Testimony of Dr. Lori Triano-Antidormi I am the mother of Zachary Law- rence Antidormi (above). Zachary was murdered on March 27, 1997, at the age of 2 ½. Zachary was playing with his best friend when our neighbour, Ms. Lucia Piove- san, came out of her house, with a large kitchen knife tucked under her cape and stabbed my little Zachary 12 times. My beautiful Zachary died as a result of his injuries and, as you can imagine, my life was changed forever. I did not have my beautiful boy; I was rendered non-functional for almost a year; and, people now came to call me ... a “bereaved mother” and a “victim”. Ms. Piovesan, who was 60 years old at the time of the act, suffered from a serious mental illness. She suffered from paranoid schizophre- nia. Her delusions led her to be- lieve that the spirit of her own dead son lived within my Zachary. She stabbed Zachary numerous times to release her son’s spirit from Zachary. Ms. Piovesan was found Not Criminally Responsible. Ms. Piovesan had a history of er- ratic behaviour. Over the years, she had come in contact with the hospitals, various doctors, psychia- trists, and the police, but she was never properly assessed or treated. We had called the police to our home more than a dozen times, with the hope of having her apprehended and assessed. Ms. Piovesan’s daughter also tried, without success, to have her mother apprehended, assessed and into treatment, but she too continually hit barriers. Ms. Piove- san’s daughter, as is true for much of the public, did not understand her mother’s thinking or her mother’s behaviour. She did not understand her mother’s mental illness, and she did not appreciate the quality of her mother’s delu- sional thinking...she tried to correct it and challenge it....and, in the end, it was her mother’s delusional thinking that formed the basis of her actions – to murder my son to release the spirit of hers. This year, on March 27, I was home from work, owing to the fact that since Zachary’s death, I have taken that day off, mainly for the purpose of self-care. It was on March 27, 2013 that a verdict of Not Criminally Responsible was reached in a tragic case in Ontario. It was determined that the individ- ual who committed the crime suf- fers from a serious mental illness and owing to the nature of his ill- ness, he engaged in behaviour which led to the death of another human being. The media cover- age on this case and on Bill C-54 stirred feelings in me that surprised me. Given the intensity of these feelings, I felt compelled to explore them further. Bill C-54 stirs in me, feelings of upset. The bill is very stigmatiz- ing and punitive and does not reflect an accurate understand- ing of serious mental illness. The creation of a high risk cate- gory, based on brutality of the crime, for example, is not founded in any evidence. Brutality of the crime does not determine risk. Drawing attention to brutality of the crime serves instead to perpetuate a myth that people with mental illness are violent. Further, length- ening the one year review to three years for the high risk accused is, in my opinion, punitive, not reha- bilitative. I do not understand how this Bill will accomplish what it claims to be one of its main goals – namely, to enhance public safety. It is my understanding and experience that the Review Boards, which review cases annu- ally and determine the level of security for those found NCR, work very hard to balance public safety with the rights of those with mental illness, and their efforts seem to be working. My family was not protected. The lack of protection was not, how- ever, due to flaws in current NCR legislation but to a mental health system that is not working and has many gaps. Bill C-54 would not have protected my family but an improved Mental Health System might have. As already stated, the current NCR legislation appears to be working, with recidivism rates of NCR accused lower than persons found criminally responsible and managed by the corrections sys- tem. I find myself repeatedly ask- ing, why target individuals after the crime is committed, rather than directing more attention to prevent- ing such crimes in the first place. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 2, Summer 2013 MANITOBA SCHIZOPHRENIA SOCIETY NEWSLETTER EDITORS Sangeetha Nair, Kim Heidinger Inside This Issue A Future Without Discrimination…. 2 Call for Better Bill to Enhance Public Safety……………………………….. 3 MSS Annual General Meeting….... 3 Not Myself Today @ Work….… 4 - 5 Thank You Anne Marie .....….……..5 Save the Date ….……….……..….. 6 MB Housing Residents at Higher Health Risk ………………………… 7 WRHA unveils new Mental Health Crisis Centre ………………………. 7 Donation Form………BACK COVER Slain Boy’s Mother Opposes Tougher Laws for Offenders with Mental Illness ...Continued on Page 3
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Transcript
Testimony of Dr. Lori Triano-Antidormi
I am the mother of Zachary Law-rence Antidormi (above). Zachary was murdered on March 27, 1997, at the age of 2 ½. Zachary was playing with his best friend when our neighbour, Ms. Lucia Piove-san, came out of her house, with a large kitchen knife tucked under her cape and stabbed my little Zachary 12 times. My beautiful Zachary died as a result of his injuries and, as you can imagine, my life was changed forever. I did not have my beautiful boy; I was rendered non-functional for almost a year; and, people now came to call me ... a “bereaved mother” and a “victim”. Ms. Piovesan, who was 60 years old at the time of the act, suffered from a serious mental illness. She suffered from paranoid schizophre-nia. Her delusions led her to be-lieve that the spirit of her own dead son lived within my Zachary. She stabbed Zachary numerous times to release her son’s spirit from Zachary. Ms. Piovesan was found Not Criminally Responsible. Ms. Piovesan had a history of er-ratic behaviour. Over the years, she had come in contact with the hospitals, various doctors, psychia-trists, and the police, but she was never properly assessed or treated. We had called the police to our home more than a dozen times, with the hope of having her
