After spending years battling severe OCD and now an eating disorder, Guelph actress Nikki Roumel feels the Canadian health system has failed her.
Roumel, 20, weighs under 100 pounds, restricts her daily intake to 300 calories, purges up to three times daily, routinely faints and has fluctuating blood pressure. She has also been told by several doctors that she’s slowly killing herself.
With few government-funded resources with wait times up to a year, Roumel’s family understood that immediate help is absolutely crucial and signed her up for a privately-funded health care facility.
To pay the staggering cost of $53,000 for a 17-week eating disorder program at Homewood Health Centre, the family had to turn to the community for financial support.
“I want help. That’s the biggest thing which you don’t see a lot with eating disorders is the fact that I do want help and I’m ready to get better and there’s nothing. I’ve cried so many nights over it. It’s just been really hard,” said Roumel.
“I’ve been on the waitlist for the Canadian Mental Health Association for four months and I haven’t even gotten any information or any support and it’s the same for any government-funded treatments. It’s like a year wait which is very difficult when I’m told by doctors I’m slowly killing myself.”
With a promising acting career ahead — where she will be seen in the upcoming Netflix show Ginny & Georgia later this year — Roumel said running the risk of her mental health story affecting her professional and personal life was worth it if it is able to help others and in turn, herself.
“There was the initial worry, but this is just so much bigger than myself,” said Roumel, who later saw immense support from the cast and crew of her show.
“Being in the industry and being such a happy person in general, I’ve been very happy. It was very hard to open up but the amount of people it reached and the amount of people that came to me that I would never have expected,” said Roumel. “It was so worth it.”
Roumel said opening up about her OCD when she was 16 helped her overcome the illness and come out of it stronger.
“I had to open up quicker with the eating disorder because of the lack of mental health support and it was just so hard,” said Roumel who feels mental health support for adults is especially difficult.
Roumel said it's difficult to explain why it’s not as simple as ‘just eating’ to others because she herself struggles to comprehend what she’s going through which is why she wants help.
“It’s so hard to explain because I don’t have the answers. I just can’t do it. And it’s not as easy as just getting up and eating,” said Roumel. “It’s so much more than that. It’s both physical and mental. You just can’t do it. There’s such a block there.”
“My mom always says the solution is right in our kitchen but she can’t make me eat. She doesn’t have that control. She’s like ‘It’s right there’! ‘It’s right beside us’ but there’s nothing she can do.”
She said she is overwhelmed with gratitude when she thinks about the support she has received from her family and community.
“My whole family has been extremely supportive. I feel so bad for them as they’re so stuck about what to do,” said Roumel.
“I’ve been getting so much support from the community and people around that our healthcare system should be providing.”
Roumel’s cousin Ally Roumeliotis created a GoFundMe page with her brother Liam Roumeliotis. Currently over $38,000 has been raised.
“I think it’s very scary to share your story and be an advocate at the same time so I think she’s done a very good job of presenting herself during this,” said Roumeliotis.
“I’m hopeful that she will get the treatment she needs especially with how everyone has come together,” said Roumeliotis who is currently pursuing a psychology degree in Queen’s University and has a keen interest in the subject of mental health.
She said Roumel means the world to everyone in the family. “There is no one more well-deserving of wellness than Nikola because she is the kindest person, She is very strong and everyone will say that,” said Roumeliotis.
“It’s clear that in Ontario, for the amount of people suffering from different mental illnesses, there’s not enough funding or resources,” said Roumeliotis.
She said while initiatives like #BellLetsTalk have done a great job lifting the stigma over mental health for people to share their stories but sufficient government funding isn’t following these initiatives.
