My Name is Brad – A Docu-drama Film / Project in Memory of Kelly Thomas and Countless Others Who Fall Victim to the Stigma of Mental Health and Homelessness in America

Bradley James was born on April 13th, 1972. Kelly Thomas was born on April 5th, 1974. While neither met each other, they both share something in common. They both suffered from schizophrenia. While Brad lives in British Columbia, struggling to make ends meet, Kelly was not that lucky. On July 10th, 2011, while many in America were glued to their television screens, watching in awe as the US team defeated Brazil during the semi-final of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Kelly Thomas lay in a hospital bed, bloody and dying.

Kelly Thomas, a man who had struggled with fits of schizophrenia his entire life, was dragged out into the streets and brutally beaten by six officers of the Fullerton California police department – he later succumbed to his injuries.

Now, 57 Years of Soul Music Radio is collaborating with The Urban Survivor Humanitarian Network and Cheektowaga-Omni Media Marketing based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to tell Kelly’s story to the world. The company is raising funds via Slated, a crowdfunding platform for filmmakers, to launch the production of their film, “My Name Is Brad” in early Spring 2021.

This docudrama film is an initiative to recognize severe mental health issues and make them a mainstream topic of conversation. The film is aimed to show the controversy surrounding mental illnesses and police misconduct. It revolves around the lives of Brad James and Kelly Thomas.

With the current scenarios looking to get worse before they get better, the producers of “My Name Is Brad” believe that now’s the right time to bring this topic to the forefront of humanitarian initiatives that should be prioritized. With the new President in the Oval Office, we are closer to this dream than ever before – to end the injustice, indignation, and stigma associated with mental health and homelessness.

All funds raised through this film will be used to kick start an Urban housing development in all major cities. Modular container housing can be purchased for less than $2000 per unit. Since the government spends millions on everything else, it’s time to end homelessness and help those who are struck with mental illness, including providing essential services like home alcohol detox UK. For that, your participation and support are desired.

From Homelessness to Renting: How to Find Rental Housing without References

Featured

There is no point in sugar-coating the fact that transitioning from homelessness to renting can be quite difficult for an individual, especially in cities like Toronto or Vancouver. From a landlord’s perspective, these markets are full of eligible and desirable tenants, so why would they lend their property to someone without any reference and an unstable (or non-existing) rental history.

This is a challenge most homeless people face, even when they have found a stable job and have enough money for a deposit. Finding rental housing without references can be tough but not impossible, and that’s why having friends is necessary as they may be able to help, and you can find new friends in sites like chatempanada.com. There are a few things you can do:

1. Seek out your regional Housing First* program. It’s designed to help homeless people find stable homes. You’d need to contribute a portion of your income (ideally 30% or more) while the rest would be covered by rent subsidies. It also helps you establish a rent history that can open up more rental housing options for you.

2. Provide potential landlord proof of stable income. If you’ve been working for a while, bring your last three payslips and, preferably, a letter from your employer stating your good behavior (and that they don’t have any plans to let you go in the foreseeable future).

3. If you have a stable income and money for monthly rent but not the deposit, charities like Canadian Red Cross and Salvation Army might assist you (financially). With a decent deposit amount (say three-months rent), you might be able to convince potential landlords to rent to you, even if you don’t have references.

4. Don’t fake a reference history. It is a huge red flag, and if you get caught, it might disrupt your chances of renting with other landlords as well.

5. Talk to the people who are running emergency shelters. They might be able to guide you to individuals who might be inclined to rent to you without references, just to pull you out of homelessness. If not, they might be able to put you in touch with local housing assistance programs you might not be aware of.

Be honest, talk to the people helping homeless individuals in your community, try to save as much money as you can for rent and deposit, find a co-signer if you can, and make sure your employer puts in a good word for you. You may find rental property without references if you read more. These might help you.

*https://www.bchousing.org/projects-partners/funding-opportunities/RHFP

Boggles Brown – The Blurb

Featured

-From “Boggles Brown – My Cartoon Life in the Land Of Schizophrenia” inner sleeve. – 2010

Boggles Brown is broke, except for the “People With Disabilities Allowance” he gets once a month. This month, he lives in a run-down motel – he manages to buy an old beat-up Toyota which is unreliable but reliable if you know what I mean. Somtimes he thinks his car may be bi-polar.

He wonders whether he should be using one of those fancy-named gasoline additives like “Engine-X,” I imagine “Engine-X” to be somewhat like Olanzapine, only for cars.

Boggles Brown struggled through college. He graduated,worked for a while and then became bonkers. It was not worth the ecstacy or all the raves in the world to lose his mind – he knows that now. But it is his life, what to do?

Boggles Brown is not how I see myself so much, as how I think others see me. My mom has read some of my cartoons and scratched her head. I imagine a lot of people will do the same. But that’s not the point – is it? Am I Canada’s Andy Warhol? I think not.

I hope you like Boggles, and if you don’t, I hope you keep it to yourself because the point is that it gave me something to do.

These are all hand-drawn on whatever paper I could find.

– Boggles Brown; “BJAF” 2010

“Genes” – Boggles Brown; Urban Survival Media 2009

Exclusive Boggles Brown T-Shirts Online

Featured

Browse and bedazzle when you wear the words of our talkative transient.

