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C2 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday November 28, 2001 Overcoming depression leads to launch of Equilibrium By Mary Collett S P E C IA L T O T H E B E A V E R As recently as ten years ago, Oakville residents suffering from clin ical depression or bipolar disorder needed to travel to surrounding com m unities such as M ississauga and Hamilton in order to share information and gain encouragement. Fortunately, all that changed in October 1991 when Hank and Janet Chyc established Equilibrium, a local support group for people and their families who are trying to cope with the difficulties o f mental illness. Personal experience was largely the catalyst for the group's creation, when without any warning, Hank was felled with a seemingly inexplicable, but severely debilitating depression. At the time, the 56-year-old Chyc was enjoying an eagerly anticipated retirement following years o f service as a civil engineer with the Department of Highways branch of the M inistry of Transportation. H ank and his wife Janet, both still healthy and vigorous, had envisioned endless days o f recre ational sw im m ing, w alking, and unhampered leisurely travel. Then it struck: a paralyzing depres sion that rendered Chyc unable to even rise from bed in the morning, and left him poised precariously on the desper ate brink of suicide. To this day, Hank has no conclusive answer to what triggered the depres sion that resulted in a three-month stay in O akville Trafalgar M em orial Hospital, 25 electro-convulsive thera py treatments, and a lifetime regime of anti-depressant pills aimed to control the condition and keep the black moods at bay. But Some evidence sug gests that it was precipitated by the use o f beta-blockers, heart medication, prescribed by a family physician for the treatment o f possible cardiac prob lems. Upon his release from hospital, Chyc embarked on a lengthy series of follow-up appointments with a variety o f m ental-health professionals, but experienced no significant progress or success until a referral to Dr. Karl O 'Sullivan, an Oakville psychiatrist. "Dr. O 'Sullivan virtually saved my life," Chyc recounts. "And I think a lot of people feel that way." H eartened by the advancem ents made with Dr. O 'Sullivan, Chyc and his wife nevertheless felt that more needed to be done to assist the care givers of those suffering from depres sion, and to improve the communica tion and support among fellow victims. "As a caregiver, I felt I really need ed contact with som ebody," Janet recalls. "So often the family is left on its own, but then the patient comes home from the hospital and we don't know what to do, how to help and how to cope." With O 'Sullivan's encouragement and networking assistance, the initial core group of Equilibrium, consisting of about eight members, came together for the first time at St. Dominic Parish Centre, located at 2415 Rebecca St. The group still meets there. Since that benchmark evening a decade ago, the group has been meet ing in this relaxed atmosphere once a month, between September and June. Following an informal collective ses- Hank and Janet Chyc, co-founders of Equilibrium, accept a 10th anniver sary plaque from Judy Laking, centre, area rep for the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. sion, attendees break off into three a wide range o f mental health profes smaller categories, designated unipo sionals, and when no official speaker is lar, bipolar, and caregiver. scheduled, a video from the group's Over the years, the names and faces extensive lending library is screened, have changed as participants come and or an attending "consumer" may elect go, but the sharing nurturing spirit fos to take the floor. tered ' by those early founders, and Most recently, at only his second broadened to include people of varied such meeting, Colin Prince bravely ages from all walks o f life remains a stepped forward to share his own dev constant. O 'Sullivan has maintained astating personal experiences with his vital interest in the group, returning depression, in the hopes of both offer each September as the keynote speak ing solace and drawing strength from a' er. select community paradoxically united Other guest speakers have included in pain and promise. Handsom e and personable, the youthfully middle-aged Prince related a horrific roller-coaster tale o f an insid ious depression that even a successful career, a loving wife, and a beautiful three-year-old daughter couldn't alle viate. Reaching an all-time low in the summer, and convinced that the world would be better off without him, Prince ingested a massive dosage of stock piled anti-depressant pills. But the sui cide attempt was thwarted by his wife L aura's tim ely intervention. Three days later, Prince awoke from a druginduced coma and found him self in Oakville hospital. Though Prince infused his impromptu speech with a rare combi nation o f bittersweet pathos laced with self-deprecating humour, he sadly rec ognizes that the battle is far from won. "I've had 13 years of crashing down and climbing out of the pit, just to get back to a straight-line period," he said. "I don't know how it's all going to work out, but right now, it's good to be with others who know how it feels when the monsters come out." Like so many others, Hank Chyc has met his own personal "monsters," but with the proper balance of daily medication, along with the help of car ing professionals like Dr. O 'Sullivan, and support groups such as Equilibrium, he has triumphed over the demons of depression. Together with his wife Janet, he now embraces life with optimism and zeal. For more inform ation on Equilibrium , and sim ilar support groups, contact the Canadian Mental Health A ssociation's Halton branch office at 905-693-4270. 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