The NDP mental health critic is in town today making the rounds speaking to Prince George’s stakeholders.
One of her biggest visits is with the RCMP, who are the first responders to most mental health issues. Something that isn’t very efficient;
“Often times the money is spent in not very effective ways. For example you can have police waiting at the hospital for a great period of time not necessarily doing anything but watch a person before they get signed off on the Mental Health Act”
She estimated RCMP detachments spend anywhere between 20-30% of their time dealing with mental health related issues throughout the day and applauded the efforts of police across the province to provide special training to officers on the topic.
Hammell says the best thing we can do is begin mental health care early in life;
“The most effective thing we can do in the long run is move some of our resources up stream to where the kids are so we can help those kids learn to cope and we can be dealing with mental health issues early rather than later”
She added that Prince George is doing a good job providing unique programs tailored for Northern BC.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
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