Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I talked to the sister of a young lady who was murdered in Hay River a few weeks ago. The sister I talked to is also married to my nephew. This shows you how we can all be impacted by events. She understands that her sister is gone and is looking for answers to ensure that something positive comes from her sister's death. She requested that I ask the Minister of health: what supports are available for young adults between the age of 18 to 30 who may be fighting addictions or drug use as there appears to be a support gap in that age range? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question. I realize that it's very difficult for families to come to terms with deaths due to addictions, especially in young people, and it happens much too often. For the 18-to-30 group, they would have access to all the same resources that adults have. Those include things such as counselling, the opportunity to go to facility-based addictions, the opportunity to come back and use on-the-land services, and other kinds of peer supports. There is a full range of services outlined in the Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Action Plan, that was tabled in 2019, that are applicable to all residents of the NWT. Thank you.
I had the opportunity to go through some of the government websites, and I noticed that there are quite a few toll-free numbers you can access to get support. I would ask the Minister: can she confirm how many calls are received on support lines, and how many of these calls are from Indigenous peoples? How many are from others? How many by community, and how is it determined if services provided by these toll-free numbers are actually working?
I appreciate that the Member was able to give me this question in advance because there is quite a detailed answer to provide. The Department of Health and Social Services operates the NWT helpline. It's available 24/7, and that could be for counseling. It could be for referral. There are a number of different functions. The helpline calls are anonymous, so people choose how much information to disclose, such as their ethnicity, their age, the community of origin and so on.
However, I can tell you that, in 2019, there were 697 calls to the helpline; 46 percent identified as female; 52 percent identified as male; approximately 55 percent of callers disclosed their ethnicity, and of that number, 19 percent identified as Indigenous. As I mentioned, people do not have to disclose where they are calling from, but the data says that 50 percent of callers identify as being from a rural community, which I would say in our context is a remote community, and 30 percent from an urban area. Because the calls are anonymous and the service is immediate, there is not a program of follow-up with callers to see whether they have additional questions. It would be on the caller to call the line and ask for additional help.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the people in the NWT, and I guess maybe I am thinking about myself, as well, the more personal face-to-face meetings are usually preferred over telephone or videoconferencing, and I guess a lot of people are just used to that. Can the Minister confirm that the department has statistics on the preference clients have on how the services are provided and what are the most successful methods?
Thank you to the Member for Hay River South. Every two years, the department conducts a satisfaction survey related to the Community Counselling Program, and it looks at a lot of different things: cultural safety, respect, access, how effective the services were. We have discovered, as you said, that people do like face-to-face services, but what we really had as an overarching message from the last survey is that there is no "one size fits all." Some younger people prefer the phone apps; others prefer face-to-face encounters; and others are content to be on the telephone. What I want you to know is that this is something that we track regularly, and the outcome is customer satisfaction. That is to say the people who phoned or who have reached out for help feel that they have received effective help. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
