I have started to knit. I usually will watch TV or listen to a podcast and as I become better, I try more complex projects that force me to put more thought in what I’m doing.

I started out not doing anything specific, basically different lengths of squares and rectangles, because I also struggle with motivation to do anything. It was really just so I would have something to do and keep myself busy with. Then I started to include more simple techniques and then motifs and now patterns. If it’s something that interests you, I think it’s a great way to get distracted and at the end of it, you get a “reward” (being whatever you knit).

I hope you find something that helps you and that eventually you overcome depression.

Is it not currently being offered only by the request of the person, and considered only after the person has exhausted all other treatment? That was my understanding of the eligibility requirements from the government website. I’m actually asking, I felt like the news were very sentionalised so I looked it up. Although, yes, there has been some rogue people recommending it instead of the (little) help available.

I do wish there would be expanded treatment options for all types of disability and illnesses, the healthcare system is fucked and not much is being done to actually help. Personally, I don’t feel like the sentionalised version of MAiD would actually do much to help that either because it would just put more stress on another part of healthcare. There needs to be more for every sector.

As someone who is very much for MAiD I disagree with this rhetoric, it’s also not something that is very easy to access. The government definitely fails vulnerable people constantly and ODSP is a joke. I’d love to see those making the decisions to live on a 6.50$/hr salary, see how they’d manage.

In Ontario, the minimum wage is $15.50, but the rental wage for a one-bedroom apartment is $25.96 and for a two-bedroom unit, $29.90. In B.C., a $15.65 minimum wage is up against $27.54 for a one-bedroom and a whopping $33.10 for a two-bedroom. The closest any province comes to affordability is Newfoundland and Labrador, where a minimum wage of $13.70 is chasing a one-bedroom cost of $15.94 and a two-bedroom cost of $18.08.

Toronto leads the pack at $33.62 for a one-bedroom and $40.03 for a two-bedroom. Ottawa is second in the province at $26.68 and $32.37, still way above the minimum wage. Third is Barrie at $25.62 and $29.56, followed closely by Guelph at $25.77 and $28.83, and Hamilton at $23.02 and $28.77. Of the Ontario cities included in the study, the most “affordable” for renting is Thunder Bay, where an affordable one-bedroom requires a wage of $18.54 and a two-bedroom needs $22.60.

that would result in fewer returning customers for the pharmaceutical industry

If I can add, psychology seems to have become an industry as well. I am Canadian and technically have access to free healthcare. However, like in many other countries, the resources are so overwhelmed that many are unable to access any form of treatment because they cannot afford private care. I have always been told medication alone cannot help and you should always do some form of therapy if you are taking it.

If we had a cure for depression and other mental health illnesses, I think psychologists would also try to stop it from reaching the markets. Being in the same situation as you as a long time sufferer with little options to stop it, I do hope that either something will change soon or that at least, for those after us.