You are legally limited to what you can do as a friend. The only thing you can do is to encourage him/her.
If you want your friend to get
free help. The easiest way is for him/her to talk to your friend's family doctor. Any type of counselling (psychologists / psychiatrists) is
FREE as long as there is a GP's referral. Again, you can't do much other than accompany him/her to the appointments. I do not recommend free services like UBC / SFU Psychology department that don't require referrals.. as the doctoral students / therapists there are very transient (they are usually on their final year or 2 of practicum), depending on your friend, it is way better to do it on a long term basis via a psychiatrist / psychologist who can see how your friend is doing on the long term.
I would also be reluctant to go through work insurance, even though it is illegal to discriminate based on mental illness; Once a problem is noted on file, you never know who / where it might end up. Especially since the universal healthcare probably won't be around forever. Right now your workplace only need to know you are sick or not sick with a doctor's note, they are not supposed to dwell any deeper than that.
Considering the students in PhD program the majority are female, there is a good chance you will be able to find a female counsellor. However I think it should be the least of your issues right now. You should get your friend to see his/her GP and get the GP to refer your friend to a female counsellor.
The link to resources above are all good and well.. but the fact is still if your family physicians deem you need mental health help, it will be covered by the Health Act, which we are paid for via MSP. If you go to any counsellor's office willy nilly, you will get charged full price usually $150+ / hour.. just like you walk into a MRI lab and want a full body MRI without a referral or request for diagnostic from a family physician.
Get your friend to see his / her family doctor ASAP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SupraTTturbo2jz thanks for all the help, I've notice my friend has been suffering for a few years now (5-10yrs) and its time that I do something to help. Are the counselors usually female or male because my friend would prefer female. I just need to slowly suggest to them for this help. My friend did show interest when I did bring it up. I didn't know before how serious of an illness it is but the past months I've been doing research and yeah, people like this are suffering and need this support. |