Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services on the issue of aftercare to persons who have undergone addictions treatment, I quote from her letter to me dated February 5, 2008, which I tabled yesterday. The Minister says:
“Following discharge, as part of the post-treatment plan, the client is expected to take responsibility for contacting the referral service to ensure that ongoing treatment and support will be provided at the community level through the Mental Health and Addictions counsellors….”
I would like to ask the Minister what the letter means by “referral service”?
Mr. Speaker, the Member may be able to understand the meaning of that if he just reads the previous paragraph, which reads:
“Part of the treatment process is discharge planning where the client is actively involved in and takes responsibility for decisions and planning focused on maintaining sobriety post-treatment. This involves identifying community supports and making pre-discharge contacts to prepare for return to the community. Counselling services, AA groups, supportive family and friends, etc., are identified and contacted, if that is the wish of the client.”
The point is, Mr. Speaker, that post-treatment and aftercare programs are available, and the staff of the Department of Health and Social Services are actively involved. You know, we take the addiction issues and helping the people who want to address that very seriously.
I am very serious when I say that a huge part of recovery and healing is individual responsibility. I think the Member should give the people more credit in terms of controlling their own conduct and their own recovery process.
Well, I guess that if the Minister didn’t want to answer the question, she could have just said no.
Mr. Speaker, my next question — and I’m hoping to get a better answer out of this. I would also infer from the response in that letter that, if the client does not contact the referral service, there is no follow-up at the local level by the Mental Health Addictions counsellors. So the problem is, what is the Minister’s difficulty with the issue of the additions treatment folks contacting the client to ensure that there’s some follow-up? She seems to have some apprehension about it. What’s the problem?
There is absolutely no program — I mean, there is absolutely no problem. There is no problem. I’m happy to give answers to the Members, and I think that should be considered. The answer that I’m saying is that it’s a partnership effort, it’s a group effort. And our staff is ready and available and provides support as clients need them, the bottom line always being that it is always client focused.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate an honest answer from the Minister. There is no program, unfortunately. It’s great that she corrected herself because probably she wasn’t allowed to reveal that fact.
The fact is: what is the problem here with this situation? Do we hog-tie these mental counsellors and addictions folks to not contact their clients? Is there anything that stops them from contacting their clients? If there is nothing, then why don’t we follow through on this and create a program that allows them to phone these clients? I am sure they are not that busy.
Mr. Speaker, the issue of addictions and pre- and post-care treatment and the need for the Assembly to work really hard to address this issue in the whole spectrum is really serious. I would like to ask the Member to take that issue very seriously. This is not a game.
I am telling the Members that I sent in a two-page letter that explains the pre- and post-care program dealing with the addictions issue. It states very clearly what it says.
I am telling the Member again that clients are involved in all aspects of dealing with the addiction issue. They will have to take a driver’s seat. Our staff are available to work with them in any way they want to have it done. I don’t know what else I can say to that.
A final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
I wish to assure everyone that this is not a game by any standard. The fact is that this department seems to stonewall the approach of building up any relationship with these clients of aftercare. Mr. Speaker, I am sure we do better care with follow-up of our capital assets and taking care of them than we do with these clients after they receive treatment.
Do we have a process that we can engage today that would allow, and set it up in such a way, that these addiction treatment counsellors, once they are done a program with these clients, we can continue to follow up with them from time to time?
Treatment is a two-way process. We don’t have to wait for them to call. We should reach out and take their problems very seriously through aftercare. Like I said, we take care of capital assets a heck of a lot better than we do people who struggle with difficulties in their lives.
I am glad to hear that the Member acknowledges that treatment programs are a two-way process. That is precisely my point, Mr. Speaker. That’s what my letter says.
I say it again: there are lots of programs and services available to those who want to take advantage of them. The success of dealing with addiction depends on the individual’s motivation and their facility to deal with that. The 1-800 number the Member was referring to has to do specifically with messages to Nats’ eeje K’eh, where those clients who had been there could use that number if they wanted to.
But it is expected that all of those who are in recovery programs develop their own personal contact and their own way of dealing with that. We have to respect them to do that. And when they want assistance, it is available.
