Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke today in my statement about the need for more psychology services in our territory. I guess, first, I would like to ask just for some basic information about how many psychologists the GNWT presently employs and who exactly they are available for, whether they're available to just members of the general public through some sort of referral system or how you would go about seeing one? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. The Member, I think, does not want to hear about counsellors and the community counselling program; he wants to hear about psychologists. They are not part of the NWT health plan. We don't employ any at the Department of Health and Social Services. The Department of Justice employs two who serve the incarcerated population. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I do appreciate that a lot of work has gone into the community counselling program and those wait lists and those times have gotten shorter. It is an improvement that this government has made. But it's clear to me, in speaking with people, that for certain disorders you need a psychologist. You know, that is the recommended treatment from their psychiatrist.
Are there currently any plans for the Department of Health and Social Services to hire any psychologists? I really do believe we need to start down that path. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the questions. We have no plan to hire psychologists. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that's a very unfortunate gap. There is clearly demand for this. You speak to any private psychologist in the territory, their wait list is extremely long, and their fees are extremely high. Many people do not get reimbursed. I am just wondering if right now if a person goes and sees a private psychologist and, you know, they've been told to do that by their doctor, is there any part of that treatment that is covered by our government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. The GNWT does not cover the cost of psychologists or their services. There are, however, private insurance programs, such as the GNWT Employee Benefit Program, that will pay for psychologists' services and so people can obtain them in that way. But this is not a funded service. And so it is not provided by the GNWT.
And an analogy that people may be familiar with is massage. Massage may be very beneficial but it is not a service that is offered by the GNWT, but it is offered in Yellowknife, for example, and it can be paid for through private insurance. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I don't think massage is the right thing. On the one end, we have our community counselling program, and that's great, those people are, you know and then on the hand we have our psychiatrists who have gone through, you know are medical doctors. And we need to take some pressure off of the psychiatrists. They have often said for more advanced disorders, psychology treatment is the way to go.
Can the Minister commit to reviewing whether other jurisdictions have brought psychology into the public system and whether there is a path forward where we can hire some publiclyfunded psychologists in this territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have any information about what other jurisdictions do. I can certainly commit the resources to see what Alberta does as our closest neighbour. There is no path forward for this service unless the health budget is increased. Thank you.
