Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point in session, many of us start to feel that we're losing our minds, so I thought it would be a good day to speak about mental health with a focus on our young people.
We hear from our education authorities, teachers and parents, that the mental health needs of youth have never been more challenging, both the severity of the problems and the types of issues:
Self-harm,
Depression,
Eating disorders,
Those struggling with loneliness and bullying and trauma.
Just over two years ago, the number of child and youth counsellors was reduced by about half and moved out of schools with funding redirected towards mental health programs determined and led by the schools themselves. We need to keep an eye on how successful this newer approach is in both meeting the needs of students and helping teachers to cope. Some parents are still unclear as to what might happen if their child had some kind of mental health crisis at school, what school-based services remain available, and what exactly the ongoing wellness programs include.
Mr. Speaker, it is a serious problem that the NWT has no pediatric psychiatry unit at Stanton. That means that kids with suicidal thoughts may often be sent home. It is not safe for them in the adult psychiatric ward and if they're sent to the pediatric ward, there's no psychiatric programming there.
Earlier this year, the Standing Committee on Social Development made a recommendation in our Mental Health Act Review to address this gap. It's good news that there are plans to reopen the Children's territorial treatment centre, but I would urge the department to find an operator as soon as possible since that's often the critical make-or-break factor, as we've seen with the day shelter and transitional housing.
Finally, I'm concerned reading in the news about the reduction this year in mental health support services at the Inuvik hospital on weekends. The on-call medical social worker used to provide suicide risk screening and assessments as well as in-person counselling act but the weekend service was cut as it apparently wasn't considered part of the core job responsibility. As the health care sustainability unit sorts through what services are core or non-core, I think we can all agree that services to support people in mental health crises should be core, especially for our children and youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Great Slave.
