New Brunswick announced its 5-year addiction and mental health action plan on February 23rd via YouTube livestream.

Health Minister Dorothy Shephard spoke to New Brunswickers and members of the media about what she hopes will be an interdepartmental response to the province’s growing addiction and mental health challenges.

She says that the plan aims to address the issues quickly, with regular check ins.

“This is an action plan that provides accountability for the provincial resources dedicated to addictions and mental health,” says Shephard. “This is not a plan that we will table and then look back in five years to see if it worked. We will be continuously assessing our situation, assessing the services that we are providing. And if we have to pivot, if we have to make changes, we will do it in real time.”

Minister Shephard is looking forward to introducing 14 walk-in clinics throughout the province, each of which will offer services particular to its community.

“The great thing about the walk in clinics is they can be modified for each community,” she explains. “This can’t just be cookie cutter. Some communities may find that they work well [from] 8am until pm, or noon until 8pm, maybe it’s 3pm until 11 or midnight. Each community will have the opportunity to assess their needs and to and to adjust their operation plan accordingly.”

Minister Shephard estimates that the walk-in clinics will be open by October of this year.

The implementation of a provincial treatment centre, she says, is in early stages.

$2 million is currently set aside for the planning process, but a property has not been selected to hour the treatment centre yet.

The target is to open the centre by 2024, says Shephard.

The clinics and treatment centre are intended to combat long wait times for mental health treatment in New Brunswick emergency rooms.

“It’s difficult to take someone to an emergency room…they’re going to wait for hours to see an attending physician, then they’re going to wait to see a psychiatrist. It’s a very frustrating process.”

For context, Minister Shephard made these comments before the tragic death of Lexi Daken.

When asked about the funding withheld from the provincial government’s health budget due to its refusal to fund abortion procedures, Minister Shephard had little to say.

“It’s not new news,” says Shephard. “We’re proceeding as per our policies that we’ve had in place.”

Don’t forget that the province is holding a virtual provincial engagement tour to “talk about the challenges facing the province’s health-care system,” and Sackville’s is coming up this Thursday.

On March 4th at 6:30PM, the public is encouraged to join the Zoom discussion via internet or phone. Joining information is available at here.

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