‘Jump, you coward’ Mental health advocate shares story at Holland College

Cutline: Mark Henick speaks with Holland College students during a presentation on Feb. 28. Henick grew up in Cape Breton, but now lives and works in Toronto.

By Daniel Brown

March 15, 2017

        Mark Henick had made multiple suicide attempts, the first when he was 12 years old.

But this time, things would be different.

It was the middle of the night. Henick climbed over the edge of an overpass in Cape Breton, making sure not to trip.

        In the distance he saw the abandoned steel plant. He looked down and saw a fence.

        He calculated how far he’d have to jump so not to land on the fence. He didn’t want this to be painful.

        He hung from the railing, so all he’d have to do is let go.

        “You don’t look like you’re doing so good there,” said a voice from behind.

        Henick looked behind him. He saw a man wearing a brown corduroy jacket, and a car parked in the middle of the overpass.

        The man began chatting with Henick, asking about his life and his passions. The two talked for a while, and Henick saw police lights coming toward them.

        Soon, a crowd formed. A group of high school boys stood behind a police barricade. One of them yelled out.

       “Jump, you coward.”

        It was the push Henick needed. He let go of the railing.

James Reddin has heard many stories like this one.

        The UPEI counsellor meets with people dealing with mental health problems regularly. It’s hard to say how far things have come in regard to mental health awareness, Reddin said.

        “It’s one of those things that doesn’t have one right answer.”

        People who consider or attempt suicide tend to feel like they’re not normal. They believe they’re supposed to be feeling a certain way, or not feeling a certain way.

It’s hard to find a clear solution to this shame – and to mental health stigma – when people all have different life experiences, Reddin said.

       “People will be sad, people will be angry,” Reddin said. “We seem to attach judgment to emotion.”

       Reddin thinks Canada could do a better job at serving mental health in both rural and urban areas. Rural areas may have a better sense of community, but urban areas have more options, he said.

        Henick’s rural hometown didn’t have any options for mental health support.

        After letting go, he didn’t feel anything. He looked down and saw an arm wrapped around his waist.

        The arm was wearing a brown corduroy jacket.

        He was lifted over the railing and put into an ambulance. He was sent to the hospitals psychiatric ward, which he was familiar with by this point.

        Henick thought a lot of the two strangers on the overpass.

He decided he didn’t want to be like the boy who yelled from the sidelines. He wanted to be like the man who talked with him, whose name he never got.

        Someone who is dealing with mental health problems wants the opportunity to talk. The best thing to do if you think someone is considering suicide is to bluntly ask them, Reddin said.

        “People are surprisingly honest.”

        Someone who’s having suicidal thoughts may not trust themselves, so it’s important to make a plan and help them seek professional help. This may mean admitting them to a hospital, Reddin said.

        Becoming trained to respond to those dealing with mental health problems is also a good idea, Reddin said.

        “All of our mental health would do a lot better if we thought of it as health,” Reddin said. “[Not] this outside thing that’s less significant.”

        For Henick, mental health awareness became his new passion.

        Once he was let out of the hospital, he approached his school principal to discuss giving a presentation to the school.

        “I want to talk about suicide.”

        The principle responded quickly.

        “No, no, no, no.”

        Soon after, Henick wrote a letter to the editor, relating his high school to communist Russia. The next day, there were news crews at the school.

        Henick continued with his advocacy. In 2013, he gave a TED Talk that today has over three million views.

More than a decade after his last suicide attempt, he found the man in the brown corduroy jacket. His name is Mike, and after this incident he also starting working in mental health.

“You might not know that you’re that person who can help others, but I guarantee that you are,” Henick said.

*MOCK STORY* Changes coming to public pool following death of an eight-year-old

*The following is a report on a mock conference put on by HC Journalism, in partnership with HC Sports and Leisure. All of the voices here are S&L students, and all of the details are fake. It was to give both program's students experience in their trades.

