A Glovertown family is detailing its struggles with the province’s mental health system beyond the headlines.
Shawn Rowe called VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly after RCMP issued a release on the recent arrest of their 23-year-old son on charges of assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and resisting arrest following an incident in the community earlier this week.
Rowe says his son was an accomplished student who excelled in school and sports when things changed during university and he developed serious mental health issues.
Rowe says the family is frustrated with the lack of proper follow-up care for their son.
“He’s been brought to the Health Sciences a couple of times,” says Rowe. “We’ve reached out to various councilors, I’ve called the Canadian Mental Health Association,” but with little effect. Rowe says “at the Waterford, he’s been there for 15 minutes, the psychiatrist writes out a prescription, and says okay, if there are any issues come back in – but that’s not follow-up care.”
Rowe says the only hope he has, now that his son is facing criminal charges, is that he is properly assessed, and that government officials are listening.
“To the listener I’m saying, the system, yes, while it’s faulted, you are not alone and you need to speak to someone, you need to speak out. You need to bombard Tom Osborne’s office with messages, you need to bombard Andrew Furey’s office, you need to make your situation known.”