ONTARIO – The Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction announcement comes in time as the Canadian Mental Health Association urges voters to put mental health and addiction care at the top of their minds.
With elections just 40 days away, the Canadian Mental Health Association’s campaign warns people of an overburdened and burned-out frontline mental health and addictions workforce.
“Like nurses, personal support workers and long-term care staff, employees at CMHAs and other community mental health and addictions agencies have been hit hard by the pandemic,” said Camille Quenneville, CEO, CMHA Ontario. “The situation is dire as our workers are exhausted and emotionally fatigued.”
The exhausted frontline workers took on the brunt of the work during the pandemic, ensuring that people received the care they needed. However, community-based workers are leaving for other health-related jobs that are better resourced and provide higher pay.
“Aside from providing high-quality care, staff recruitment and retention is now the most significant issue,” Quenneville said. “We need a dedicated workforce to ensure that all Ontarians are receiving the mental health and addiction supports that they deserve.
The Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario points to years of chronic underfunding as the primary contributor to critical issues like staff retention, growing waitlists and the severe shortage of supportive housing.
Since 2016 the government has provided $132 billion for the acute care sector versus $7 billion for community mental health and addictions. What funding the community sector receives is always time-limited and specific to the delivery of a program or service, meaning agencies have little flexibility in how to use the investment.
Here are some of what the Canadian Mental Health Association found because of a lack of provincial base funding:
- 66 per cent of resignations over the last two years have been salary-based
- Positions go unfilled because there’s not enough funding; candidates are offered jobs but refuse due to low salary
- Roles change from provincially regulated professions (i.e. social workers, nurses, occupational therapists) to unregulated roles, which come at a lower salary
- CMHA registered nurses make 33 per cent less than registered nurses at other health care providers
With the federal investment into distress centres, which are life-saving resources in communities that have seen a surge in demand for their crisis services since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will support the development of resources to assist distress centres in meeting the diverse needs of key populations, including:
- older adults
- youth
- parents
- LGBTQ2+ populations
- First Nations, Inuit and Métis people
- first responders
- healthcare providers
- racially and linguistically diverse groups
- people with disabilities
Distress centres provide vital mental health support and resources to those in need, including 24-hour crisis support, professional counselling, peer support and referrals.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted Canadians' and for many, this has affected their mental and physical health, relationships, employment and other aspects of life,” The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, states. “The distress centres being invested in today offer very important assistance across the country, connecting people to appropriate supports and resources that will have substantial benefits and will help those in crisis. We want people to know, if they need help, that they are not alone and that there is support available to them."
This funding is part of a $50 million investment first announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to support distress centres across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.
