Just to be clear, we have on average, at any given time, about 12 residents for the Northwest Territories who are seeking treatment through facility-based treatment. The individuals who are attending treatment often have significantly different needs and, as a result,
are going to any one of our four facilities available to
our
northern
residents.
For
instance,
Poundmaker’s Lodge is a co-ed facility with a wide range of spiritual-based programs as well as the ability to provide some level of social detox. They have on-site psychologists and psychiatrists who can provide support to the residents who need that particular programming. We also have Aventa, which is a facility for women only and it has gender- specific programming as well as trauma-informed treatment programs. It has a wide variety of programs that we’ve never been able to provide here in the Northwest Territories for a more generic type of facility that have been delivered in the past.
We also have Fresh Start Recovery Centre, which is a male only facility with gender-specific programs designed to support men through their healing process. We also have Edgewood, which is a facility more specifically designed for opiate use or individuals suffering from addictions to narcotics and other drugs. At no time do we have 12 people who are in one facility. We tend to have them throughout the four facilities because they have a wide range of needs.
When the Minist
er’s Forum on Mental Health and
Addictions was completed, it told us clearly that we need to offer a wide range of services to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Treatment facilities are but one of those options and we provide that option. We have an expedited referral process, we have no waitlists, and we can get people in there 24 to 48 hours if it’s appropriate. We do encourage people to do some level of counselling before they go, but sometimes now is the right time.
We also have on-the-land programs that are throughout the Northwest Territories, done in partnership with our Aboriginal governments. We’ve had some great turnout in attendance to those particular workshops. We also have community counselling, and we’ve recently put in new community counselling guidelines and processes to ensure that community counsellors are providing a high range of services. Before anybody goes to one of our treatment centres, they have to have a follow-up appointment booked for after-care with the community counsellors.
Mr. Speaker, we have a wide range of services. We are following the direction from the Mental Health and Addictions Forum. We’re always looking for ways to improve our services. We continue to move forward with our attempts to put in a mobile treatment so that we can provide more regional based, building upon things like the Matrix program that we have in place that is being used by residents of the Northwest Territories. So, we offer a wide range of services to people suffering from mental health and addictions. Thank you.