apprehended and assessed. Ms. Piovesan’s daughter also tried, without success, to have her mother apprehended, assessed and into treatment, but she too continually hit barriers. Ms. Piove-san’s daughter, as is true for much of the public, did not understand her mother’s thinking or her mother’s behaviour. She did not understand her mother’s mental illness, and she did not appreciate the quality of her mother’s delu-sional thinking...she tried to correct it and challenge it....and, in the end, it was her mother’s delusional thinking that formed the basis of her actions – to murder my son to release the spirit of hers. This year, on March 27, I was home from work, owing to the fact that since Zachary’s death, I have taken that day off, mainly for the purpose of self-care. It was on March 27, 2013 that a verdict of Not Criminally Responsible was reached in a tragic case in Ontario. It was determined that the individ-ual who committed the crime suf-fers from a serious mental illness and owing to the nature of his ill-ness, he engaged in behaviour which led to the death of another human being. The media cover-age on this case and on Bill C-54 stirred feelings in me that surprised me. Given the intensity of these feelings, I felt compelled to explore them further.
Bill C-54 stirs in me, feelings of upset. The bill is very stigmatiz-ing and punitive and does not reflect an accurate understand-ing of serious mental illness. The creation of a high risk cate-gory, based on brutality of the crime, for example, is not founded in any evidence. Brutality of the crime does not determine risk. Drawing attention to brutality of the crime serves instead to perpetuate a myth that people with mental illness are violent. Further, length-ening the one year review to three years for the high risk accused is, in my opinion, punitive, not reha-bilitative. I do not understand how this Bill will accomplish what it claims to be one of its main goals – namely, to enhance public safety. It is my understanding and experience that the Review Boards, which review cases annu-ally and determine the level of security for those found NCR, work very hard to balance public safety with the rights of those with mental illness, and their efforts seem to be working. My family was not protected. The lack of protection was not, how-ever, due to flaws in current NCR legislation but to a mental health system that is not working and has many gaps. Bill C-54 would not have protected my family but an improved Mental Health System might have. As already stated, the current NCR legislation appears to be working, with recidivism rates of NCR accused lower than persons found criminally responsible and managed by the corrections sys-tem. I find myself repeatedly ask-ing, why target individuals after the crime is committed, rather than directing more attention to prevent-ing such crimes in the first place.
VOLUME 27, NUMBER 2, Summer 2013 MANITOBA SCHIZOPHRENIA SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
THE Manitoba Schizophre-nia Society organized a pic-nic in the Bonny Castle Park to celebrate National Schizo-phrenia and Psychosis Awareness Day on May 24th. Over 80 people from all walks of life had come to join in the celebration. There were two little girls with their young fathers. There were families and friends. There was a six- month old baby
with her young mother and there were volunteers who came because they believe in hope. Jane Burpee, the public edu-cation coordinator for MSS said, " It isn't about statistics. It isn't about the DSM 5. It is about the individual journeys of courage and success which we so humbly admire. "Having young children at the celebration gives hope
that they will grow up with an understanding of mental illness, which, in turn will give us a generation that will change stigma into compas-sion in the future." This was MSS’s second year celebrating the National Schizophrenia and Psycho-sis Awareness Day.
Event Coordinators Karen Kaplen and Jane
Burpee
3
When I read about the high profile NCR case
in the paper and learned that people had
noticed the mental health of this individual
deteriorating, and that he attended a walk- in
clinic just a day before the killing, with his
main presenting complaint related to his
thinking, I could not help but wonder, what
happened at that walk- in clinic.
Disordered thinking is a main characteristic of
schizophrenia, and this man was seeking
assistance given he was troubled by his
thinking. Why was he not admitted for fur-
ther assessment and treatment of his com-
plaints and psychiatric status? Would it have
taken too much time and effort? Were no
psychiatric beds available? Did the attending
physician carry out a proper assessment, did
he have the knowledge to make an accurate
diagnosis or did he consider a referral? I
can’t help but ask, as I did some 16 years
ago; did a faulty mental health system fail the
families of the victim and the individual who
committed the crime due to his mental ill-
ness. We must remember, both families are
victims.
