Name: Laurie Dillon-Schalk

Occupation: Executive Director, Author, Vital Signs, Kawartha Community Foundation

Advocate: Where in Kawarthas Lakes do you live and for how long? 

Dillon-Schalk: Fenelon Falls, since 2022

Advocate: What stress do you think people are facing in today’s economy? Why?

Dillon-Schalk: Where do I begin?  We are in an undeclared recession with major market forces changing on the daily; inflation is high with gas and food driving up consumer prices, earnings & wages are uneven, food insecurity is close to 20 per cent. For those who rent, mortgage, borrow, the situation is worse with escalating home prices, poor selling markets, very small rental markets or increasingly well-organized property owners. What compounds all of this is a divided, divisive society who, at times, feels threatened by diversity of any kind. We are suffering from stressors from Maslow's very basic needs. Of course, having worked at the Community Foundation, I've also witnessed the beauty of community.

Advocate: Do you think that mental health resources are easy to find in the community?

Dillon-Schalk: While I am not an authority, I am aware from my research that waiting lists are long or complicated. In conversations with Ashley Smoke, responsible for drug strategy for the region, she spoke of the barriers of sobriety in order to access psychiatric treatment and long-term role of trauma in driving addiction.  Among youth in school, self-reported mental distress is at a high.  

Advocate: What do you do when you are having a bad day? How do you blow of the steam?

Dillon-Schalk: Honestly – during one of my darkest mental periods – when my successful small business melted down to nothing in a single day at the start of the pandemic, I started volunteering and helping the community. I threw myself into helping others. The experience was transformative, and the greatest gift was growth of the charity (conquer covid19) which involved more people who were also suffering mentally. Working with people of all backgrounds, origins, religions, identities was magical and uplifting.