Diana Capponi

Diana Michele Capponi (February 22, 1953 – September 21, 2014) was a Canadian mental health activist, psychiatric survivor, and community leader.

Diana Capponi
Diana Capponi, from a 2009 interview
Born
Diana Michele Capponi

(1953-02-22)February 22, 1953
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DiedSeptember 21, 2014(2014-09-21) (aged 61)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationActivist, community leader
Years active1980s-2010s

Early life

Capponi was born in Montreal, Quebec, the youngest sister of writer and activist Pat Capponi. Both sisters described an abusive home, which they left as young women. In 1984, she graduated from a police training program at Centennial College in Toronto. "Going to college was the most significant thing I could have done to change my life," she said later.[1]

Career

Diana Capponi dropped out of school, traveled to India, and became addicted to heroin. Back in Canada, she moved to Toronto, where two of her sisters lived. Her sister Pat helped her find housing in Parkdale and rehabilitation. She worked at a women's shelter, and then at a cleaning service. She founded the Ontario Council of Alternative Businesses (OCAB), to create economic opportunities for psychiatric survivors.[2][3] She served on the board of directors at the Gerstein Centre in Toronto.[1]

In 2003, Capponi became coordinator of the new Employment Works program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).[4] In this position she continued her earlier work, building businesses and careers with survivors of addiction and mental illness. She consulted on similar projects and on mental health policy across Canada, and internationally.[1] "Current research indicates that there is absolutely no correlation between a person's mental health diagnosis and their ability to work. If you can do the job, then you can do the job, period," she explained.[5]

Capponi appeared in a National Film Board of Canada documentary, Working Like Crazy (1999),[6] and in a television program, Second Chance: Making It Work (2005). In 2009, she testified about employment and mental health before a committee of the Canadian Parliament.[7]

Personal life

Capponi identified herself as a psychiatric survivor.[8] She married Brenda Needham in 2003; they stopped living together in 2009, but remained close. Capponi died in 2014, from metastatic breast cancer, aged 61 years, in Toronto.[1][9] In 2015 there was a tribute night held to raise funds for the Diana Capponi Education Fund.[10]

References
  1. Stoffman, Judy (October 18, 2014). "After overcoming heroin addiction, Diana Capponi helped hundreds of mental health patients". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  2. Lord, John; Hutchison, Peggy (2007). Pathways to Inclusion: Building a New Story with People and Communities. Captus Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-55322-165-4.
  3. Katz, Helena (1997-12-21). "Business puts new face on mental illness". The Times. p. 29. Retrieved 2020-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Evidence Exchange Network for Mental Health and Addictions (July 2009). "Employment Works!" (PDF). Promising Practices: 1.
  5. "Walking the Talk on Client Employment" (PDF). CAMH Connections. 5: 1. Fall 2004.
  6. "Full Program". Reel Madness Film Festival 2000. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  7. "Mrs. Diana Capponi (Coordinator of Employment Works!, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) at the Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee". Open Parliament. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  8. Capponi, Diana (1997-06-25). "Give us the tools, and we can do the job". The Ottawa Citizen. p. 22. Retrieved 2020-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Porter, Catherine (2014-09-27). "CAMH loses a shining light: Diana Capponi 'helped me be brave'". The Star. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  10. "Diana Capponi Tribute Night". Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. May 26, 2015. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
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