Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier about the CYC program. This question is for the Minister of ECE or Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I have constituents who are being told their children no longer have access to counsellors in the schools. The departments have said that reductions will be replaced by prevention and early intervention. It's difficult for me to see how this will occur without counsellors present. So can the Ministers help me correct the dots. What does this mean? What does it mean to prevent an prevention and early intervention mean without counsellors in the schools? Thank you
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. I am going to take a guess, and I'm going to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my answers on this one might be a little bit long, but I'm going to try and keep them short.
So there was a review done, and it was found that not all schools have the same amount of access. Because it was really hard to fill these positions across the territory. It was also found that some community schools were looking for something different than a clinician, a clinically trained master’s degree counsellor. Some communities wanted to have Indigenous counsellors in their school. So a program was devised that allowed people to have a lot more autonomy in their classrooms and in their schools for the mental health needs that were required for students in that community and in that school system.
So what does it mean to have prevention? It means that we need to look at ways to reach more students than just the ones who are able to get in front of a clinician or with a counsellor, that our schools have a lot of mental health needs. Right now, there's a tremendous amount of depression and anxiety, and how can we go upstream and as a school body address the needs of our students more globally. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that answer. So it sounds like there was some problems specifically in some communities. But did these specific problems really necessitate a wholesale dismantling of a program that in many schools was working? I'm hearing from constituents that they're disappointed their children no longer have access to counsellors. So did we really need to dismantle the whole program or just solve one problem?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think with this case here, it's important to let the Member know, and let all parents know, that students still have access to clinicians in schools. In addition, I've had multiple conversations about this with my colleague from Health and Social Services. If a student needs to access a counsellor in their school and doesn't have the ability to travel to primary care to access a counsellor, that they can actually speak to the school. The student can even do that to maintain privacy. And the counsellor can come into the school. It's not a matter of the student having to always leave the school.
In addition to that, if the school education body or the school itself wants to use their 55 percent of the funding in order to hire an additional clinical counsellor, they're able to use that funding to do that. They just need to make sure that they're also going upstream and providing those preventative care support services so that more students have access to mental health. Because I think it's about changing the stigma. It is about having very open conversations and everybody learning what it means to take care of ourselves as a whole human. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that answer. That is encouraging and, in fact, more encouraging than what I've heard when I originally emailed the departments.
So I still have a constituent who has concerns about continuity of care. Their child appears to be losing access to a counsellor. How are the departments coordinating to ensure this continuity of care? It sounds like there may be counsellors in the schools. So how are the departments coordinating this and ensuring that they're engaging with parents who are concerned about this, their children losing access. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate this question because I think it's important for everybody to hear. If something goes to an MLA and comes to me and then from me, it goes to a deputy minister and down the chain and then makes its way to the school board and then to the school, I really encourage people to start by having these conversations with the school about what their child needs. If they're not getting a response from the school, all of our schools have education bodies with elected officials that are there to serve our residents as well. If an education body is not doing its job, I encourage people to come to me and let's see what we can do together. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary.
Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
