CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES
Candidates focus on mental health issues
Andrea Corby was desperate for help for her 15-year-old son’s mental illness and addictions. He would have had to wait two years for a government-funded residential program, she says. The Children’s Aid Society could have put him in treatment, but she would have had to give up custody of him.
She spent hundreds of hours contacting myriad agencies, from guidance counsellors to the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health to the police for help dealing with his anxiety, depression and oppositional defiant disorder.
Finally, she re-mortgaged her house to raise $50,000 to get him into a private, nine-month residential program in northern Ontario that has a 90 per cent success rate. But the money will pay for only one-third of the cost. She can’t afford the rest.
So she started a GoFundMe campaign.
Even if she raises the money, she’ll have to travel back and forth hundreds of kilometres to see him.
That’s what mental health care has come to in Ontario. “When your family is in crisis, you don’t have two years,” Corby, housekeeping supervisor at the South West Detention Centre, told the media Friday at a news conference by NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West). “We just want to get him the help he needs,” she said, her voice quavering.
There has been more focus on mental health and addictions in this provincial election than in any other election. All four publicly-funded political parties have pledged billions of dollars for mental health care. The Canadian Mental Health Association and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare hosted a debate on the issue Thursday. The lack of resources was a question in the main local election debate hosted by the chamber of commerce and labour council.
“It is important because one of the things that has concerned me for some time is that we’ve been working to reduce the stigma of mental health. We’ve tried to make it more of a normal part of health care,” said Janice Kaffer, CEO of Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare.
“The challenge is, we’ve reduced the stigma, but when people come for help, the system isn’t there because there hasn’t been any funding to address program needs. We’ve seen hugely growing wait lists across the province.”
About 500 kids in Windsor and Essex County are waiting for care.
Ontario spends $3.8 billion a year on mental health care, but Premier Kathleen Wynne has admitted that for too many people, help isn’t there or they can’t navigate the system. The Liberal government is promising $2.1 billion over the next four years to “rebuild” the system, enabling 12,000 more youths to access service in 20182019 and 46,000 more in 20212022 and providing publiclyfunded psychotherapy for up to 350,000 more people with mild to moderate anxiety or depression. The Liberals’ plan also includes 400 more mental health workers for high schools — one for every high school — within two years.
The NDP says it will increase hospital funding 5.3 per cent, spend $19 billion over 10 years for capital expansion and add 2,000 more hospital beds. That includes opening 89 at HotelDieu that are vacant because there aren’t enough staff. Sixteen of those beds are for mental health care. The NDP will also hire 2,200 additional mental health workers, including 400 for high schools. The party’s goal is a maximum 30-day wait for children for care.
The Progressive Conservatives have promised $1.9 billion over 10 years for mental health care, addictions and housing.
The Green party has promised the most by far, $4.1 billion over four years. It has also addressed key factors that the other parties haven’t, including improving legislation on involuntary treatment to include additional criteria other than physical harm and ensuring admission includes treatment. It doesn’t now. The party would also reform privacy laws to provide more balance. Many families are left out of the care of loved ones because of privacy laws. The Greens are also promising more 24/7 mobile crisis teams.
The party would also declare the opioid epidemic a state of emergency to expedite a focused, coordinated response and money and enable the health minister to authorize supervised injections sites.
Money is critical, said Kaffer, but it’s not everything.
“The big issue is fragmentation of care,” she said.
She cited the Green party’s promise to establish an umbrella organization called Mental Health and Addictions Ontario to consolidate programs and drive a provincial strategy. She likens it to Cancer Care Ontario, saying it could lead to consistent standards of care, for example, people suffering their first episode of psychosis must receive treatment within 72 hours. She also cited the NDP’s proposal for a new, separate Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions to consolidate a bureaucracy spread over 11 ministries.
“It’s not just about throwing money at the system,” said Gretzky. “It’s about how to make the system better.”
Said Kaffer, “Having real change that helps patients get services is as important (as money).”