FRANCAIS

September 06, 2006

Healthy Living Minister Theresa Oswald today announced a three-year, $9-million investment to help Manitobans get better access to mental health and addictions services.

This investment adds to the $2 million in annual funding announced in Budget 2006 and the $6.7‑million mental-health and addictions strategy announced in December 2005.

“We are not going to tackle mental health and addictions with one single solution,” said Oswald. “Today, the province is proud to announce an expanded strategy that will provide improved services in a wider spectrum to help Manitobans get access to care.”

The investment will provide funding for a broad array of services including:

• centralized intake and referral to improve access to supports for youth and parents,

• increased community-based based mental-health and addictions services,

• more treatment beds for youth and adults, and

• supports for youth stabilization including training and public awareness.

“Introducing centralized intake and referral will streamline the system and provide a better resource for clients and parents who are looking to access treatment and are unsure where to go,” said Oswald. “By centrally managing this process, we can make sure the right person gets the right treatment faster and that parents, guardians and youth know where to call for help.”

Oswald also noted that access to the youth drug stabilization program will begin Nov. 1 with a five-bed secured stabilization facility located on Mayfair Avenue. Marymound, in partnership with Manitoba Health and addiction agencies, will operate the stabilization facility. This will be an interim facility while a permanent ten-bed structure, which will also be operated by Marymound, is established. Five beds at the permanent facility will be used as a unit for voluntary stabilization for youth.

“This program is about ensuring that severely addicted young people in need of help will be provided with an entry point to treatment that they would not have been able to access themselves,” said Ian Hughes, executive director, Marymound. “During the stabilization period, addictions counsellors together with the youth and their family will work to connect with them and engage them in ongoing treatment.”

Oswald also announced the appointment of a new provincial co-ordinator for the implementation of the Youth Drug Stabilization (Supports for Parents) Act, passed June 13. This position, required by the legislation, will oversee centralized intake and referral and access to the stabilization facility.

Oswald also noted that information materials on the Youth Drug Stabilization Act and supporting services will be made available beginning in late-October.

“It is important that the public understands what this act and services will and won’t do and how to access these services,” said Oswald. “We expect this act will be seldom used, but for those parents who are seeking a last resort for children with serious and persistent substance use problems, these supports will be a valuable way to get them stabilized and into the treatment they need.

“We have seen how crystal meth can destroy families and communities. This government is committed to providing a full spectrum of options for parents and families to combat the effects of this terrible drug.”

Including capital projects, the province has increased funding for mental health and addictions by $33 million in the past year alone.

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Number of Canadians who experience mental illness in their lifetimes: one in five

Number of Canadians who will receive treatment for mental health issues in their lifetimes: one in eight

Number of mental health and addictions agencies in Manitoba: 11

Number of mental health and addictions beds in Manitoba: 405

Number of beds: Western Canadian Provinces (per 100,000 population)

Youth Drug Stabilization (Supports for Parents) Act was passed on June 13, 2006

The Youth Drug Stabilization (Supports for Parents) Act allows a provincial court to issue an order under which a person under 18 can be taken to a designated facility for assessment by addiction specialists to determine if it is in the youth’s best interest to be detained for stabilization.

Under the act, an application can be made to a justice for an order to apprehend a youth if the applicant believes and can provide evidence the youth:

• is suffering from severe and persistent drug abuse,
• is at risk of serious deterioration physically or psychologically,
• needs to be assessed by an addictions specialist to determine if the youth should be admitted to a facility to be stabilized so he or she can make a decision respecting future drug abuse treatment, and
• has consistently refused to agree to voluntary interventions or has not succeeded in previous interventions to address drug problems.

Provinces which have implemented similar legislation: Saskatchewan and Alberta

Based on the experience in Saskatchewan, Manitoba estimates up to 100 youth a year may require stabilization services. Manitoba will have a capacity to serve up to 200 youth annually.

In addition to providing a facility and staffing for the stabilization program, the province will also provide supports for transporting the youth, legal aid for youth who request it during the stabilization process and a three-person review panel composed of lawyers and addictions specialists who will conduct a review within 24 hours of a request by the youth.

The Youth Drug Stabilization (Supports for Parents) Act is another step in Manitoba’s ongoing increase in supports for mental health and addictions.

In May 2006, Manitoba announced eight additional adult treatment beds for the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

In March 2006, Manitoba committed an additional $2 million in the budget to combat crystal meth and other addictions.

In December 2005, Oswald announced details of a $6.7-million comprehensive strategy to enhance and increase mental-health and addictions programs and services.  Some of the government’s investments in mental-health and addictions programs include:

• funding to improve access to youth addictions programming at the Behavioural Health Foundation;
• funding for a clinical therapist and a registered nurse for the Behavioural Health Foundation;
• funding for two new youth outreach positions with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, one located in Winnipeg and one in Thompson;
• investing in a Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) team, the priority of which will be to facilitate the  discharge of patients from Selkirk Mental Health Centre who require support in the community;
• establishing and maintaining a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week provincial suicide prevention line;
• providing additional training for health-care staff in suicide prevention;
• increasing ongoing funding to the Teen Talk program to enhance its work throughout the province;
• funding for additional staffing for the Winnipeg Early Intervention in Psychosis program;
• funding to establish an Early Intervention in Mental Illness program in Brandon; and
• funding to provide additional community mental-health workers in the regional health authorities.

In November 2005, Manitoba launched the Manitoba Meth Strategy. The strategy included:

• joining Saskatchewan in restricting the sale of 17 single-source pseudoephedrine products, the preferred ingredient in making meth, to make them available for sale only behind the counter in pharmacies and limiting quantities to 3,600 mg per purchase;
• increasing investments in mental-health and addictions programs and providing enhanced training to front-line workers to deal with crystal meth, other addictions and mental-health issues;
• establishing the Manitoba Meth Task Force comprising government, law enforcement and addictions agencies and led by Manitoba Healthy Living and Manitoba Justice;
• developing a public education campaign to increase awareness of the dangers of meth use;
• formalizing and enhancing a unified takedown protocol for meth labs;
• requiring theft of anhydrous ammonia to be reported; and
• continuing strong partnerships with jurisdictions across Western Canada to develop a phased-in approach to restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine products.

The Manitoba Meth Strategy built on recent initiatives to combat meth and other drugs including:

• providing funding for 54 new police-officer positions to be created throughout Manitoba,
• developing Canada’s most comprehensive drug-impaired driving initiative,
• continuing enhanced Manitoba Liquor Control Commission monitoring,
• providing first-responder training about crystal meth and meth labs, and
• developing prevention and education programs provided by the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba at 60 high schools.