Sask. children’s advocate shines light on crisis in mental health system
Youth and families shared their own struggles on Tuesday, with one young person saying she’s lost loved ones to suicide and addictions.
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Sharing their struggles with accessing mental health supports in Saskatchewan, young people and parents continued their advocacy on Tuesday as a new report shines a light on a system considered in crisis.
Their experiences reflect the nearly 500 interviews outlined in the new Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth report — a document that advocate Lisa Broda says emulates the suffering many have experienced.
“Right now the system isn’t working for young people,” Broda said in an interview after a news conference on the report. “Kids need to get the service right away.”
Titled Desperately Waiting, the report paints a picture of children and youth experiencing depression, engaging in self-harm and drug use, as well as fears of being judged as they deal with an unsupportive health system.
The report also outlines cases of children and youth experiencing overdoses or dying by suicide.
“Between suicide and addictions, I’ve probably lost seven or eight (loved ones) personally,” said Alexis Epp, who is a youth advisory member with the advocate, during the news conference.
“If the government would have done this a long time ago, I know friends that would still be alive. I wouldn’t have lost a number of loved ones and friends and family,” said Epp, adding she has also struggled with her own mental health and accessing services.
“I think it’s really important that people are hearing it from youth, the people who need it most.”
Broda said suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 34, adding Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates. People who are Indigenous are more affected, she said.
The report offered 14 recommendations to address the mental health needs of youth and children.
The recommendations call for the province to reduce wait-times, ensure there are more counsellors and Indigenous elders in schools, provide in-home support and evaluate the current detox model.
Among the top recommendations is to develop a children’s strategy, which Broda said would co-ordinate efforts to get at the root of the issue.
She said the province has had multiple action plans, including one in 1993 and another in 2011, which “died a slow death.” There was also a plan in 2014 of which she said ministries had little knowledge.
“Having a strategy for children and getting them the highest attainable health service is key to this,” she said. “We want kids to have good mental health and we want them not to suffer … we have a lot to do on that.”
Everett Hindley, the minister responsible for addictions and mental health, said Tuesday he will be reviewing the recommendations, acknowledging there are still gaps in the system.
“We’re going to try to address this as quickly as we can,” Hindley said. “This has been a priority for us. It’s why we’ve made some continued investments into this area and acknowledging that we’re trying to get these investments out to as many people as we can across this province because we face this challenge.”
Hindley said the system doesn’t need an overhaul because the province has already made what he considers significant progress.
Chris Ball, whose son Kye died by suicide in 2017 after struggling to access supports, told reporters the province needs to act further in addressing the issue.
Ball said he also wants answers, adding he felt the minister’s response in the assembly on Tuesday was “useless.”
“We need a timeline,” he said. “Time is important.”
Doyle Vermette, the opposition critic for mental health and addictions, told reporters the issue has been ongoing for years, adding he wants the government to take serious action.
“No more, ‘Oh, we’re sorry, our condolences.’ Enough. it’s time for some serious action,” said Vermette, who eventually saw his suicide-prevention bill passed in the legislature after it was twice rejected.
Ball’s wife Wanda said Kye likely would have wanted to be a mechanic, adding the family will continue to advocate until they believe the issue has been solved.
“He can’t be here so we’re here for him,” she said. “There needs to be something in between there to make sure that they’re safe. Because we as parents did our best, but it wasn’t enough.”
Epp said she’s choosing to share her experience to hopefully help others who may be struggling.
“One of my biggest mottos in life is you can be the hero of your story, or you can be the victim of your story,” she said, adding she hopes to finish her degree in social work next year.
“No one should have to suffer like I did,” she said.
The Desperately Waiting report, released Tuesday by Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Child and Youth, includes 14 cross-government recommendations
1. Implement Youth Advisory Councils within the Ministry of Health and health authorities to incorporate youth perspective in the design of services, programming models and evaluations.
2. Decrease wait times for mental health and addictions services to meet or exceed public expectations, with early focus on counselling and psychiatry supports for children and youth.
3. Expand the Mental Health Capacity Building initiative across the province.
4. Province and school divisions work jointly to fund and implement more mental health counsellors and Indigenous elders/knowledge keepers in schools.
5. Expand outreach-based mental health and addictions services by: the provision of service through a variety of modalities; hours of operation based on the needs of child and youth clients; and inclusion of children and youth in the design of their service delivery.
6. Province and chool divisions adopt a consistent approach to “consent” for children and youth to receive mental health and addictions counselling based on the evolving capacities of the child rather than age.
7. Fund and provide in-home support services to families who require this to maintain care for children with mental health and/or addictions related needs at home.
8. Develop “middle-tier” therapeutic residential services for children and youth care with mental health needs greater than can be managed in their home and/or with outpatient services.
9. Evaluate and enhance current detox and addictions treatment models to determine whether they are appropriate for the current needs of youth.
10. Enhance and expand culturally appropriate services that are integrated within mental health and addictions services.
11. Improve transitions from child and youth to adult mental health and addictions services by increasing the age of transition to 25, and allowing young adults to maintain treatment until they are connected to a parallel adult service.
12. Complete provincial implementation of the electronic Mental Health and Addictions Information System (MHAIS).
13. Move all child-serving ministries to an integrated service-delivery model to enhance communication and co-ordination of services and achieve better outcomes for mental health and addictions services for children and youth.
14. Develop a province-wide “Children’s Strategy” to mitigate the social and environmental factors that negatively impact the well-being of children and youth. This strategy must include the participation of all child-serving ministries and a designated official to lead the process.
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