Philadelphia – September 11th and12th, 2017
I am too sedentary, and that's not a good thing. Lately, though, I've been able to get out on the road—for visits to my hometown Philadelphia and one of my favorite cities in the world, New York. I lived in Philadelphia from the age of 4 to 19, and I've been to New York a bunch of times, but this was the first time I was in either city for work. I wasn't sure what to expect; I went to learn about how people in these cities were being supported to thrive.
I first heard about the great things they were doing in mental health in Philadelphia when I listened to Dr. Arthur Evans speak at the 2015 International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) exchange in Vancouver. Dr. Evans, who was then the Commissioner of Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, talked about Philadelphia being a "trauma-informed city". I was extremely impressed by Dr. Evans, and after his presentation I was approached by Fran Silvestri, the CEO of the IIMHL to see if a city initiative like this might work in Toronto. Thinking it might, I came back and talked to CAMH's Dr. Kwame McKenzie about it. He thought it was a good idea. We were on to something.
Then, at the 2016 IIMHL, I met with representatives from eight other countries in Sydney to talk about mental health and city living as part of the I-CIRCLE (International City and Urban Regional Collaborative) initiative. The Philadelphia and New York trips were arranged by the IIMHL as a follow up to the Sydney event.
It was great to be back in Philadelphia in September. We met with the new Commissioner David Jones, and Mayor Jim Kenney. I was struck by the staff's enthusiasm for their work, I was amazed by the commitment of Mayor Kenney to the city's mental health initiative, and I was impressed by the mural program they use as a way to engage neighbourhoods.
According to the UN, "54 per cent of the world's population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050." It seems to me that as the world becomes more urbanized, we need to understand the way city life affects our mental health and how to help people to thrive in urban settings. To learn more about Philadelphia's work, click here.
Rob