Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister share with the House the expectations of the addictions recovery survey being done? What outcomes are expected from this survey? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we hope to get from the addictions survey is to learn about what is working with the addictions recovery services that we currently offer at the Department of Health and Social Services and what changes would make those services more effective. We are particularly interested in hearing from people who have lived experience, who have actually used these services themselves or who have close family members who have done that. That survey is available online, and hard copies are available at health centres and other places where mental health services and addiction services are provided. I want to say that, with just one week of the survey being available, we've had more than 300 responses, so there is obviously a lot of interest in this area. We encourage everyone who has an interest in this area to complete the survey by the end of March.
What will happen with the survey results is that they will inform next steps around the need for a territorial alcohol strategy and answer some of the questions of the day, such as whether we need transitional housing for people leaving treatment and whether we need an in-territory treatment facility. Thank you.
After-care is a crucial component of recovery. The NWT is lacking in this area of service. Will the Minister consider investing in three after-care facilities that are connected to the mental health workers within Health and Social Services?
We are interested in working across departments with the NWT Housing Corporation, the Department of Justice, and Education, Culture and Employment to talk about what kind of supports in transitional housing we can put in place. At this point, we don't have any firm plans to construct the facilities that the Member for Thebacha is talking about, but staff is in place to connect people exiting treatment with counselling and other supports that they require.
Addressing the mental health and after-care component is important for all people in recovery. Would the Minister consider walk-in clinics with mental health staff readily available for the public?
In our most recent Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Action Plan, we talked about the reform that we were planning to undertake in the Community Counselling Program, which is now largely complete. What we have taken on is a methodology called "stepped care." How this works is people are seen in person, often on the same day. There is no wait list. There are no appointments necessary. It is, in fact, possible to walk into one of the 19 Community Counselling Program offices across the NWT and see a counsellor right away, with no wait times and same-day appointment availability. In those other communities which do not have community counsellors, telephone, virtual, and in-person, from time to time, counselling is available. What this new methodology allows us to do is to see people right away and decide whether their care needs to be stepped up or stepped down. That's why it's called stepped care.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no problem with the out-of-territory treatment. The teams that deal with mental health and addictions problems are not available here. We don't have the qualifications for that. Yellowknife might be able to have that, but anonymity is very important to uphold. Therefore, would the Minister consider pursuing after-care facilities as a priority within the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
After-care is a priority of this government. The focus at this point is on people rather than facilities. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible and give them the widest variety of choices for the kind of support they need for their own mental wellness. At this point, as I mentioned earlier, we don't have specific plans to build after-care facilities, but there is a working group that is looking at that possibility. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
