Mr. Toghrol

Mr. Toghrol is an experienced occupational therapist (OT) at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, Ontario. He absolutely loves his role in the healthcare field, and dedicates his passion towards mental health by always seeing the best in his patients. Thrilled to make a difference in society, he uses his strong interpersonal skills and open-minded perspective to help patients lead happy, successful lives.

“For 7 years I have worked as part of a multidisciplinary, outpatient team of nurses, OTs, social workers, psychiatrists, and specialists for drugs and addiction. Our role was to help individuals with chronic psychiatric issues to reduce their overall visits to the hospital. Since it costs the government a lot of funds to treat patients in the hospital, our team helped recognize triggers and ease the transition back from inpatient care to everyday life. When patients come off their medication, we make sure that they’re integrating smoothly into the community.

Recently, I accepted a new position at the hospital in the ambulatory mental health program. We lead psychotherapy group for patients with varying mental illnesses to help identify their triggers achieve control over their own mental state.

What pushed me to explore mental health was the fact that it was less about specific procedures and steps. Physical health is very textbook based: this is the condition, this is what we do; this is the problem with the muscle, this is how we treat it. Whereas in mental health, it’s a lot about experience and you’re always thinking on your toes. There’s not a lot of routine in my current job. For example, no two people with schizophrenia are the same, compared to people with diabetes who have the same medication and treatment plan. With mental health, there is always an unexpected or unique element, and I love that. You always have to consistently use your head, so nothing can become boring.

There is a lot of education we’re supposed to do to teach parents and caregivers, because their idea of mental health are absurd images such as “the guy that chopped off someone’s head on the bus, or someone who decided to shoot someone at a movie theatre”. There is a very limited knowledge about mental health and they don’t see that. For example there’s the stereotype that people with depression should just “snap out of it” because “they’re just being lazy”. What the majority of the public is unaware of is that there are actually neurotransmitters in the brain that can trigger these emotional fluctuations.

If I had the power to implement one change in the Canadian healthcare system, I would choose to educate the public more widely about mental health. People should be learning about clinics and support services like ours that provide help for people living with mental health disorders. For now, Canada is starting to carry out a similar practice with the police force, educating them about the specifics of mental health so that they can recognize triggers and interact with individuals before impulsively acting. The truth is that many mental health nurses know more about psychiatric issues than certain family doctors that have been practising in medicine for almost 30 years.

That’s what I’m trying to emphasize- that many physicians may go to medical school and learn their curriculum by heart, but they don’t really have the first hand knowledge that is crucial when addressing Canada’s growing demand for mental health care.

There is a huge negative stigma that people with these disorders are overly violent or inhumane. This leads to people living with mental health issues being hesitant or even fearful to be open about it, while conditions such as diabetes are so commonly accepted in society. These stigmas stem from the media and how people with mental health disorders like schizophrenia are portrayed.

Moreover, mental health issues are common- unfortunately, suicide happens all the time. Which is why we need more funding and push for awareness. The more people that are educated, the better they are equipped to handle these scenarios, especially in the case of their loved ones. For example, if a person commits suicide, it’s often because their family has a limited understanding of mental health so they can’t be an effective support system, or provide a positive environment at home. If family members are better educated, they will pick up signs that will help identify mental health disorders and offer early treatment to prevent their condition from worsening. Thus, suicide can usually be prevented just by telling people that “hey, I heard there’s a program that can help you”, or “there is nothing wrong with having depression. We are here for you.” The more we know, the easier it is to help individuals along their journey to recovery.

Stories of success associated with people that have mental health disorders are often overlooked. There are people with depression that have functional jobs, there are actors and athletes that have mental health issues. We can be successful and have mental health issues; just like how we can be successful and have diabetes. What you believe is what you become.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in my career is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Especially when patients talk about experiences where people looked at them a certain way, or didn’t validate their emotions. With mental health, it takes a long time for individuals to connect with others due to this prejudice. A large part of my job is to break down this barrier because their illness doesn’t define them. And the thing with mental health is that you can’t see it, unlike cancer or a broken arm. When people walk into the door, we can’t tell that they have schizophrenia, but the longer we spend interacting with them, the more the symptoms start to show, and the faster we can help them. In short, just because you have one interaction with someone at a bank, doesn’t mean that you can judge their whole life story.

One patient experience that had a very prominent impact on me was at my last position, when someone committed suicide. This is not the first time, but it really impacted me because by textbook definition I did all the right things. I said all the right things, and I tried my best to help them. Yet I learned to not take it too personally- at the end of the day our roles are to do our best to save them and hope that others can recover. That’s all we can do.

There’s no grey in mental health; you either love it or you hate it. Likewise, you have to love your job to thrive in it. For mental health, we take in people’s problems and we solve them, and we hold onto hope that they will heal with our help. Often times, when these sadder events occur, we will grieve, but we must be able to emotionally separate work from home.

Some happier moments are when patients recover. Just by teaching them, it’s gratifying to see them begin to unwind again. They can recognize their triggers, and they know how to respond to them now. And they grow- one patient used to go to the emergency room every week, but now she’s healed to a point where she doesn’t have to call others for help. It’s great to see them benefiting from cognitive behavioral therapy, and other treatments like it. I love when they call me out during group to point out my mistakes, because it shows that they’re paying attention and they’re learning. These kind of examples really give me faith that they’re going to be okay.”