A Victoria man’s life of crime has turned into one of survival, hope and advocacy amid ongoing conversations in the community about public safety.
Derrick Forsyth has 85 criminal convictions. The ex-offender in his 50s says he was caught up in a vicious cycle of doing time in prison, getting out, and repeating the cycle.“It’s not the best thing to say, you know, 'Thank god for a brain injury,'” says Forsyth. “God kicked me in the head and said, 'That’s it, you’re done. You gotta smarten up now or you’re dead.'”
He was treated while serving time in prison – first in a hospital, then given supports through a social worker, therapist, speech therapist. Forsyth says he had to relearn basic tasks such as shopping, ordering items online.After the car accident, he remembers feeling lost, living on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, spending his day feeding an addiction to drugs.
“I swear to you right now, without those people I wouldn’t be here. The number one thing is the housing.”“Nobody is born [and] wants to sleep in a dumpster or on a park bench,” adds Forsyth. “So when you see a person like that – you have to ask yourself why?” “Municipal governments across this province need help and that help means dealing with the significant mental health, addictions, brain injury, homelessness crisis in our streets,” said Leonard Krog following theBrain injury researchers and advocates agree, joining a chorus that’s calling on all levels of government to act now.
"If it’s unaddressed, certainly people have addiction challenges sometimes. It comes from prescription medications. Sometimes it comes from ‘I’ve gone from hopeful to hopeless and I’m self-medicating just to try and get through the day," she adds. "They may lose their job or they just can’t return to work."to develop a national strategy to support and improve brain injury awareness, prevention and treatment.
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