News Releases

Manitoba families will have another option to help their children dealing with severe and persistent drug abuse problems with the opening of a new five-bed facility, Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross announced today.

 

The facility will support the Youth Drug Stabilization (Support for Parents) Act which comes into effect tomorrow.

 

“This facility will provide a safe, secure environment for youth to withdraw from the acute effects of substances and work with service providers to consider their options,” said Irvin-Ross.  “This is one more part of the range of services to make sure that all youth with substance abuse issues are able to access the help they need.”

 

Irvin-Ross also unveiled a plaque in memory of Colleen Johnson, a young woman who died while struggling to overcome an addiction.

 

“I am ecstatic and absolutely support the establishment of this facility,” said Colleen’s mother, Carole Johnson.  “It will help kids who might otherwise not be reached.”

 

The new facility will be operated by Marymound and is funded by Manitoba Healthy Living. An interim facility is now in place while a permanent ten-bed structure which will also be operated by Marymound is established.  Five beds at the permanent facility will be used for mandatory stabilization and five beds will be available for voluntary stabilization for youth.

 

“Marymound is pleased to be part of this innovative co-ordinated approach to youth addictions,” said Ian Hughes, executive director, Marymound.  “This facility will provide young people who have been unable to ready themselves for treatment the stability they need to make that choice and commit to helping themselves.” 

 

Irvin-Ross also announced that planning is underway to develop and establish crisis and stabilization beds in northern Manitoba, to bring services closer to home for youth and their families.

The Youth Drug Stabilization (Supports for Parents) Act allows a provincial court justice to issue an order to take a person under 18 years of age to a designated facility for assessment by addiction specialists to determine if it is in the youth’s best interest to be detained for stabilization.

 

Addictions counsellors are available through the new centralized intake at Youth Addictions Service to provide information and help parents and young people who want to access youth addictions services including youth drug stabilization.  The service can be reached by calling (toll-free) 1‑877‑710-3999. 

 

Including capital projects, the province has increased funding for mental health and addictions by $33 million in the past year.

 

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In September 2006, then healthy living minister Theresa Oswald announced a three-year,
$9-million investment to help Manitobans get better access to mental health and addictions services, adding to the $2 million in annual funding announced in Budget 2006 and the
$6.7-million mental health and addictions strategy announced in December 2005.

 

Under the Youth Drug Stabilization (Supports for Parents) Act , an application can be made for an order to apprehend a youth if the applicant believes and can provide evidence the youth:

·         is abusing one or more drugs severely and persistently,

·         is at risk of serious deterioration physically or psychologically,

·         needs to be assessed by an addictions specialist to determine if the youth should be admitted to a facility to be stabilized so he or she can make a decision respecting future drug abuse treatment, and

·         has consistently refused voluntary interventions or has not succeeded in previous interventions to address drug problems.

 

Some of the government’s recent investments in mental health and addictions programs include:

·         centralized youth addictions intake service to improve access to supports for youth and parents;

·         increased community-based mental health and addictions workers;

·         more funded treatment beds for youth;

·         supports for youth stabilization including training and public awareness;

·         funding to improve access to youth addictions programming at the Behavioural Health Foundation;

·         funding for a clinical therapist and a registered nurse for the Behavioural Health Foundation;

·         funding for two new youth outreach positions with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, one located in Winnipeg and one in Thompson;

·         investing in a Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) team, the priority of which will be to facilitate the discharge of patients from Selkirk Mental Health Centre who require support in the community;

·         establishing and maintaining a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week provincial suicide prevention line;

·         providing additional training for health-care staff in suicide prevention;

 ·         increasing ongoing funding to the Teen Talk program to enhance its work throughout the province;

·         funding for additional staffing for the Winnipeg Early Intervention in Psychosis program;

·         funding to establish an Early Intervention in Mental Illness program in Brandon; and

·         funding to provide additional community mental-health workers in the regional health authorities.