Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to addictions and mental health, the victims are often forgotten. My questions today will be for the Minister of Justice. I would ask the Minister of Justice what role the Department of Justice plays in ensuring those with addictions and mental health issues are supported by the justice system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Most of those supports are offered in the corrections system, seeing as how that is how Justice usually interacts with people who need those supports. There are psychologists in the North Slave and the South Slave, and there are counsellors in all of the facilities. There are traditional healing programs at the South Slave; it especially has a lot of programs like that. There is an Indigenous pre-treatment healing program, which is made in the North. We hope to roll that out to other areas, as well. There is a Northern Sessions program, which offers treatment; I wouldn't say treatment, but mental health and behavioural supports in a northern context. There are a number of these different programs. There are substance abuse management programs offered in all of the facilities. There are programs to help inmates cope with violence and domestic violence. There is a wide variety of supports. One of the big issues is that some people are in for 20 days and out, some people are in for a few months and out, and it's hard to really provide the support that is needed in that context. Thank you.
I would ask the Minister: what legislative supports are in place to assist those who are in abusive relationships and in immediate personal harm or harm to their children?
Emergency protection orders are temporary court orders up to 90 days, and they are available under the Protection Against Family Violence Act. Of course, there has been a report highlighting some of the deficiencies, and so Justice is working with its partners to identify ways to fix those. It's not a perfect solution, obviously. There are communities with no RCMP, and so a piece of paper doesn't feel like it makes you very safe. It's not a perfect fix, but that is what is in place.
I've had constituents who have family members with addictions and mental health issues and who are concerned with the wellness of their children. When I say "children," I'm talking about adult children, as well. They are concerned that the system is not offering the timely personal protection needed, and often, it is unclear as to how or who to contact. Can the Minister tell me, with the Department of Justice, what information and contacts are available and where can that information be found?
Of course, the department of health offers a lot of support through counselling services, and you can always contact those providers in communities. As far as Justice, there is the NWT Victims Services program. What Justice does is provide funding to 11 community-based groups who are situated across the territory, and they provide services to victims. It could just be emotional support, direction on how to navigate the system, what to do, where to go, where they might find a safe place, things like that, and that contact information can be found on the Justice website.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the RCMP are called in to address a matter related to mental health or addictions, what supports are the RCMP provided, and does it include training in dealing with addictions and mental health as well as a mental health support worker on-site? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In the territory, I know that RCMP officers undergo trauma-informed training and cultural awareness training. Right now, if they respond to an issue where there is a mental health issue, which is quite frequent, there is not a mental health specialist who accompanies them. Frankly, there are just not the resources for that, at this point, but those are the kinds of things that we need to look at. I'm happy to have those conversations with the department of health and see what options are available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister share with the House the expectations of the addictions recovery survey being done? What outcomes are expected from this survey? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we hope to get from the addictions survey is to learn about what is working with the addictions recovery services that we currently offer at the Department of Health and Social Services and what changes would make those services more effective. We are particularly interested in hearing from people who have lived experience, who have actually used these services themselves or who have close family members who have done that. That survey is available online, and hard copies are available at health centres and other places where mental health services and addiction services are provided. I want to say that, with just one week of the survey being available, we've had more than 300 responses, so there is obviously a lot of interest in this area. We encourage everyone who has an interest in this area to complete the survey by the end of March.
What will happen with the survey results is that they will inform next steps around the need for a territorial alcohol strategy and answer some of the questions of the day, such as whether we need transitional housing for people leaving treatment and whether we need an in-territory treatment facility. Thank you.
After-care is a crucial component of recovery. The NWT is lacking in this area of service. Will the Minister consider investing in three after-care facilities that are connected to the mental health workers within Health and Social Services?
We are interested in working across departments with the NWT Housing Corporation, the Department of Justice, and Education, Culture and Employment to talk about what kind of supports in transitional housing we can put in place. At this point, we don't have any firm plans to construct the facilities that the Member for Thebacha is talking about, but staff is in place to connect people exiting treatment with counselling and other supports that they require.
Addressing the mental health and after-care component is important for all people in recovery. Would the Minister consider walk-in clinics with mental health staff readily available for the public?
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 other communities which do not have community counsellors, telephone, virtual, and in-person, from time to time, counselling is available. What this new methodology allows us to do is to see people right away and decide whether their care needs to be stepped up or stepped down. That's why it's called stepped care.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no problem with the out-of-territory treatment. The teams that deal with mental health and addictions problems are not available here. We don't have the qualifications for that. Yellowknife might be able to have that, but anonymity is very important to uphold. Therefore, would the Minister consider pursuing after-care facilities as a priority within the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
After-care is a priority of this government. The focus at this point is on people rather than facilities. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible and give them the widest variety of choices for the kind of support they need for their own mental wellness. At this point, as I mentioned earlier, we don't have specific plans to build after-care facilities, but there is a working group that is looking at that possibility. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Following up to my Member's statement regarding the problems of alcoholism in our communities, this is also affecting many of our youth and young men. Can the Minister commit to an alcohol education or alcohol awareness program in our schools, including Aurora campuses? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Health and Social Services.
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 campaign is going to focus on six key areas, and they include things such as looking after our land, sexual health, suicide, healthy relationships, healthy coping skills, mental health, and substance use. It covers many of the areas that the Member is concerned about. As I say, this is currently in the redevelopment stage, but it is expected to be ready for use by schools, if they wish, and Aurora College, if they wish, by the next semester. Thank you.
