Youth mental health: Alberta will invest $92 million over 3 years

This investment will also be used to expand the service offering for day therapy programs for adolescents and therapy in classes of students with special needs in the Calgary, Fort McMurray and central regions of the province.

For the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organization, Bonnie Blakley, herself a mother of children with mental health problems, these new amounts target young people who fall through the cracks in the health care system. His organization offers mental health care that falls between community care and hospitalization.

We are pushing our family physicians and our primary care networks beyond their capabilities and comfort. And ultimately, we are told that we are too complex to care for. On the other hand, our children’s cases are often not serious enough […] to be admitted to hospitalshe describes.

The Prime Minister Danielle Smithfor its part, hopes that all young people who need mental health care can be treated, which is not necessarily the case at present. Too often, families of children struggling with mental health issues are told to wait, to drive for hours to access services, or worse, that the care they need doesn’t even exist.she points out.

Mental health victim of a chronic underfundingaccording to the NDP

New Democratic Party (NDP) Critic for Mental Health and Addictions, Lori Sigurdsondenounces the chronic underfunding mental health care in the province, despite growing demand since the pandemic.

« [Les conservateurs unis] say there is no crisis, but a survey from the Alberta Mental Health Association tells us there is a major crisis. We are just before an election, […] the PCU had three years, almost four years to invest, and so I think that’s a bit hypocritical. »

As a solution for this mental health crisis, she points to the NDP’s promise to offer five free therapy sessions to all Albertans, which she puts at $100 million.