St. Albert is looking to contract out counselling offered to vulnerable St. Albertans, but city administration says the community won’t experience a service level drop as a result.
The decision is part of a suite of service cuts presented in the 2022 draft budget, released on Nov. 3. Contracting out counselling would save the city $48,700 each year.
The city’s Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) branch currently offers counselling to financially vulnerable residents 15 to 24 years of age. The counselling is short term and non-therapeutic, and after a maximum of 10 sessions, residents are referred to other services.
Clients are assessed for their ability to pay for counselling services, and most residents applying for the service are eligible for subsidization and low-cost or no-cost access, city spokesperson Cory Sinclair said in an email on Nov. 16.
Connie Smigielski, manager of community strategy at the city, said the program is currently limited by its short-term nature.
“Clients come in and have to tell their story, and then in only a few sessions, you have to refer them on,” Smigielski said on Monday. “It doesn’t feel good to do that.”
Now, the city is looking to contract out counselling to save costs on overhead items such as professional insurance for psychologists. Smigielski said the shift will make it so the city can provide long-term counselling.
FCSS counsellors experienced a spike in client contacts during the pandemic, according to statistics shared in the city’s draft budget. In 2020, counsellors opened more than 150 case files, compared to around 60 in 2019.
During a Nov. 9 budget council meeting, Smigielski said the city saw a shift in their staffing, where counsellors left their FCSS work so they could move into the community and provide long-term counselling for youth experiencing trauma.
Now, she said the option to provide long-term counselling will allow FCSS to return to its mandate of “true prevention,” rather than focusing on intervention.
“It’s a win-win in terms of getting our residents to the appropriate long-term counselling they require to deal with trauma,” Smigielski said in the Nov. 9 meeting.
Provincial regulation for FCSS is currently undergoing a review that began in 2020. This review will develop a framework to strengthen the program, one Smigielski said she anticipates will include a stronger focus on prevention.
In this sense, the shift to more long-term counselling is timely, Smigielski argued.
“You don’t want to put your FCSS program funding at risk,” Smigielski said. “Many of the FCSS programs in the province contract counselling out because it really is intervention, as opposed to prevention.”
FCSS is funded with an 80-per-cent contribution from the province and a 20-per-cent contribution from municipalities, though cities have the option to pitch in additional funds.
While the city’s counselling is specifically set up for youth, Smigielski said clients who fall outside the age brackets can also be considered on an as-needed basis.
“If we have a resident — regardless of their age — call in dire need who has no ability to get support, then through donations we get or through other means, we can find a way to support residents,” Smigielski said. “We’ll continue to do that service as we always have."
