Advocates blast IH addictions data
Just minutes after Penticton city council unanimously passed a motion Tuesday calling on Interior Health to restore funding to a local addictions counselling agency, the health authority fired off a bulletin to social service groups assuring them help is still available for anyone who needs it.
IH has faced criticism and protests for its decision to strip $500,000 in annual funding from Pathways Addictions Resource Centre as of May 31 and take over counselling services for those suffering from mental health issues and addictions.
But early reviews of IH’s new in-house counselling programs have been poor.
At council’s July 20 meeting, Interior Health official Carl Meadows admitted that only about 10% of Pathways’ 1,000 clients had registered for the new service.
“What happened to the other 900?” asked Mayor John Vassilaki.
“I can’t answer that,” replied Meadows, who also admitted he never set foot inside the Pathways office before pulling funding.
At this week’s council meeting, Pathways executive director Daryl Meyers said her office had been “inundated” with calls from clients struggling to access counselling services with Interior Health.
“The ball has not been picked up the way it was supposed to be picked up and people are struggling really badly with where to go and what to do and where to get help and resources,” said Meyers, who appeared before council on an unrelated item.
Twenty-seven minutes after those words left her mouth, local social agencies received the bulletin from IH that was signed by Meadows and titled: “Community update on substance use counselling services in the South Okanagan.”
Of most interest was one line that stated: “As of the end of July, the number of individuals receiving substance use counselling in the South Okanagan is comparable to communities of similar size and demographics to Penticton, and to reported caseload volumes in 2020.”
No statistics were provided in the bulletin to back up those claims, which appear to contradict what both Meyers and Meadows told council.
The Herald asked IH for the statistics and on Friday was provided an interview with Dr. Shallen Letwin, the agency’s vice-president of clinical operations.
Letwin said there were about 200 people in the South Okanagan actively engaged in IHled substance-use counselling programs at the end of July, and about 200 people actively engaged in substance-use counselling programs at the end of July 2020 when groups like Pathways were still providing services. Not likely, according to Meyers. “When Pathways closed at the end of May only 25 clients had requested their file be transferred. At that time, we had 500 active clients but in an entire year we see 1,000,” said Meyers in an email Friday.
And as for the comparable communities mentioned in the bulletin? Letwin was only able to point to Vernon, in which he said roughly 200 people are actively engaged in substance-use counselling programs.
Letwin nonetheless emphasized that help is available and there are numerous ways for people to access free counselling services, including by self-referral to any IH health centre, or by calling 250-310-6478 or a regional crisis line at 1-888-353-2273.