By Daniel Brown

March 13, 2017

            New terms and policies will be put in place at the Victoria Park pool following the death of an eight-year-old, the facility manager said at a news conference.

        An eight-year-old boy drowned at the Victoria Park public pool around 12:30 p.m. on March 1. Facility manager Maria Walsh and others held a news conference on March 6 to discuss new policies that will be effective immediately.

“With these changes put in effect immediately, we are confident that there will not be a similar incident in the future,” Walsh said.

There will be required bookings for any groups with more than eight swimmers, and a maximum amount of swimmers that can be in the pool at once, Walsh said.

“This number will be determined in the near future.”

There will be a minimum of two lifeguards working at all open hours, or else the pool will not open, Walsh said.

Town council representative Mackenzie Leslie announced new training programs would be offered to lifeguards to prevent incidents like this from happening again.

Swimmers will also be required to pass a swimming test to enter the pool, which will be regulated by distributing bracelets to swimmers, Leslie said.

“The pool will be closed until new policies are put in place and finalized.”

Jenna McCarville is the head lifeguard coordinator. She helped construct and update the policies to reduce the chance of an incident like this from happening again.

Along with the mandatory two scheduled lifeguards, there will be two on call every day, McCarville said.

“The extra lifeguards on call are used if sick calls come through or if theirs a large number of users using the facility.”

The ratio of swimmers to lifeguards will also change to ensure lifeguards aren’t overwhelmed. Those working on March 1 did everything they could, McCarville said.

“The lifeguards on duty on the day of the accident have followed all proper protocol,” McCarville said.

Recreation director Andre Peach said this incident is not being taken lightly, and changes will be made.

“An incident like this is caused by poor policy structure and mistakes across the board,” Peach said.

With the family’s permission, a scholarship fund will be set up to honour the boy’s memory, as well as a memorial. The facility is reaching out in anyway they can to help the family adjust, Peach said.

“We do not wish to forget or move passed this. This will always stay with us,” Peach said. “To the family and friends of the child, we extend our deepest condolences.”

On March 1, six lifeguards were scheduled to work at the free outdoor pool. Three called in sick.

The pool was extremely busy due to unannounced groups showing up.

The boy dove to the bottom of the deep end. Lifeguards didn’t notice he wasn’t coming back up.

By the time they did, it was too late, Walsh said.

         “Our lifeguard did everything they could in an attempt to revive him,” Walsh said. 
         “Unfortunately he died right on the pool deck.”

Trump’s presidency may affect Canadian lumber industry, UPEI professor says.

By Daniel Brown

March 3, 2017

Canada’s softwood lumber industry may face problems during Donald Trump’s presidency, says a UPEI political science professor.

Don Desserud isn’t worried about Trump potentially tearing up the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the lumber industry may be at risk, he said.

“[Some] areas, which are protected under NAFTA, are I think going to be viewed aggressively.”

The softwood lumber conflict comes from stumpage fees, the price charged to harvest lumber. The U.S. has attacked it four times since 1982.

        “We have won every single time,” Desserud said.

        The Canadian lumber industry is run provincially. In the U.S. it’s mostly privately owned. So, Canadian stumpage fees are generally subsidized, while U.S. fees are based on the competitive market.

        If Trump’s administration brought the case again, it would go back to the beginning, Desserud said.

        “So we haven’t gotten anywhere on that one.”

The federal government knows there may be rocky days ahead.

Liberal MP Sean Casey said his government is making sure there is a respect present in dealing with the U.S. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently shuffled his cabinet to align talents with Trump’s administration, Casey said.

Time will tell how Trump’s presidency will affect the two nations, he said.

"It’s going to have a major impact,” the Charlottetown MP said. “We’re going to have to work with this administration.”

The U.S. is entitled to elect whomever they want, and Canadians are obligated to deal with it. Still, the government is responding in a manner that is in Canada’s best interest, Casey said.

“Poking the bear ain’t the way to go.”