Provincial director planning to retire
Courey says it will take a ‘system change’ to improve access to services
The outgoing director of Nova Scotia’s mental health and addictions services says there’s no silver bullet for improving access to those services.
“So many people focus on one indicator, one issue, like the wait time for outpatient care,” said Dr. Linda Courey, who will retire April 1 after three years as provincial senior director.
“But in order to influence that, the whole system (such as affordable housing, community services and primary health care) needs adjusting, needs to operate in a much more efficient way and in a way that is built on principles of quality improvement. It’s not a simple matter and it’s not reducible to one factor, one improvement or one obstacle. It is a system change that needs to happen.”
In his November report, Auditor General Michael Pickup highlighted the lack of a multi-year plan that offers specifics on how and where mental health services will be provided.
Pickup also criticized the lack of prioritization of wait times with categories such as urgent or semi-urgent.
In an interview from her Sydney home, Courey pointed to her department’s Milestones plan, which was released in August, as a road map to creating a good model of care.
“We established the principles like equitable access, we established the needs in Nova Scotia as best we could across the continuum so we could work to align our services to better meet those needs. But implementing the plan is going to take many years.”
But she said improvements will come sooner in some areas, such as expanded access to treatment for opioid abuse and urgent care followup for people who are discharged from emergency rooms.
Courey, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, moved to Cape Breton from Montreal in
1982 with her husband, who is also a psychologist.
She has specialized in the treatment of concurrent disorders, stigma related to mental illness and addictions, and supported housing, education and employment, according to the Department of Health and Wellness website. She also has been involved in work at the national level related to prescription drug misuse, patient safety issues in mental health and suicide risk assessment.
Courey said she gradually took on administrative roles in Cape Breton as “manager of this and that” until becoming director of the island’s mental health services in 1998. Addictions was added to her portfolio in 2008.
She moved up to the provincial senior director’s position in 2015 with the amalgamation of the province’s nine health authorities into the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
“I was planning on retiring back three years ago,” said Courey, who is 66. “I’ve been in the business a long time. (But) with the creation of the NSHA, it was too interesting to pass up on that opportunity.
“It’s been all-consuming work that has also have involved a significant amount of travel and so I’m ready to think about other things in life other than work.
“I feel quite good about what we’ve been able to accomplish.”