Julie Green

Yes, Mr. Chair, I do.

Thank you. I will take that as a comment.

Thank you. Long-term care is its own activity area. Could we return to that question when we get to that activity area?

Thank you. I think that they were doing intake through contract services. I don't know if that's still the case, because that detail isn't on this page, but let me ask Ms. Mathison if that is the case. The Deputy Minister... [Microphone turned off]

The Department of Health and Social Services and, more particularly, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, Tlicho Community Services Agency, and Hay River Health and Social Services Authority are the operational arm that provide these services. Non-government organizations are pretty thin on the ground outside of the major centres. That's why the government is delivering this.

The Community Counselling Program, which I spoke about earlier, is available to NWT residents of all ages on all topics. There is a mental health and addictions worker located in Fort Providence...

The current mental wellness and addictions recovery plan expires next month, so there is no point, at this point, to try to bring new actions into it. Instead, what we're doing at this point is we are looking at other ways to capture information and trends, as I mentioned before, and bring those into the everyday operation of the department. The Member referenced the social indicators that were produced for the first three months of the pandemic. It's my understanding that the department is getting ready to produce another of those reports. The thing about that first report is that it only...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no question, as the Member says, that alcohol is a great hardship for many of our residents and in many of our communities. With respect to an education program, that is something that would be led by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and we would certainly be interested in working with them if they wanted to develop a curriculum on this topic.

What we do offer now is an awareness program called My Voice, My Choice. That's been around for a number of years, and it's now being revamped and will be relaunched later in this calendar year. The...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take that as a comment.

In our most recent Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Action Plan, we talked about the reform that we were planning to undertake in the Community Counselling Program, which is now largely complete. What we have taken on is a methodology called "stepped care." How this works is people are seen in person, often on the same day. There is no wait list. There are no appointments necessary. It is, in fact, possible to walk into one of the 19 Community Counselling Program offices across the NWT and see a counsellor right away, with no wait times and same-day appointment availability. In those...

It's my understanding that, in fact, these wellness workers do work with communities on actions and priorities with the community and then set up with supports needed to realize them. I realize that information may not be available online, but this is an ongoing and iterative program of supporting communities to realize their own goals that they have set in their wellness plans.