

I mentioned that the cycle is loss of income, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, justice system and incarceration.   A hefty price for a little intervention.  We all pay because, the drug abuse is serviced by the gangs, the user needs to steal from cars or homes or rob stores.  They shoplift which costs all of us at a rate of about a 10% increase on the product to the end user.
Violent crimes, prostitution, gangland slayings, drive-bys and more are all linked to mental health issues.
whether you have a TBI,(Traumatic Brain Injury) and ABI (Acquired Brain Injury), or suffer from Schizophrenia, depression or any other mental health issue, without the facilities to accommodate you or you loved one, the crime rate will increase, the cost to house people in prison will increase and this becomes a cycle that need to be broken.
Please contact your local and federal governments and ask them what they are doing and why are they ignoring the plight of the most vulnerable in society.
This attitude of not in my neighborhood needs to stop.  Treatment facilities need to be manned.  Intervention and follow-up should occur at the outset of the brain injury and not at the end when legal intervention is the only recourse.
Violence towards women can be reduced if we prepare the family for what may occur post brain injury and the male loved one should not be released back into the home until he has re-learned to cope sufficiently with his injury.  We either house them sooner or we do it later at a substantive cost greater than had we intervened immediately   We could avoid, the B&E, the spousal abuse, the drug addiction and subsequent treatment, the legal costs of incarceration if we simply started the treatment

NOW