Province Announces $2.8-Million Boost For Mental Health And Addictions Services

May 5, 2008
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New Funds for Community-Based Services Will Strengthen Supports For Manitobans on the Road to Recovery: Irvin-Ross

The province is investing $2.8 million to increase access to community mental health and addictions services, and hire 20 new front-line mental health professionals, Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross announced today, marking the beginning of Mental Health Week in Canada.“Today’s funding means more mental health-care providers in Manitoba and more community-based addictions programs for those who need them,” Irvin-Ross said. “These investments will help ensure Manitobans with a mental health condition or addiction can access the services they need as soon as possible to support them on their road to recovery.”

The new funds announced today build upon the $17.7 million invested since December 2005 when major expansions to the province’s mental health and addictions strategy were unveiled.

Today’s funding includes more than $1.8 million to hire 20 additional mental health-care and spiritual care providers to work in regional health authorities across the province.

As well, four organizations will together receive more than $1 million in new funding over two years to create and expand community-based addictions treatment and support programs including:

· Addictions Foundation of Manitoba – $311,000 to expand services to a new community-based program that will provide addiction intervention services for people entering treatment for harmful substance use behaviours.
· St. Raphael Centre – $492,000 to provide readiness programming and post-treatment programming for 100 clients per year.
· Two Ten Recovery Inc. – $165,000 to offer transitional sober living for adult males recovering from alcohol and drug addictions.
· Tamarack Rehab Inc. – $59,500 to increase access to a second-stage residential treatment program and life-skills training for clients on employment income assistance.

“This announcement recognizes that additional mental health resources are greatly needed in our region as a result of significant population growth,” said Monique Vielfaure Mackenzie, chief executive officer of South Eastman Health/Santé Sud-Est Inc. “These new positions will be key in helping us enhance our services and meet the needs of our residents.”

“I’m extremely pleased that the government is providing this funding to support the per diem cost for second-stage treatment for people on employment income assistance,” said Brian Patterson, executive director of Tamarack Rehab Inc. “This will help us support their recovery from addiction and support them in improving their health and returning back into the community.”

The minister also today announced that Manitoba Health is implementing a five-point plan to guide the renewal of the province’s adult addiction services system.

Breaking the Chains of Addictions, the province’s five-point strategic plan includes:

1. Building a Better System – developing unified standards for all agencies, modernizing legislation and enhancing training opportunities for front-line mental health and addictions services providers;
2. Improving Service Access – providing clients the right service in the right place at the right time by developing a provincial centralized intake and assessment unit in Winnipeg and strengthening the existing addictions system to ensure clients and their family members can smoothly navigate their way through the spectrum of services and supports;
3. Increasing Residential Treatment Capacity – creating a multi-agency facility in Winnipeg to offer a continuous and comprehensive range of services under one roof;
4. Building Community-based Treatment Capacity – reaching the under-served population by investing in a wide range of community-based treatment options to make services accessible to more clients across the province; and
5. Enhancing Addiction Research – developing strategic research plans to support research into addictions issues of priority to Manitobans.

For more information on the strategic plan, visit www.gov.mb.ca/health/mh/plan.html.

Mental Health Week in Canada runs from today until May 11.

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Backgrounder: Investing In Mental Health-Care And Addictions Services In Manitoba