northern

Okay, this girl I like keeps complaining that my blog entries are too long, so I'm going to try to keep this one short.

I don't know what the problem is though - I only write an entry every few weeks, so it's not like it's a daily essay.

But, just this once, I'll try to impress her with a short entry.

Not even sure why I'm trying to impress her.

She's unattainable - she's in a relationship, with a woman.

I'm pretty good at being attracted to people who aren't attracted to me.




But enough of that.

When people ask me what I've been up to, I generally have very little to say.

This is partly due to my low level of activity in life, apart from watching tv, being online, and sleeping excessively.

(Of course, it could also be due, in part, to my low self-esteem, believing that I do nothing worth mentioning for fear of boring people).




Next week, I'm pleased to be actually DOING something interesting.

I'll be attending a forensic psychiatry conference in North Bay, called "Criminal Responsibility and Personality Disorders".

I'm fascinated by psychology and psychiatry, and even more so by forensic psychiatry - criminal behaviour.

For about seven years, I've volunteered on something called the Human Services and Justice Coordination Committee for the Sudbury-Manitoulin District (although I live in Algoma District - long story). And for about a year and a half, I've been on the committee that covers all of Northeastern Ontario.

In a nutshell, the committee is a way to bring together all the various players involved when people with a mental illness, and/or an addiction, and/or a developmental disability come into conflict with the law. Traditionally, the health system and the justice system have had very little to do with each other, and people with these problems were especially vulnerable in the system.

The goal is for everyone to work together so that when someone in a psychotic state commits a minor crime, they are diverted out of the legal system and into the health system, as an example. Or if the person's criminal responsibilty (sanity) is in question, they can be examined by a forensic psychiatrist on the spot - right in the courthouse or jail, rather than being sent for a 30-day assessment at a hospital in another city. Or if they do have to go to jail, that when they're released, there are services waiting for them to minimize the risk of re-offending.

Yes, I could go on and on.

Anyways, this will be the third trip I get from being the committee.

The first was several years ago, when I got to go to Toronto to spend the day in Mental Health Court.

The second was two years ago, when I got to go to a conference centering on psychopathy, which was very cool.

I'd love to go to more of these, and there are more, but since I don't have the funds, I can't.

Everyone else on the committees are professionals with various agencies, and have budgets they can access. The committee itself only has a small budget and thus, I'm lucky when I do actually get to attend.

So, apparently, some of the things I'll get to learn next week are: how to accurately diagnose personality disorders; effective treatments of personality disorders; recognize diagnostic issues for people who engage in crime, including sex crimes; how to assess for personality disorders in sex offenders; learn how the same psychiatric diagnosis might be used to argue for less criminal responsibility in one legal case or to argue for greater likelihood to re-offend in another legal case; to discern when an NCR (Not Criminally Responsible) opinion outcome is appropriate for a defendant with symptoms of a mixed delusional, narcissistic, and/or borderline personality disorder symptoms; and evaluate strategies for assessing NCR defendants with a fixed false belief, who otherwise might refuse to plead NCR or acknowledge their mental health problems.

Plus - there'll be a mock trial.

Very cool.

To me, at least.




Okay, that's my entry - shorter than most.

I'll leave you with an amusing tv commercial a friend sent to me.