Bill Kirsch is personable, outgoing, funny - and fond of the sorts of puns that make people groan. He occasionally plays the piano during holiday celebrations at an Agence Ometz program in which he participates. "But I have to be keyed up to play the piano," he said, smiling broadly as he delivered the line. His musicality extends to whistling: He's a great whistler.

Kirsch, 57, has lived with serious mental illness for most of his life. He is followed by a team in the psychiatry department of the Jewish General Hospital and he lives in a group home. He is also a client of the mental-health support services team at Agence Ometz - a team working to promote the social integration of people with mental ilnesses.Through the team, Kirsch participates in adult education classes, community programs and outings - activities he says have taught him skills, helped him to make friends and stay busy, and generally enriched his life.

"It is a burden all your life to have to cope with mental illness," he said during an interview in the office of Marcie Klein, manager of the mental-health support services team. "Ometz has helped me to learn important skills." Members of the multi-disciplinary team, who include social workers, special-care counsellors and an adult education teacher/drama therapist, work with about 130 clients, and their work is wide-ranging. As Klein explained, they do everything from organize activities with clients and help those able to live on their own to find apartments - some clients are homeless when they are referred to the service - to assist clients in accessing benefits such as welfare, counselling and employment services. Referrals come from Montreal's network of local health and community service centres, or CLSCs, from hospitals, and internally from within Agence Ometz, a social-service agency. Some of the activities in which Kirsch participates are in collaboration with other organizations, including the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the YM-YWHA. Each week, for instance, he visits the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where he works with facilitators. The museum is "a priceless gem," he said.

Kirsch enjoys not just viewing artwork but also creating it. He paints, enjoying mediums including oil, acrylic and pastel, and he's part of an art group organized through Klein's team. He has high praise for the volunteer art teacher who runs the group, Cristina Boiles, for how she puts on soft music as they work and provides coffee and cookies. "She tries to bring out our creativity," he said. He takes adult-education classes, given by Dimitra Barnard, a teacher contracted to the service through the EMSB, in topics including stress, anger management, wellness and recovery. Friday mornings, he participates in a cooking class in a community kitchen at a Côte des Neiges Rd. community centre run by Ometz.. "We make dishes like salad and chicken stir-fry with vegetables," Kirsch said. "We also learn budgeting. Then we eat together and take the leftovers home." He has made friends through these programs and, for him, that's huge. "I don't like to feel lonely," he said. "I have to be busy. It is not good for me not to be busy: To stay home and go into my shell makes me isolated. "Going to the programs Ometz organizes has helped me very much - has enriched me so much."

Kirsch has a family connection to Ometz: His late father, Martin Kirsch, was president of Jewish Vocational Services during the 1980s; JVS was the forerunner of Jewish Employment Montreal, which merged with Jewish Family Services and Jewish Immigrant Aid Services in 2009 to form Agence Ometz. "My father did a lot of community work," said Kirsch. "He was an an inspiration for my life. "He said, 'Bill, it is important to have interests in life, bcause then you can talk about anything.'" Seems that Bill Kirsch, musician, student, lover of art, good friend and more, heeded his father's advice.