Child and Youth advocate Norman Boss\u00e9 is heading an extensive review to look into mental health crisis services for children and youth.<\/p>\n
The review, sparked by the suicide of Fredericton teen Lexi Daken, has to be completed before the end of July when Boss\u00e9\u2019s position in government is finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just a Fredericton Regional Health Service problem. It is not even a New Brunswick problem. It is a challenge that is national and global in scope,\u201d said Boss\u00e9. \u201cWe want to hear from those affected and provide them with the opportunity to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boss\u00e9 is confident that the review will be finished by the July deadline, just over four months away, and all findings will be made public.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that\u2019s going to be hidden,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Boss\u00e9, the healthcare system that failed Daken has been failing for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aware of this problem. We know what the solutions are. Why do children and youth continue to be denied life saving services?\u201d<\/p>\n
The scope of the investigation is not limited to the death of Lexi Daken. It will look at all aspects of New Brunswick\u2019s mental health system for youth, including previous reviews and recommendations that were shelved by government.<\/p>\n
The top priorities of the review are revisiting older recommendations not yet implemented by government, and immediate action \u201cto make sure that this type of situation doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA youth should not be waiting for eight hours in an emergency room. That\u2019s not acceptable, period,\u201d said Boss\u00e9, in reference to Lexi Daken. \u201cThe emergency room has to have a way of triaging\u2026[where] if a young person, even an adult, comes in with mental health problems, they are triaged to a specific location in the hospital so that it can be looked at immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government stopped short of calling a public inquiry into Daken\u2019s death, which Boss\u00e9 says might actually be a good thing in terms of faster changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was involved in two [public inquiries],\u201d said Boss\u00e9. One of those inquiries cost $1.7 million, and they both took multiple years to complete. \u201cI\u2019m of the mind that that would be a complete waste of my time and our efforts here\u2026 All I\u2019m going to say is that public inquiry, in my respectful opinion, through almost 40 years of practice as a lawyer and experience in public inquiries, is not what we needed to do. We needed to do something right now. Let\u2019s focus on this and get action by way of our recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boss\u00e9 is confident that the government will not shelve the findings of this particular review, in part due to the public\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n
Boss\u00e9 will also consult Francophone and Indigenous youth throughout the course of the review.<\/p>\n
Data collection will also be a priority, which he says the New Brunswick government has failed to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have a way of measuring it, you don\u2019t know if your programs are working.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked why Boss\u00e9 was so confident that this report wouldn\u2019t get \u201cshelved,\u201d Boss\u00e9 said \u201cwhen you do a report and governments change, priorities change.\u201d He did admit, however, that getting governments to budge is not an easy task.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve discussed nationally\u2026 how do you how do you follow your recommendations? How do you hold government\u2019s feet to the fire, so to speak, when you do make recommendations? It is a difficult thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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