Most Canadians don’t talk about suicide, but one couple who lost a son felt it important to come forward and bring the discussion of mental illness and suicide out of the shadows. Andy Jones and Mary-Lynn Bernard wrote the following obituary after their son, Louis died in February.
“Passed away by his own hand after a lengthy and brave battle with mental illness, Louis Elphage Wynn Jones Bernard, age 28 years.”
The two talked about their ebullient son on CBC radio in the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador. While he often appeared to be out-going and funny, they said he was tormented by his illness and had said he felt he was being “raped” by his own thoughts.
Plea for improved attitude and care
Expressing concern about society’s attitudes, the parents pointed out that a person incapacitated by a broken leg gets a lot of sympathy, but a person with a mental illness does not.
While grateful for some excellent care her son got, Bernard made a plea for better mental health care in general, “Society has got to say — it [mental health] has to catch up with the other medical disciplines to get enough money and moral support to get some positive research. Compared to people who do heart surgery, the mental health field is still in the 17th century.”
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