Bill C-54 seeks, it claims, to protect the public
and support victims. The mental health com-
munity supports the amendments related to
victims’ involvement; and, to this end, I can
say that, as I victim, I have been treated with
respect and consideration. No one is arguing
against the amendments pertaining to vic-
tims’ involvement. Other components of the
bill, however, are ill-informed and not evi-
dence based; and, as I have already indi-
cated, they are stigmatizing and punitive and
lead the public to believe that people with
mental illness commit these acts because of
ill intent created out of a sound mind. It is the
mental illness that leads to the act.
Understanding Zachary’s murder was not
easy for me, even as a psychologist. Under-
standing mental illness is complicated and,
for victims, such as myself, there is a strong
need to hold someone accountable for the
murder of their loved ones. The “lock ‘em up
and throw away the key” approach, however,
has a vengeful nature and points the finger in
the wrong direction. It does not reflect any
attempt to understand the complexity of men-
tal illness. Until the government directs their
efforts at improving the mental health system,
versus creating a bill like C-54 which will not
protect Canadians, we are no better off.
Zachary was murdered over 16 years ago.
Over these years, I strongly hoped our gov-
ernment would take leadership in helping
people with mental illness so they never get
to the point of committing a crime. Instead,
Canadians are presented with a bill that will
not protect the public or help prevent a crime
committed by someone with a mental illness.
As a victim, I ask that this government work
with both the mental health community and
victims to create a bill which will actually be
effective in enhancing public safety rather
than one that will only negatively impact peo-
ple with mental illness.
Triano-Antidormi was part of a group speaking out against Bill C-54 which the government has said will improve public safety by placing tighter restrictions on some offenders.
Call for Better Bill to Enhance Public Safety
Psychologist and mother, Dr. Lori Triano-Antidormi
...Continued from Page 1
MSS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
July 23, 2013 12:00pm-1:00pm
Guest Speaker: Nancy Parker Director of Adult Community Mental Health – Crisis Services, Mental Health Crisis Response Centre
Norwood Hotel
112 Marion Street, Winnipeg, MB A light lunch will be provided.
Please RSVP to Viola at 204-786-1616 by July 19.
4
Not Myself Today @ Work
By Mariianne Mays Wiebe
HAVE you ever had a work day when stress
got the better of you? When you weren’t
feeling quite yourself? A new national cam-
paign called Not Myself Today aims to raise
awareness of mental health issues in the
workplace by encouraging people to pay
more attention to their own mental health
and well-being. Other goals of the campaign
are to positively change attitudes and be-
haviours towards those living with mental
health difficulties or illnesses, and to influ-
ence positive changes in policies around
mental health in the workplace.
The U of M participated in Not Myself Today
@Work day, an event that took place on
June 6 and is part of an initiative by Partners
for Mental Health, a national organization
dedicated to transforming how Canadians
think about and support mental health.
Launched on May 9, the campaign aims to
provide resources for the support of men-
tally healthy workplaces, and culminates in a
special day when workplaces across Can-
ada come together to hold special events to
raise awareness about mental health in the
workplace.
The website of Partners for Mental Health
notes some disturbing statistics that should
make us understand mental health in the
workplace as a significant issue. Over the
next 12 months, 7 million Canadians will
experience a mental health problem. One in
three workplace disability claims are related
to mental illness, and each day, 500,000
people are absent from work due to mental
health reasons.
It’s because of this that the U of M has part-
nered with Partners for Mental Health for
Not Myself Today @Work day as part of a
larger commitment it has recently made to
addressing issues of mental health in its
student and employee populations.
Over the next year, consultant Stephanie
Loewen will work with staff, faculty and stu-
dents as well as with officials and col-
leagues at the university in order to create a
mental health strategy to support mental
health initiatives for students and in the
workplace at the U of M. Loewen notes that
the university is already well on its way to
creating that strategy. She says, “The U of
M places emphasis on the importance of
employee wellness through the Outstanding
Workplace Initiative. In addition, the U of M
is currently developing a mental health strat-
egy that will seek to enhance the well-being
of all students, faculty and staff as well as to
increase support to employees with mental
health issues.”
The U of M’s mental health website page
states that, “We are committed to attracting
and retaining the very best staff and faculty
members. To do that we strive to create a
psychologically safe workplace; one that
promotes the mental health and well-being
of the workforce. The U of M is committed to
assisting and supporting staff and faculty
with mental health issues, be it their own,
that of their families or their students.”
Loewen has been consulting with faculty
and staff and students since April. In early
June, faculty and staff will have another
opportunity to inform the strategy process.
