Once the Nova Scotia Hospital Foundation, our mandate was to provide funding and services for the clients of The Nova Scotia Hospital and the surrounding areas of Dartmouth.
Thanks to support from the community, success came quickly and the Foundation had soon funded a summer camp for hospital inpatients and a Research Chair in Psychotic Disorders at Dalhousie University. Exciting partnerships were born and resulted in new mental health programs like the RBC Financial Group's Wandering Garden, located on the grounds of the Nova Scotia Hospital which offers a therapeutic, safe, recreational environment for senior inpatients with mental illnesses.
Through vision, leadership and careful planning, the Foundation emerged in 2002 with a new name - the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia - and a broader mandate to raise awareness and support for mental health care in the HRM and throughout Nova Scotia.
As a result, those living with mental illness in Nova Scotia are beginning to have a face.
By supporting the vision of the Capital District Mental Health Program and partnering with the provincial government, the Canadian Mental Health Association and local business, the Foundation has helped place greater emphasis on mental illness and its human toll. Communities, business and governments are finally realizing the economic and human costs of failing to prioritize mental health care and they are joining hands with the Foundation to support solutions that are making a difference.
Since 2006, the Foundation has provided almost $1.5 million in funding through our Provincial Grants program and Capital District Mental Health Program Grants to organizations with a mental health mandate. Programs and services include mental health staff training, healthy living initiatives, housing projects, anti-stigma and anti-bullying programs and much more. High profile events have engaged the business community and generated significant revenues to support the organization fulfill its mandate.
It started with the belief that while mental illness is many things to many people, one thing it's not is someone else's problem. It began with a vision of breaking down stigma and building hope. It continues because of the passion of individuals dedicated to making a difference in the life of another.