Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I talked about some of the work that our young parliamentarians did when they were here earlier this month on mental health. It was a very impassioned debate, and I think they offered a lot of things. Of course, our government has a Youth Mental Health Action Plan and there are some major changes to how mental health supports are offered in schools that were made in the last operational budget. I'm wondering if the Minister of Health and Social Services can speak to some of the concerns raised in the motion that was debated in Youth Parliament. The motion called for all high schools and communities having access to dedicated youth mental health specialists, and if the Minister could speak to whether or not that's been achieved and to whether or not the changes that were made have expanded and increased access to mental health supports for young people in the Northwest Territories in their schools. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct, we rolled out a Youth Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan last fiscal year. It's a four-year plan, including rolling out travelling youth counsellors, who are the professionals the Member is highlighting throughout the Northwest Territories, 49 positions over four years. We're in year two. We staffed up in the Tlicho and the Deh Cho last fiscal year. This year, we are staffing up in the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu region. Next fiscal year, we will be staffing up in Yellowknife, and the fourth year, we will be staffing up in the South Slave. I can tell you that it's my understanding that there is only one vacancy in the positions that were identified last fiscal year, and we are making good progress in staffing up for this fiscal year. The school year starts in September; that's when we're hoping to have the positions all in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That's great news, and I think that this is a really key initiative that young people are speaking out and speaking up on, and that's why we need to really pay attention to it. It sounds like we're making good progress.
They also brought forward the need for online mental health resources for youth to be made available, including online peer support and anonymous counselling options. In many ways, young people want to engage through mobile devices or by keeping their identity somewhat depersonalized. Does the department offer these services, or are these services offered in schools or some other mechanism that youth can access in the NWT?
I had an opportunity to sit in the gallery and listen to the youth parliamentarians during their debate, and it was great to be there, it was great to hear everything they had to say. I have to say, one of the things that I found unfortunate is many of the things they were talking about, including the ability to have some supports online and using tools that are useful to them, they didn't seem to recognize that they existed, which means we have failed to do our job to help get that information out to them.
What I can tell you is we have a significant number of supports that are available online to do exactly the types of things they were talking about. I've asked the department to reach out to youth to see if there is any opportunity to figure out how we get that message to them because, although we have these programs in place, many people don't seem to know.
I can give you an example of some of the types of things that we do have. The department does partner with the Kids Help Phone to promote services to NWT youth, so there is the 1-800 line, but on top of that there is live chat with Kids Help Phone counsellors. We have an informative website, including the Resources Around Me, which connects youth in need to local resources and more information that is available at a national level, things like the kidshelpphone.ca. There is a button on that link that connects to you Resources Around Me that articulates what is around you, what is in the Northwest Territories. There is also some text options. You can text to a crisis line, if that's the technology that you're comfortable with.
In addition to this work, the department is working towards the implementation of eMental Health options for NWT residents, including an app specifically for youth with depression or anxiety. I could keep going, Mr. Speaker. There is more, but I do take the Member's point, and I do take the point from the youth that they want it. If they don't know it exists, it doesn't matter that it does, and we need to do a better job of making sure that they're aware that it exists so that they can use it when they want it. So we'll be working to find a way to get that information into the youths' hands and technology.
The Minister has a reputation as a mind reader in some of these exchanges we have in question period, and that was my next question. I know that a lot of these supports are already there. We've seen them in business planning reviews; we've seen them in budget reviews, and it seems like a lot of the kids who came forward just didn't know about them. I know that all kids are connected, now, through online. My son has a Google account, and he is nine years old. So is there a way for the Minister to work with his colleagues in the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the school boards to put some of these resources into those online learning materials that are already going on? So there could be an online resource when kids are going to the computer labs, when they're using their tablets, they can just access it right there, it's built in. Can the Minister work on that?
I've already directed the department to reach out to youth and partners like Education, Culture and Employment to figure out how best to get that information, and this is consistent with what we heard from youth when we held Back to the Trail, which helped our Youth Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, but another thing that I've learned from talking to young people is they don't want old people like me telling them how to use technology or how to get that information. They want to tell us how they want to access that information. So I think, in addition to working with our partners at Education, Culture and Employment and school authorities, it's also going to be important to reach out to them and find out how they want us to get that information, and I've asked the department to do that work.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. The final recommendation I might propose, and I am wondering if the Minister would take this up, is to form some sort of mental health advisory body specifically for youth mental health and specifically representative or made up of youth from across the territory. Can the Minister work to establish some sort of advisory body to inform the department's operations? Clearly, they have a lot of good stuff going on. It's just not getting to the target audience, so I think having a body like that, made up of young people, would greatly enhance the department's ability to get its resources to their intended clients.
The Department of Health has an amazing division called Indigenous Health and Community Wellness that actually helps facilitate Back to the Trail, which is exactly the type of thing the Member is talking about. We brought youth from every community in the Northwest Territories to talk about this very important issue and make recommendations on how to improve youth mental health and addictions issues here in the Northwest Territories. I am not going to commit to forming an advisory committee. I am sure people are tired of hearing this: we have three months of life left in this Assembly.
It is certainly an idea I think is worthy of pursuing. Whether it's a full-time advisory or whether we reconvene Back to the Trail annually or every two years, there is a way to get this done. I think we need to hear the voice of the youth moving forward, and I will make sure the department is working on some mechanisms, whether it's an advisory committee or reconvening Back to the Trail, to get that information into our ears and our minds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
