VulpesVulpes

As I said I was misinformed because ILC courses in my county are, technically, free minus the ten dollar registration. The courses themselves do not cost anything. If you can't appreciate that or meet me half way in my error that says more about my personality than yours. Once you told me courses cost $40 in other areas I acknowledged my error. I validated your perspective and all you did was admonish mine. Not my problem. Good luck with everything. And, unlike you, I actually mean that without a hint of sarcasm, derision or disrespect. I also have zero interest in assuming things about your fitness to work based on an internet forum and I suggest you extend the same fair play to others! Who ever "gets personal" first (as you have done) in an argument lacks class and is almost always the loser. Something to keep in mind. "deeply offendend by what others have posted in this older thread" Not offended! Just observing that they seemingly willfully misconstrued what OP was saying.

I am taking ILC courses already. I'm sorry I didn't say "They are practically free when you compare ten dollars to thousands of dollars" and I do hope that you recover soon. OP (and I) never said this route was for everyone. So why are bringing that up again? That's what I was trying to pointing out. People are being catty, petty and misconstruing what that she was trying to convery. That's pretty self-evident. Good luck to you as well.

You are right. I also misread your post. I wasn't aware that in other areas of Ontario you had to pay $40 for EACH course. My perception was scewed because in my county they are provided free minus a ten dollar one time registration ("educational assessment") fee. To me in terms of value that looks like 0.50 vs. 1,000. As you say, $40 a course is def. not free. How they are provided in my area: http://haldimand.cioc.ca/record/BRD0082 Regards and thank you for drawing attention to that.

You're right. If you want to be technical, a course is $40 as opposed to thousands of dollars in tuition + living costs. In that sense, they're practically free.

Wow, everyone completely missed the point and misconstrued what OP was saying. Catty! She wasn't say "this is the only way to get into nursing". She was asking why people prefer pre-health science programs over PSW combined with independant learning courses. And for the record.... ILC courses/night courses are free! Talk to the hand. I am currently in the position described here. I am debating whether to a. To take a PSW program offered in my home town while working away at my ILC studies, or b. Taking off to a different town to take a pre-health science program that I was accepted to.... and stressing my family financially in the process. The benefits of have a PSW certificate are that I could work as a PSW through nursing school. I would also incure much less debt if I opted out of attending the pre-health science program and just continued with ILC. I know people are saying "you could work as a PSW in first year anyway" but...I don't think people realize that personal support work is becoming more and more regulated and preference is given to those with the certification. Being a magical, mythical first-year nursing student will not cause this to be over-looked. OP makes very valid points. This is a good route for some people and a great way to quickly gain experience working in healthcare settings.

I am very sorry to hear that your expressed suicidality and apparent suicide attempt are being labelled THREATENING/VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR. I'm sure this was quite shocking to you. It certainly is to me and I had no idea that Canada did this. As people have said, it shouldn't be a problem once you explain. However, some people will use it as reason to stigmatize you which is why something like this shouldn't be on your record at all. I really sympathize and hope that everyone you encounter is RATIONAL and empathetic toward you. I am extremely lucky in that when I was taken to the hospital (after a counsellor called me into the police for saying "I don't want to live my life"...) the emergency room MD dismissed their pleas to admit me. I see now that this was very prudent and ethical on his behalf. I am a trauma survivor and it disgusts me that Canada would stigmatize people who have coped with suicidal thoughts/behaviours in this manner. Esp. because people with these types of histories are no more dangerous toward others than a person without. We are not predators and something like this should not appear on vulnerable sector screening. No wonder people don't seek help.

Mischa83 Unless one have been unformed of the death of a family member, it is never wise to cry on the job. Any job. Especially to a superior. This may have been what ultimately made her decide you were unfit to work and not the disclosure of the label. You cannot be denied employment for being competent and bipolar but you can be for being incompetent and bipolar. Unfair or not, crying will be used against you as evidence that your condition isn't "controlled". In regards to mental illness... I have been hospitalized three times in my short life for major depression, an anxiety disorder that eventually manifested into compulsion (OCD), and dissociation manifesting as profound depersonalization/derealization. I was on a litany of psychiatric drugs from age 14 - 20, all of which harmed more than helped. I was denied any treatment that wasn't biological and therefore was unable to find well-being until my mid-twenties when I encountered nonjudgmental, psychodynamic therapy. I was able to talk freely without fear of being locked up or labelled for the very first time. The only stigma I have ever encountered has been from the mental health and medical establishment. The same establishment that chants "It's just like diabetes! It's just like diabetes!" The truth is, healthcare and mental healthcare providers say they believe in recovery but most don't actually believe it. Ideal mental health care is psychological/behavioural-social-biological. Not capital b Biological with psychological/behaviorlal and social factors as a nice after thoughts. And certainly not Biological-Biological-Biological - the current mode of care. Mental health is emphatically different from diabetes. A common rhetoric in anti-stigma campaigns is "People once believed that mental illness was a moral issue! But now we know it's BIOLOGICAL! It's a fact! Any one who says differently is ignorant!"....But please consider: 1. Since the early 1900s the Western medical establishment has firmly believed that mental health problems are inherited and biological. Freud and his ilk were psychotherapists, not standard psychiatrists of the day. The true norm was a biological paradigm. People who were labelled mentally ill were segregated from the general population, put in asylums, stripped of any autonomy or freedom of choice, sterilized (as to not pass on the ever elusive "gene"). This happened right in Canada. Germany took this one step further when psychiatrists sought to systematically destroy their patients and were successful, paving the way for efficient methods used during the Holocaust. 2. Espousing a purely biological view of mental illness is associated with having no impact on reducing stigma, and often an increase in stigma. Don't believe me? Well, believe psychiatric journals. http://isp.sagepub.com/content/45/3/216.abstract http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=102500 This is because when people perceive someone as having a mental illness caused only by biological disturbance they are more likely to perceive the person as "out of control" and "a lost cause". It also dehumanizes people as it invalidates their life experiences, culture, traumas, and life challenges as being contributing factors in their current condition/state. I suggest you two excellent books on modern mental healthcare: Blaming the Brain by Elliot Valenstein (a professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan), and Mad in America by Robert Whitaker. Please do not victimize yourself by passively receiving a psychiatric label. If you are not spending your life savings, racking up huge debt due to mania, or actively entertaining a suicide plan while staring at a wall and unable to go to work - question whether you want to accept that you "have" bipolar (in other words, meet the criteria in the DSM). It is an waaaay overdiagnosed and complex disorder. Perhaps not relying so much on the DSM and simply assessing your life might be in order... I wish you the very best of luck and hope you are back working as an RN as soon as possible. As a psychiatric survivor I am unfortunately not surprised you were treated so harshly.