Yesterday, the government released its long-awaited review of Manitoba mental health and addictions services.
The review recommends boosting funds for mental health and addictions and calls for a greater collaboration between primary and community-based treatment services in order to create a “seamless continuum of services.”
We will be following-up immediately with government to find out more about how the report’s recommendations may impact MGEU members in both the short- and long-term.
While we welcome the promise of better and more coordinated addiction and mental health services, we hope the government is as equally committed to implementing the recommendations that call for increased investments in services and not just in saving money from the amalgamation of these organizations.
Given this government’s track record, it’s hard not to feel concerned about how the report’s recommendations may be interpreted. This can’t be just another cost cutting exercise; it has to be about better services, and more support for the people who deliver them.
Please stay tuned for an update when we have more information. Rest assured your Union will push hard for those of you who provide mental health and addictions services day-in and day-out to have a voice in determining why and how any report recommendations are implemented. And we will continue to speak publicly about the profound risks of equating streamlining with cost-cutting.
The report, at long last, is putting mental
health and addictions services front and centre. Your union is determined to
work with you and with government to build the responsive, coordinated mental
health and addictions treatment system that you on the front-lines have been
calling for, and that Manitobans deserve.