In-person services in Northern BC continue to remain sparse: Canadian Mental Health Association

The Manager of Education and Programs at the Northern BC branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) says communities in our region are disproportionately impacted by the lack of access to quality care.

In its annual report, 2.5 million Canadians are unable to get the proper care due to geographical challenges or they can’t afford the expense.

The CMHA noted access to mental health care is deteriorating across the country…..just as the need increases.

Shirley Hogan told Vista Radio anyone looking to see a specialist or psychiatrist in the north often needs to wait longer than most due to the lack of mental health professionals available.

“In the north, it is so much more difficult for folks to access in-person services and of course, online services it wouldn’t matter where you live but that in-person, one-on-one service is very difficult to have access to when you are in the north.”

“Some of our local communities don’t have a psychiatrist that works there who is there 24/7. Even our hospitals if we look at the number of emergency rooms that are currently being shut down – we are impacted by that with our physical health but we are also impacted by that with our mental health.”

Hogan also supports the notion that Ottawa amend the Canada Health Act to include mental health care as part of our universal coverage.

“I think that we need to stop sort of looking at our mental health as seperate and distinct from our physical health. Mental health is something that we all have – we all experience good mental health and bad mental health just like we do with our physical health. In order for that to be equitable, we need to access services for our mental health just as we can for our physical health.”

“That ongoing mental health support that is very difficult to access for many reasons. One is that it doesn’t exist or if it does exist, it is expensive and people have to have the financial capacity to pay for it. If you are in a small community, people that are involved in that can also be your relatives or your neighbours or someone your child works with.”

Earlier this week, BC Premier David Eby named his cabinet that will represent the NDP in the Legislature over the next four years.

One notable omission was that the mental health and addictions portfolio with the health ministry now taking the lead on those issues.

Former Energy and Mines Minister Josie Osborne takes over the health file for Adrian Dix who was in that role for the past several years.

Surrey MLA Amna Shah was named parliamentary secretary for mental health and addictions.

Hogan hopes the province will keep mental health in the forefront even with the recent merger.

“We even know here in Canada that 500-thousand people are away from work each week due to mental illness or mental health disorder and when we think about that and think about how access to mental health supports are so difficult and yet so many people are impacted. Another study shows our mental health has become three times worse since pre-COVID.”

“We really hope the government ensures that this is a priority and that we are continuing to put a lot of focus on what is happening in our communities with our mental health and that we get the support we need,” added Hogan.