Thank you, Madam Speaker. These questions are for the Minister of Health. Madam Speaker, during this pandemic we have seen a rise in youth suicide in our communities, numerous drug overdoses, those amongst our youth, rise in family violence, increased substance abuse, shaming on both sides of the vaccine debate, and we actually placed people on waiting lists to get mental health supports.
Madam Speaker, will the Minister confirm if her department has tracked mental health issues experienced by residents arising out of this pandemic? Are there metrics that we can use to direct us to relevant treatment and supports? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member. There's no question that the pandemic has been a very stressful time. It's produced a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, and people are reaching out for services. We have, since the beginning of the pandemic, been tracking social indicators and publishing them on our website. They are examined quarterly. And what we see is that the use of our programs has varied over time. It was lower at the start of the pandemic and greater now, and it depends on the particular service that we're talking about. But when it comes to the community counselling program, there is no waitlist. People can make sameday or even dropin appointments, and they are in person, unlike earlier in the pandemic when they were virtual, which I understand is not as preferable. So we continue to monitor the data from the people who present for services to understand what their needs are and how to meet them. And you'll be interested to know that we are doing our semiannual community counselling program questionnaire of clients this winter so that we can obtain uptodate information about what they need and what we can provide to them. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, will the Minister tell us if her department has an action plan going forward to address mental health issues attributed to this pandemic? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we do not at this point have a specific pandemic mental health action plan. But depending on the results of the community counselling questionnaire, that may be a good direction for us to go in. In the meantime, we do offer a wide range of services. And I certainly hope that the Member is promoting those services in whatever way he can, community counselling, online services, outofterritory services. We try to provide variety so that we can meet people where they're at. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And in just a response to the Minister, I do promote those supports that are out there and as well, I get people coming in to my office and provide that type of support as well, even though I'm not qualified. But people just need someone to talk to sometimes.
So Madam Speaker, will the Minister confirm if our communities will see additional staff to assist in providing mental health supports to those in need and how it will unfold? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I commend the Member for providing a listening ear. He's right; often that is exactly what people need.
As I mentioned previously, there are services available. They've been available throughout the pandemic. We have counselling available on a sameday basis. We have the child and youth care counselling program to assist youth with their mental health issues. So at this point, I think our biggest challenge is staffing.
We do have a number of vacancies. Yesterday in response to a question from another Member, I mentioned that a shortage of housing was preventing filling positions in his community, so that is a limiting factor. But we continue to advertise for the staff and do fill the positions as quickly as possible knowing how important they are. Thank you.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I've heard from parents who are concerned, you know, with the mental health of their children at school. So will the Minister confirm how her department will address mental health supports in our schools, and is she working with the Minister of Education to address it? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question. The child and youth care counsellor initiative is a joint project between ECE and the Department of Health and Social Services. It is, if you like, school counselling 2.0. What we have is a fouryear implementation plan of which we are now in year four where we've provided 42 positions to schools and seven clinical supervisors in order to address the needs of children and youth, particularly with respect to mental health, but they could bring any needs forward. We are now at the point of beginning an evaluation of this program so that we can determine whether it is meeting the goals that we set for it. So the service is up and running. It's available in person. And the evaluation will be completed during the next fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
