Jackie Hooper was “lost in a dark place” when she was admitted to the psychiatric ward of UBC Hospital. But her time there was so beneficial that she emerged committed to the idea of bringing light into the world of other people living with mental illness.
In her quest to create the same sort of supportive environment that she had found at Ward One West, she was able to convince politicians at all levels of government to draft legislation for and dedicate funds to co-housing initiatives. The first building welcomed formerly hospitalized residents in 1974. In Vancouver, there are now close to 1,000 residents in supportive housing, with staff on hand to help them when and if they need it. One of those buildings in the West End now bears her name as a sign of gratitude.
“Was it courage that has kept me going for the past 40 years,” she asked in her acceptance speech for the Courage To Come Back Award in the mental health category. “Certainly not the only thing because if I had been alone, I would have been gone and mostly forgotten so long ago.
“I am here only because every time I fell, someone was there to catch me.... That support gave me strength through the dark days, and weeks, and months, to keep going, to stay with the living. It also gave me the wonderful opportunity to seize my manic moments, to listen to those annoying voices in my head, and use some of their really great ideas.”
After suffering from depression after a series of severe challenges, Hooper was later diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. She went back to school and got her Master’s of Social Work, working as a social worker long past retirement age. She self-published books and wrote newspaper columns, including in the Vancouver Courier.
She made special mention of the Mental Health Patients Association. “These were real people for me, a growing backstop, in an unread time in my life.”
If Jackie Hooper's story has inspired you, Coast Mental Health has started a Fundrazr campaign for Watson House, a heritage home in Vancouver's West End where young people can get the support they need after a mental illness diagnosis.