Mahsi to the Minister for that answer. I wouldn't even give them a choice. Force it upon them. Mr. Speaker, one of the priorities of the department is to focus on mental health and addictions by ensuring that services are delivered locally with culturally appropriate methods. Can the Minister provide an update as to actions taken by the department related to this priority?
Thank you for that question. Our primary focus in this area is on-the-land healing program. This is a community-based program where Indigenous government organizations apply to the department to obtain funding in order to deliver their own culturally relevant land-based mental health and addictions programming.
This fund is very flexible. It can be used to attract people to treatment. It can be used for family treatment. It can be used for after-care. It can be used for treatment itself. This is a community-based program, and it puts communities in charge of what this program is about and makes sure that it reflects the values of the people whose community it is.
There are also two new funds that the government is coming out with that are community-based. One is suicide prevention, and that was just launched about 10 days ago. There has been quite a bit of interest in applications for suicide prevention. The other community-based program is peer support. This is for addictions after-care, and it provides funding to support people who want to set up AA groups or Wellbriety groups. It would give them money for a place to rent and some refreshments and that kind of thing. We have three and, particularly, on-the-land programming, which is based on community-driven mental health support.
Mahsi to the Minister for providing all the services related to addictions. I look forward to those funding sources. One of the key positions missing in our communities is an alcohol and drug counsellor. Most alcoholics need someone they can confide in, someone they can trust, someone that they know. Can the Minister commit to providing our communities with an alcohol and drug counsellor position run by a non-government organization?
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 as well as a child and youth care counsellor. There is a community wellness worker position that is currently vacant, but the standard offering in Fort Providence is to have these three wellness workers working with local individuals to provide them with the help they need.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi to the Minister for that. Can the Minister commit to the training of our local people to be alcohol and drug counsellors? Mahsi.
This is an area the department is very interested in. For the last two years, the department has provided support to the Dene Wellness Warriors, who have been working in partnership with the Rhodes Wellness College to deliver the Northern Indigenous Counselling Program, and it's my understanding that the first graduates of this program will be coming out next year. We see a unique opportunity here to hire these NWT residents who have this specialized counselling training and to bring them into our communities in the different roles that we have available there. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for the Minister of Health and Social Services. We know that when it comes to people seeking help, even one day of delay to accessing services can lead to an addict changing their mind. Prior to attending out-of-territory treatment, what options are available for people seeking medical detox, particularly after hours or on weekends when just getting a referral from a doctor is not generally possible? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's important to note that, in this area, the vast majority of individuals do not need medical detox prior to beginning treatment. When they do require detox, there are several options: one is to detox at the treatment location or with the facility that's related to the treatment location. Another option is to detox in the Northwest Territories, either through a local health centre or through the hospital with the support of a case manager who would be assisting that person in the treatment application, facility-based treatment.
Mr. Speaker, we do not have a one-day turnaround in this area. I recognize that timing is of the essence. The fact is that we need to apply to the treatment centre, ensure they have space, arrange for medical travel, and then have the person travel down there. This is generally not accomplished overnight. Thank you.
That's kind of exactly my point. It doesn't happen in the window of time that it needs to in order to get at addicts when they are actually willing to seek help. I would like to see some commitment from the Minister on how she's going to address that delay and that issue. Moving on, it's my understanding that the on-the-land fund is valued at approximately $1.8 million annually. How long has this fund been available, and how much has it been accessed annually?
The Member is correct. The On-the-Land Healing Fund is now worth $1.8 million. It's been in place since 2014-2015 fiscal year, and the average annual uptake is in the 90 to 100 percent range.
That's great news. I'm glad to hear that people are accessing that funding. Moving on to another fund, the community's suicide prevention fund, how long would this fund be made available, and could the Minister provide us with the summary of who has been applying for this fund? I'm not asking for any specific details, just a high-level summary.
The suicide prevention fund is part of a shared health priorities agreement with the federal government. We're now in year four of a 10-year agreement. The funding is secure for the next six years at a minimum. Since the fund was announced about 10 days ago, there has been a lot of interest expressed. One proposal is in hand. More are anticipated by the end of this month. What we are doing because timing is very short here is that, where possible, we are giving the money this year to provide programming by the end of the fiscal year. Then if that is not possible, then we are supporting people to make applications right at the beginning of April so that they have a whole year to spend the money in the next fiscal year.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell us whether or not the funds in the communities as suicide prevention fund are generally under or over prescribed and, if so, how can we build capacity in our communities making use of these if you funds such that down the line we see less of a need for this type of funding? Thank you.
The suicide prevention fund is brand new as of 10 days ago. We have, in the department, a consultant who is responsible for providing support to communities to make applications to this fund and also to the On-the-Land Healing Fund. The person in this position has the following tasks: development of proposals; makes recommendations on potential contractors who may be able to assist in programming; and make linkages to larger Health and Social Services system where required. There is someone there who is in an active supporting role. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in my statement, during the course of the pandemic, we established a couple of managed alcohol programs, and they varied to an extent. Some were simply just delivering alcohol to people to prevent withdrawals, whereas, for example, the Arnica has established a much more elaborate managed alcohol program. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: given the kind of necessity of setting up these programs during COVID-19, what are the plans for the programs that have been established going forward post-pandemic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