Greetings Readers,

Now, like never before, we have been waiting for a marketing breakthrough to gain that glimmer of interactivity on it’s way to your wardrobe. It’s here – Boggles Brown multi-colour T-Shirts where you get to write the dialogue for our lovable but lunatic street-sage.

https://www.slated.com/films/736655

Drop by and donate to give the My Name Is Brad docudrama the funding it needs and order a Boggles Brown exclusive hand drawn T-Shirt by local artist Brad James.

Stay Safe and Think of B. Brown When You’re Feeling Down.

– The Crew At The Urban Survivor and My Name Is Brad

B.C.’s new vision

B.C.’s new vision for mental health and addictions care

A Pathway to Hope: A roadmap for making mental health and addictions care better for people in British Columbia  charts a course to an improved future for health and well-being in B.C. 

In the comprehensive plan for mental health and substance use care, the government is introducing various evidence-based treatment options, and among them, 12 step therapy stands out as a valuable approach to support people living in B.C.’s mental health and well-being from youth to adulthood. You can also click here for more information.

It also identifies priority actions the government will be taking over the next three years to help people experiencing mental health or substance use challenges right now. See this website, https://www.rehabilitationcentre.co.uk/ to promote wellness and prevent existing problems from getting worse. This roadmap of both short and long-term changes to B.C.’s mental health and the private addiction treatment care system is based on four pillars:

  • Wellness promotion and prevention
  • Seamless and integrated care
  • Equitable access to culturally safe and effective care
  • Indigenous health and wellness

A Pathway to Hope is a plan to begin transforming B.C.’s mental health and substance use service system from its current crisis-response approach to a system based on wellness promotion, prevention and early intervention where people are connected to culturally safe and effective care when they need it. At its heart, it represents a new way forward for B.C. built on compassion, care and the perspectives of people with lived experience of mental health and substance use challenges, that breaks down barriers and meets people where they’re at. Additionally, the initiative aims to prioritize mental health by breaking down barriers and meeting people where they’re at. Additionally, individuals in need can find support through specialized facilities such as the addiction rehab centre Leicester. And also, there are some clinics that actually assist you, such as sites like https://drugaddictionclinics.co.uk/.

#mentalhealth #addiction #mentalwellbeing #peaceofmind #bccanada

Cheektowaga-Omni Launch Fundraiser for Debut Socio-Cultural Movie “My Name Is Brad”

Featured

January 11, 2021: Cheektowaga-Omni, a production, media, and marketing company has today announced its foray into film making with the production of a socially conscious movie, “My Name is Brad”. The company hopes to engage the public and has started fundraising, soliciting support from keen donors and people who value movies with a cultural and socially significant theme.

The prevailing atmosphere in the USA makes it ripe for movies like My Name is Brad to be an eye-opener for a public swayed by bigotry and misinformation. Moreover, homelessness is a growing issue that is affecting many people.

“My Name is Brad” narrates the story of a young middle class suburban white man who struggles through University, only to end up deluded, and living on the streets. He watches his promise die, like so many North American youth today.

Cheektowaga-Omni is a production and media marketing company that was established as a tie up between Cheektowaga Music and Omni creative group Cheektowaga Music was formed by prolific musician, music, entertainment producer and, performer “Little” Herbert in 1986. Cheektowaga-Omni is in the process of reactivating a dormant Analogue TV station in Northern Washington State.

The movie My Name is Brad being produced by Cheektowaga-Omni is in memory of Kelly Thomas, who was killed by members of the Fullerton police dept in 2011. Cheektowaga-Omni has launched fundraising efforts to support the movie and plans are afoot to launch a kick-starter and a web page in support of My name is Brad. Additionally, they are exploring event ticketing options to enhance the film’s reach and impact. For more – click here.

Cheektowaga – Omni media is based in Kelowna BC, with studios located in Abbotsford BC and Vancouver BC.

The following video includes articles of harm and mayhem and discretion should be used when viewing the material involving the violence leading to the decession of Kelly Thomas.

For more information: See our postion on Slated.

Media contact

Dale Corrigan

Cheektowaga – Omni Creative Group

Email:

Website:

Homelessness During COVID – Disaster Amplified

Featured

In any given year, there are about 235,000 Canadians that suffer from homelessness. That’s about 0.625% of the total population, a statistically “small” minority, which is, unfortunately, seeing its woes compounded due to winter and COVID.  

Homeless people rely on shelters to provide them a place to sleep and stay, especially during the cold winter nights when staying outside or in a makeshift shelter can be deadly disastrous. So it’s only logical that the shelters try to accommodate as many people as possible.

But that’s impossible due to COVID cases spreading. To mitigate the probability of transmission, shelters have reduced the number of people they take in. Needless to say, this is a significant blow to the homeless population of the country because during the second wave, more and more people are seeking shelter and less space is available. The lifting of the eviction ban has also added fuel to the fire.

To make matters worse, some shelter homes are being forced to close down or have been working at reduced capacity because the staff and residents have contracted the virus.

People are aware of the problem and are doing what little they can to remediate the situation like staging protests and urging the government to ramp up support. And shelters are using glass dividers in between beds to reduce the probability of transmission in close confines.

We can take lessons from international solutions to this problem, such as accommodating homeless populations in unused hotels (since the travel business is already suffering) or taking measures to contain homeless people to designated areas (by providing necessary amenities and shelter) to mitigate the possibility of transmission.