Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. At the appropriate time today, I will table our action plan, “A Shared Path Towards Wellness – Mental Health and Addictions, 2012-2015.”
The new action plan will help improve mental health and reduce addiction in the NWT. A Shared Path Towards Wellness will create a more efficient system that will allow residents to receive assessment, treatment and support services when and where they need them. The three-year action plan builds on the existing system and incorporates innovative ideas from our stakeholders to better coordinate and integrate our services.
The action plan has three key elements.
The first is community focus and engagement. Communities have said that they are in the best position to determine their own culturally appropriate solutions. This plan will let communities drive and guide community-based mental health and addiction programs with our support, not the other way around.
The second key element is collaborative partnerships with other departments and agencies. This plan ensures that departments and agencies will work collectively to address mental health and addiction issues. An example is ensuring that effective additcions programming is available for residents in our correctional facilities.
The third key element is to develop an integrated continuum of care. The action plan will be building upon our existing integrated services delivery model. Service will be integrated to ensure that
front-line service providers will work together. There will also be integration from community-level services through regional services to territorial services to create a seamless system. While every effort will be made to make services available at the community level, there will still be some specialized services that can be more efficiently delivered at the regional or territorial level.
Mr. Speaker, this action plan was developed by engaging key stakeholders in the addiction and mental health fields. It included health care professionals, social services professionals, GNWT departments, Aboriginal governments and community groups. We also talked to people from across the territory who have experienced mental health and addiction issues and have been clients in our system. I would like to thank everyone involved in the creation of this action plan.
This action plan sets out the direction we will be heading during the next three years. It already builds on work the department is doing to strengthen our service delivery by focusing on four goals:
promoting understanding, awareness and acceptance;
focusing on the person;
improving the availability of services; and
improving the effectiveness of services.
The strategy will lead us to expand culturally appropriate on-the-land healing programs delivered by communities. It will support offering more community-based addictions treatment programs like the Matrix program in Fort Smith. It will ensure that existing services like the Nats’ejee Keh Treatment Centre and detoxification services are effective.
We have heard from so many people that addictions is the key issue in the NWT. We know that addictions break families apart, destroy communities and rob individuals of a happy, productive life.
To better understand community issues and community solutions to addictions, I will be establishing a public forum. This forum will include experts in the addictions field and members of the public. I have asked MLAs to nominate individuals who they feel would be an asset to this forum.
We can accomplish a lot in the next three years to achieve this Assembly’s vision of strong individuals, families and communities. However, for this action plan to be successful, we will need to work together. Government departments, Aboriginal governments and community groups need to make a collective commitment to improving access to services and building strong communities for their people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