All employees will receive a request via
email to fill out an anonymous survey about
student mental health. The survey aims to
get a better understanding of the nature and
extent of the impact of student mental health
issues on employees at the university.
Loewen hopes that many people will take
the opportunity to share their experiences
with students in order to reveal areas for
improvement and where more support is
needed for employees.
Over 1,100 mood badges, 500 stickers and
other promotional items were distributed to
faculty and staff at the Campus Beautifica-
tion Day barbeque.Workplace wellness tips
for improving mental health at work are be-
ing shared on
a daily basis on U of M social media sites.
Employees are encouraged to wear their
mood badge in support of mental health and
wellness in the workplace, and in solidarity
with our coworkers, staff and students living
with mental health issues.
Q&A with Stephanie Loewen
How is mental health — flourishing or
languishing — displayed in a workplace
or community?
Positive, good or “flourishing” mental health
displays itself in so many ways in the work-
place and in the learning context. Staff
members that are flourishing are more pro-
ductive, efficient, innovative, resourceful and
work better with their colleagues and clients.
Employers reap the benefits of promoting a
mentally health workforce in many ways, but
tangibly, there are fewer costs related to
disability claims for mental illness, and they
have greater success at hiring and retaining
staff. A mentally healthy workplace is one
where all employees enjoy work-life bal-
ance, clearly understand their roles and
have the opportunity to contribute to deci-
sions about how work gets done.
And what about students?
Students who are flourishing in their mental
health are often active in community life and
building community. They have better learn-
ing outcomes and skill development, which
has been shown to lead to higher retention
rates and student success.
Any person who is flourishing in their mental
health is also less likely to engage in prob-
lematic substance use, more likely to be
physically healthy, less likely to engage in
criminal or antisocial behaviour and are
more likely to outlive their less-mentally well
(also known as “languishing”) counterparts.
...See Next Page
Photo
by M
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Stephanie Loewen, U 0f M Mental Health
consultant
5
ON behalf of the MSS Board, staff and volunteers I wish to honour, congratulate and thank Anne Marie Grant for her passionate and dedicated service to the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society as the chair of the Iris Gala for the last 6 years. Under Anne Marie's leadership the Gala grew in sophistication and its fundraising efforts. It is estimated that during the last 6 years that approximately $170,000 was raised through the Iris Gala Committee. The Iris Gala is a unique time of networking with other mental health organizations, various levels of government, service provid-ers and corporations. This year alone, we raised approximately $43,000!
Chris Summerville, Executive Director
Thank You Anne Marie!
…Continued from Page 4
Can you say anything about the workplace side of the
strategy?
I think it is important to make note of the fact that for the workplace
mental health side of the strategy, we are working very closely with
Learning and Development Services, and the Outstanding Work-
place Initiative to ensure the strategy complements and supports
the ongoing work taking place under the OWI. [As mentioned in the
article, surveys and focus groups are also part of the consultation
process.]
Is there anything else we as a community should take into
consideration with regard to mental health?
A staff member or student with a mental illness can be flourishing
in their mental health. It is a common misunderstanding that per-
sons with the lived experience of mental illness are also unwell or
don’t take good enough care of themselves, or are weak somehow.
In my experience, some of the most flourishing people that I’ve met
have been those with mental illness. I think this is due to the fact
that they are more aware of and sensitive to their own needs. They
are often more educated about the key elements of recovery —
and these are the building blocks of mental wellness.
Can you name some of those building blocks of mental
wellness ?
Healthy connections and relationships; taking breaks away from
stressful situations and practicing being in the moment or being
mindful, exercising and body movement, reaching out for help and
being there to support others, practicing generosity and trying new
things.
This article was first published in the University of Manitoba news-
paper, The Bulletin.
6
Hosted by the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society Date: September 9, 10, 11
Venue: Fort Garry Hotel Conference Centre www.sscnationalconference2013.ca
SAVE THE DATE
A support group for young people
(15-30 yrs) living with psychosis,
schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder.
Meetings held 1st Tuesday of every month
4:30 p.m – 5:30 p.m
FACES 100-4 Fort Street
STRENGTHENING FAMILIES
TOGETHER
This 4-session national education program for family
members and friends of individuals living with and
recovering from serious mental illness aims to
increase accessibility to Canadian-based information
on the topics associated with living daily with a
mental illness.
This 4 week workshop will run each Tuesday
evening at the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society
100-4 Fort Street, Winnipeg
5:30pm to 7:30pm
Starting: November 5th, 2013
Ending: November 26th, 2013
For information and registration call
204-786-1616
Registration is now OPEN! Two ways to register: Online or Paper Form by visiting the conference website. Bursaries are
available. If you have questions please contact us at 204-786-1616.
Registration Rates Full Conference: Bursary for PWLE (person with lived experience - consumer)