Bell Let’s Talk Day — on Wednesday — is focused on committing to significant action to create positive change in mental health and addictions care according to a press release. Ontario’s CMHAs are calling for a base budget increase from the government to improve the community mental health and addictions sector.
“We need critical infrastructure investments to maintain the highest quality of care for the individuals we serve,” says Mark Graham, CMHA HKPR CEO. “But decades of underfunding and the increased need for service are having devastating impacts on how we can best support people in need.”
CMHA says every branch needs at least an eight per cent increase or roughly under $30 million total to meet the current and growing demand for mental health and addiction services.
The funding aids CMHAs in operating costs (that increase annually), provide more services and reduces wait times according to their press release.
“CMHAs reorganize resources and redeploy staff, but struggle to meet increased demand in service with our current budget allocations,” said Graham. “We simply can’t do more, or provide even the same level of service, when we aren’t resourced properly.”