Youth Kit Information

History - On October 20th, 1989 I was the 22 year old leader of Polarity when I attended a weekend workshop to help create a provincial communications centre for all the depressive and manic-depressive groups in Ontario. I played a minor part in everything, but was on a creative manic high all weekend. On the Sunday morning when I was sitting and talking to Sue Trevor and another lady about the lack of resources specifically designed for Youth. I mentioned a few of my ideas and wrote them down as I thought of them. The two ladies thought it was a great idea and later that day, we all became board members of the fledgling Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association Of Ontario. A couple years later when I became sick again, a committee was formed to flesh out my concept of a kit specifically designed for youth with regular boring, but useful information with graphics , strange fonts and words on strange angles. I wanted it to catch your attention and seem less like a school textbook. A few years after that they produced 500 copies for sale at CAN$20.00 each to mainly the member groups. They were such a big hit that they sold out in less than a year and you would be hard pressed to find one now. The merged Mood Disorders Association Of Ontario & Toronto is now in the process of revising and improving the Youth Kit with some help from me. Hopefully it will include a symptom list I discovered and adapted from the following: http://www.psych.med.umich.edu/web/aacap/factsFam/bipolar.htm . The Mood Disorders Association Of Ontario & Toronto is now accepting orders for the revised Youth Kit . The less colourful revised version should be ready for shipping before the end of 1999 according to Neasa Martin, the Executive Director Of The Mood Disorders Association Of Ontario & Toronto for a cost of only $10.00 Canadian and they will be printing 2000 copies compared to the original 500 copies. Follow the link to the order form : Youth Info Kit. For a list of the Mood Disorders Association Of Ontario & Toronto member groups click the link here: Ontario Groups.

Other Kits

Canadian Mental Health Association Durham Branch has the following Kits for sale from their homepage: We're All Special(self-esteem kit), Self-help Starter Kit and the annually updated "Directory Of Self-help Groups In Durham Region". To go there and order one click here: CMHA Public Education .

Polarity's Items For Sale

Mood Charts- this is duotang bound package of 4 pages from a larger prototype kit created by Dianne Prato & Judith Mackay for the Mood Disorders Association Of Ontario & Toronto. We adapted some of the hand outs to sell to our members to chart their moods over the year. It's an excellent and simple tool to help show healthcare professionals how their client is actually doing over time. It's also very good at predicting patterns of moods such as depression at the end of the month due to lack of money.

Cost: $1.50 Canadian each plus shipping and handling

To purchase please mail to address below cheque or money order.