government is lauding changes to its health-care system that it says reduced wait times for mental health counselling by 79 per cent.
The report said 47,563 counselling sessions were held in the territory between 2020 and 2022, 27 per cent of which were unscheduled or drop-in. It found median wait times between initial referral and the first agreed-upon time for a session dropped from 19 days to four during that period. The report also found, however, that more work is needed to enhance culturally safe programming and support Indigenous approaches, as well as community-based and long-term treatment options.
“This was a huge system change. It really shifted the entire way that we’ve offered care,” said Carly Straker, who is manager of the territory’s mental wellness and addictions recovery quality and integration unit. “So it just takes time.” Other reports have raised concerns about mental health and addictions recovery services in the territory, which has some of the highest rates of mental health hospitalizations and addictions and substance use in Canada.
Then in January, Eggenberger reported an increase in opioid-related deaths in 2022, with six such deaths in the town of Hay River near the Alberta boundary. There were five opioid toxicity deaths across the territory in 2016, one in 2017, two in 2018, one in 2019 and three in both 2020 and 2021.