A new five-year mental health and addictions strategy announced by the province aims to put a greater focus on prevention and treatment in the community.
The new strategy announced Monday doesn’t offer a lot of details in terms of beds or dollars but Health and Wellness Minister Gene Zwozdesky said the plan represents a significant shift in how the government approaches addiction and mental health.
“Our new strategy is all about building a better system,” he said. “It is a strategy that focuses a lot on building capacity and allowing people to receive support in their community.”
Zwozdesky said that doesn’t mean the government won’t be making more brick and mortar style improvements in the system and he highlighted recently announced addiction beds around the province.
The plan has five main principles that will now be used to guide mental health decisions across the province and through a range of different government ministries.
The five principles include a push to focus on prevention when it comes to mental health as well as making sure young children and adults grow up healthy to avoid problems later in life.
The government also plans to focus on services at the local level including rural and remote communities. It also plans to come up with specific programs to deal with people with complex needs, like those dealing with an addiction and developmental delays or mental health problems.
The government’s last principle is finding ways to assure Albertans that the system is performing well through public reporting.
Dr. Michael Trew, medical director of addiction and mental health for Alberta Health Services, said many of the ideas in the new strategy are already taking place, but this plan will give them focus.
“You will see some of the things that are happening already, but with increased emphasis,” he said. “It is really good to know where we are headed and where we are headed is forward in a positive way.”
The plan calls for the government to continue to research the situation over the next year, before outlining specific initiatives or programs.
On that level, the plan is a little bit of a disappointment, said Donna Wilson, a registered nurse and nursing professor at the University of Alberta.
“Thank heavens we have got this plan, but it has taken a long time to get the plan and in fact the plan says we are going to keep studying things without any real money going toward new programs,” Wilson said.
The plan for prevention is very important because it helps deal with mental health problems before they escalate in severity.
“If somebody is going to be born with schizophrenia it would be pretty hard to prevent that, but what you can prevent is acute serious episodes where it gets worse and worse and worse,” she said.
She said her only hope now is that the strategy is effectively backed by the next government.
“What we have now is a five-year strategy and let’s hope the government will stick to it and put money behind it,” she said.
The plan received strong praise from two national mental health organizations that helped the province draft it.
“This is an aggressive strategy and one that you should be extremely proud of because it is comprehensive,” said Louise Bradley, president of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Michel Perron, CEO of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse said it was clear that the government was taking the problem seriously and he thanked the minister.
“What I have read and the earnest and genuine interest that I have seen from your government officials is that it is sincere, it is committed,” he said.
