May is BPD Awareness Month

Allan Fruzzetti—BPD Awareness Month in Canada

Watch our recent Expert Education Series presentation on BPD and Stigma

ANNOUNCEMENT: HEALTH CANADA HAS NOW RECOGNIZED MAY AS BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER AWARENESS MONTH

Sashbear is devoted to raising awareness of this oft-misunderstood disorder. We are pleased to announce that Health Canada has now recognized May as Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month. See here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/calendar-health-promotion-days.html#m05

We hope that you will join us in raising awareness throughout BPD Awareness Month in May.

Canadian Landmarks Light Up in Orange for BPD

To recognize Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, Sashbear invited landmarks to be illuminated in orange across Canada. We hope that these moments of orange illumination bring hope for a brighter world where everyone can have access to skills, support, and a life worth living.

Thank you to these special landmarks in Canada for shining a light on BPD in 2024:

ALBERTA

  • May 2 Reconciliation Bridge* (Calgary)
  • May 10 Calgary Tower
  • May 21 High Level Bridge (Edmonton)

*Note: Reconciliation Bridge in Calgary lights up in yellow because orange is reserved for Indigenous lighting programs at this landmark.

BC

  • May 9 Vancouver City Hall
  • May 9 Burrard Street Bridge (Vancouver)
  • May 11 Vancouver Convention Centre
  • May 11 Canada Place (Vancouver)
  • May 11 BC Place (Vancouver, 10-11pm)

MANITOBA

  • May 11 Esplanade Riel Bridge
  • May 11 Winnipeg sign

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

  • June 14 Confederation Building (St. John’s)

ONTARIO

  • May 7 Ottawa sign in Byward Market
  • May 25 CN Tower (Toronto) and Niagara Falls (10:00-10:15)**
  • May 26 3D Toronto sign at City Hall and Brant Street Pier (Burlington)
  • May 26 Brant Street Pier (Burlington)

** share this live cam link: (https://www.earthcam.com/canada/niagarafalls/?cam=niagarafalls_str) so families and friends can see the Falls illuminated in orange for BPD

We hope that this moment of orange illumination brings hope for a brighter world where everyone can have access to skills, support, and a life worth living.

Allan Fruzzetti—BPD Awareness Month in Canada

Watch our recent Expert Education Series presentation on BPD and Stigma

RAISING AWARENESS AND REDUCING STIGMA

We hope that you will join us in raising awareness throughout BPD Awareness Month in May. Here are some things you can do:

  • Join us at the Annual Sashbear Walk. This is the largest event of its kind in Canada for chronic emotion dysregulation and BPD, and every year we bring together hundreds of supporters to create a sea of orange to reduce the stigma and raise public awareness.
  • Learn about BPD, and share accurate and credible resources to reduce the stigma. This presentation, with Vancouver researcher Dr. Alex Chapman, is a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXot1c9pMuE
  • Invite Sashbear to speak at your school, workplace, sports team or community centre. We welcome invitations to speak to parents, community members, mental health professionals, and family members to provide accurate information about emotion dysregulation, BPD, and suicidality. In the past year, we have presented at Siemens, Ford of Canada, Swim Ontario, school councils, women’s groups, and more. Email development@sashbear.org.
  • Donate or fundraise for Sashbear to help us continue our work. We do not receive any direct government funding for our work providing family skills programs such as Family Connections, or for any of our other activities. We rely on your generous efforts, and even small donations make a difference! Click here: https://sashbear.org/ways-to-give/
BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER (BPD)

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious and complex mental health disorder. There is no research on the prevalence in Canada, but it is likely similar to the prevalence in the UK and US, where it affects an estimated 1-2% of the general population, approximately 22% of people in inpatient psychiatric settings, and as high as 43% of adolescents in inpatient settings (Ellison et al., 2018).

Looking further than prevalence, the enormous impact of BPD becomes more obvious when you consider that 84% of people with BPD have engaged in some kind of self-injurious or suicidal behaviour (Soloff et al., 2002), and 10% of people with BPD die by suicide (Paris & Zweig-Frank, 2001).

BPD is rooted in chronic emotion dysregulation – ongoing difficulties with regulating emotion – and as a result, people with BPD are emotionally sensitive and reactive, and this may lead to challenges in their relationships as well. It is important to be aware that people with BPD experience extreme emotional pain, and the behaviours that may be challenging to others are often a result of trying to cope with the emotional pain they are living with.

In spite of the historical stigma surrounding personality disorders, we now know that most people with BPD can get better, especially when appropriate, evidence-based treatment is available to them. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and mentalization-based therapy (MBT) are two well-researched treatments that are increasingly available in Canada.

Learn more here: https://sashbear.org/about-bpd/