Province extends mental health program
The Tory government plans to expand mental health programs in schools across the province, but the NDP says young Albertans with addiction and mental health issues aren’t getting the help they need in the province.
In Red Deer on Wednesday for the latest in a flurry of government announcements ahead of a likely election call, Premier Jim Prentice and Health Minister Stephen Mandel said a pilot program used in that city’s public schools would be expanded to four other locations.
The government plans to study the Empathy program used in Red Deer, as well as other programs funded by the province that are in place in 193 schools, to develop a school mental health model that can eventually be used provincewide.
“We need to find better and more effective ways in dealing with the tremendous challenges our children face today,” Mandel said. “It’s a different world. As an adult I look back and it’s scary … the pressures on young people are so substantial.”
There is no timeline or cost attached to the full expansion of mental health services to all of the province’s schools.
The Empathy program is a partnership between Alberta Health Services, Red Deer Public Schools and the Red Deer primary care network. It focuses on prevention, early identification and rapid treatment of mental health and addiction problems in students in elementary and junior high schools.
Students identified as being at high- risk are given immediate assistance.
Central Middle School principal Mark Jones was among those who started the program, which uses an iPad quiz to screen all students in grades 6 through 9 for depression, anxiety, self- esteem issues and substance abuse.
“In our school alone, the screening has identified a significant number of students who were not on our radar as having mental health issues,” Jones said. “Identified students at risk are provided intervention immediately.”
The program will be expanded into Red Deer Catholic, Chinook, Wetaskiwin and Medicine Hat school divisions at a cost of $ 5 million to $ 6 million.
The provincial budget, released last week, contains $ 48 million for addiction and mental health services.
But NDP Leader Rachel Notley said while the government is talking about expanding services, it cut support services for vulnerable and special- needs children.
She said the government’s own reporting shows youths diagnosed with mood disorders and psychosis were more likely to make return trips to ER than other ill children and most do not receive followup care or referral to a specialist.
“This means that youth that are identified as high- needs through the Empathy program are still being shuttled into a health- care system that isn’t equipped to help them,” Notley said in a statement.
The province on Wednesday also released an interim report to detail progress on implementing Alberta’s Addiction and Mental Health Strategy, first released in 2011.
In part, the 15- page update highlights the findings of a 2014 legislative committee report called the Gap Analysis of Publicly Funded Mental Health and Addiction Programs.
The review found while Alberta Health Services spends nearly $ 600 million on mental health services, officials can’t say where the money goes, what services exist, who delivers those services or who oversees the system.