Wyant’s mental health plan good step forward
That mental health isn’t yet an automatic campaign issue says all we really need to know about how far we still have to go.
So kudos to the Saskatchewan Party and its leadership hopefuls — especially Gord Wyant — for now making this a major issue in the contest to become the next premier.
Really, why has it taken so long for mental health and addictions to enter political debate? Are we not past lingering stigmas around mental health or outdated notions that addicts somehow deserve their fate? Or are we finally recognizing that mental health and addictions are some of the foremost societal challenges that need to be openly discussed by our political leadership?
That mental health would have been one of the 10 questions at the Sask. Party leadership debate Thursday (admittedly, the NDP seems more open when it comes to at least talking about it) is a fantastic development. That most candidates at least recommitted to the province’s 10-year Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan released in 2014 is OK.
But that candidates like Wyant want to move beyond the status quo and increase mental health spending from five per cent of the health budget to the national average of seven per cent (and perhaps to nine per cent, similar to the spending commitment in other countries) is critical.
“I believe that the growing prevalence of mental illness and addictions within our population may be the greatest social and economic challenge facing Saskatchewan today,” Wyant said in a news release this week. An estimated 230,000 Saskatchewan people (one in five), according to Canadian Mental Health Association, will struggle with mental health issues, including depression.
“These issues have a serious impact on our economy due to lost productivity and are driving Saskatchewan people into our human services ministries at increasing rates.”
Wyant’s policy statement drew fire from NDP health critic Danielle Chartier, who tweeted: “With all due respect, wasn’t he a voice around the cabinet table since that action plan came out 3 years ago?” It’s legitimate for those in opposition to ask such questions, but they might not always like the answer.
According to the 201718 budget, regional health authorities now commit
$47.8 million to alcohol and drug services and $260.8 million to mental health services. That’s a 44 per cent increase from 2007-08. So if mental health spending is inadequate now, it was downright woeful under the NDP.
Also, it was this Sask. Party government that replaced the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford — something past NDP governments promised but didn’t deliver.
But Chartier is right that government must commit to the issue with more money and better policy.
Besides calling for that dramatic funding increase to seven per cent of the health budget, Wyant said in an interview that, as premier, he would chair a cabinet subcommittee of the health, social services, justice and education ministers because we must link these issues.
Dollars are needed, but equally important is committing to best practices. One example may be the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) in Regina and Saskatoon that pairs a mental health professional with a specially trained police officer to jointly respond to mental health crisis calls like suicide attempts. Can we not have this in rural Saskatchewan as well?
Wyant said his passion comes from his years as minister of justice and corrections; 60 per cent of inmates struggle with mental health and/or addictions issues.
But it also comes from seeing farm families struggle with stress or seeing First Nations chiefs trying to address mental health issues, addictions and suicides.
To now hear a leadership hopeful talking about Saskatoon’s new children’s hospital becoming a national leader in early childhood intervention, autism research and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (now more possible through the philanthropy of the Dube family this week) is very encouraging.
As Wyant noted, it’s simply time for mental health and addictions to be part of the political dialogue.