After struggling with depression for decades, Walter Wilmot said he started to feel better when he connected with people who had been there too.
Growing up in a family with a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude, Wilmot suffered in silence. His recovery began five years ago when he found people who could relate to his experiences.
He recalls the first time he came to Mood Disorders Ottawa, a mutual support group.
“It’s like you come out of a little shell, finding people actually listening to you when you’re talking. It is unbelievable when you’ve been so isolated,” Wilmot said.
The group is one of the 24 non-profit peer-support organizations in Ottawa that help people cope with a wide range of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Mood Disorders Ottawa started in 1988. From its office on the fourth floor of the Canadian Mental Health Association building on Bank Street, the organization provides its members with what one facilitator described as one of the few “open and safe spaces where they can share feelings without being judged.”
About 120 members wander in and out of the peer support group annually, with 18 people on average at each bi-monthly meeting. Participants get a chance to talk freely about whatever is on their minds: a typical bad day, important life decisions, or the stigma and misconceptions they have to deal with all the time.
Other times, they share therapy options and coping strategies. Sometimes they don’t talk if they don’t want to.
Wilmot said he shocked friends outside of the peer support group by telling them about his suicidal thoughts.
“But with my MDO friends, I can truly be myself.”
Having won the hard-fought battle against depression, Wilmot became a facilitator for the group last year.
He said that for people like him, the peer support group provided something that physicians could not – the healing feeling of being with others who understand each other and share the belief that they can live with mental health challenges.
While the number of participants in Mood Disorders Ottawa has risen over the years, the funding has not.
The group receives less than $10,000 annually from the CMHA and the Community Foundation of Ottawa.
Thomasina Borkman, a sociology professor at George Mason University in Virginia, said that most peer support groups in North America are not respected, researched or funded enough.
As one of the few researchers in this field, she said self-help groups have received little attention from mainstream professionals or policy makers.
“People can’t find enough evidence to support self-help methods because they haven’t been given enough funds to do such research,” she said.
Wilmot said peer support was a choice his mother’s generation would never have made.
“My mother had struggled with depression and anxiety all over her life, but she kept it inside and never sought to talk about it,” he said. “We’re just beginning in the Ottawa area, but it’s growing.”
Moments later, six new members showed up for a meeting.
For more information on peer support programs, contact Mood Disorders Ottawa at 613-526-5406 or visit www.mooddisordersottawa.ncf.ca .