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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 18 ,2 02 0 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised family of newspapers is comprised f of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca insidehalton@metroland.com facebook.com/OakvilleBeavfacebook.com/OakvilleBeavf @OakvilleBeaver WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Jason Pehora Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager Kim Mossman Director of Production Mark Dills Regional Production Manager Manny Garcia Directors of Advertising Cindi Campbell and Ryan Maraj CONTACT US Oakville Beaver 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8 Phone: 905-845-3824 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Advertising: 289-293-0620 Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail kmossman@metroland.com or call 905-631-6095. Letters to the editor Send letters to insidehalton@metroland.com. All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at insidehalton.com OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM SNAPSHOT A screech owl finds a comfortable nesting place in the Bronte area. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. Tony Bertolotti photo "I'm not myself right now", "I'm in a great mood today," "I'm feeling off lately" - all things we may say or hear that highlight how our mental health can change from day to day. from day to day. f We all have mentalWe all have mentalW health and will all experi- ence ups and downs, but how do we know when these regular and expected fluctu- ations may be more than just regular and expected fluctuations?fluctuations?f Any number of things can affect our mental health, wellness, and balance, in- cluding our current level of stress, coping strategies and supports, relationships, work, and physical health. Mental health exists on a continuum that ranges from healthy to ill based on the se- verity of symptoms and theverity of symptoms and thev amount of disruption they cause This continuum shows some important things to re- member about mental health, including: • It's not an either-or thing - it's not that we are ei- ther totally healthy or total- ly ill. We are more likely be in between at various points along the continu- um at various times in our lives. Experiencing chang- es to our mental health doesn't necessarily mean that we have an illness - we may be having a reaction to a stressor or difficult expe- rience that is part of our mental health fluctuations. • A decline in mental health or experiencing dis- tress is not necessarily a per- manent change. We may move a little away from healthy, but we can also move back to healthy if we have effective coping strate- gies and supports. • Getting support for mental health problems early can prevent further progression toward illness. We don't need to wait to getWe don't need to wait to getW help until changes to our mental health cause signif- icant disruption in our lives, such as difficulty go- ing to work or socializing with friends and family. If you are looking for sup- port, keep in mind that the Canadian Mental Health Association Halton Region Branch is offering free call- in counselling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Call 289-291-5396 to speak to a counsellor or leave a mes- sage and have a counsellor call you back within 24 hours Monday to Friday. Melanie McGregor is the communications and ad- vancement specialist at the Canadian Mental Health Association Halton Region Branch. Visit www.hal- ton.cmha.ca for more in- formation. THE MENTAL HEALTH CONTINUUM HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO GAUGE YOUR MENTAL WELL-BEING, WRITES MELANIE MCGREGOR Scams and frauds are part of everyday life. Polic- ing is difficult because most cases are not report- ed. The Canadian Anti- Fraud website is a useful source of information. Protect yourself by antici- pating fraud attempts will occur against you. As an example: two cell- phone messages saying the owner's credit card had been compromised earlier that morning and a large amount of money was taken. The instruction was to call back immedi- ately, and a number was provided. The cellphone owner elected to call the phone number on the credit card. Both the credit card and bank name are among the largest in our country. The bank employee was familiar with this type offamiliar with this type off attempted fraud and as- sured the caller not to wor- ry. That assurance was comforting, but from a crime prevention perspec- tive, the rest of the tele- phone conversation was puzzling. The bank employee was offered the phone number that the criminals had re- quested the cellphone owner call. The surprise response was no. The bank did not want the phone number. I contacted the Halton Regional Police and spoke with Kevin Harvey in the fraud unit. He said a goodfraud unit. He said a goodf way to combat fraud at- tempts is public aware- ness. When specific types of fraud are continuously at-fraud are continuously at-f tempted, there is an effort by police to educate the public which has had suc- cess in the past. Criminal activity in that area might decline, but sometimes re- surface years later. Detective Harvey said one of the biggest obsta- cles at policing fraudulent activity is the lack of re- porting. Most fraud at- tempts are not reported. The suggestion was for citizens interested in learning more about fraud to visit the Canadian Anti- Fraud Centre website. Scams and fraud at- tempts unfortunately are part of everyday life. Un- derstand that you will like- ly be a target in the future. Be on guard and try to protect yourself. Peter Watson, of Wat- son Investments MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial planning column, 'Dollars & Sense'. He can be con- tacted through www.wat- soninvestments.com. SCAMS AND FRAUD A REAL THREAT CANADIANS NEED TO RETHINK HOW WE COMBAT SCAMS AND OTHER ATTEMPTS OF THEFT, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column MELANIE MCGREGOR Column