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A men's mental health group based in Ste Anne is advocating for increased mental health resources, after one of its members waited for more than 30 hours in a local emergency room (ER). 

Ryan Pasieczka, a co-founder of the Southeast Men's Group, says the member admitted himself to the ER around 6 p.m. in late March with suicidal thoughts and auditory hallucinations. 

"He reached out to the group around midnight. I thought he was going to leave, so I came down and sat with him, and we waited to see a doctor," he says. 

It wasn't until around 10 a.m. Saturday morning that the member was able to get a bed, and until that night to see a doctor "just to be heard," Pasieczka says. 

"He was turned back to come the next day, and he sat there that whole day to finally see a psychiatric nurse and to come up with a plan," he says. 

While Pasieczka is glad the member stuck around to get the help he needed, he believes it could have ended much worse. 

"A big thing is, if you're having suicidal thoughts, to be sat in a corner for hours on end is not the right way about it," he says, adding it accentuates the feeling that no one cares. 

The need for more mental health resources 

Jeremy Wiens, the other co-founder of the men's group, says they are doing their best to shed light on the need for increased mental health resources. 

"I know they're trying to figure this out, and there's reasons with doctor shortages too, right, and we understand that," he says.

"But we don't want something bad to happen in order for it to finally get the attention it needs. We want to be ahead of it, and not reactive, right?"