Mental Illness & Addiction Northwestern Ontario
The Reality
Decades ago the Canadian government mandated closure of many facilities that specifically treated mental illness and addictions. The plan was to integrate these individuals into society, with the help of support systems. Optics will tell you the system is failing. Integration of the mental health patient into society was the optimum goal…unfortunately this is not the reality for many psychiatric patients.
We are left with the question, “Where will they go?”
Many stand-alone psychiatric facilities are thriving in all provinces across Canada. They offer specialized acute and long-term treatment and rehabilitation to people with enduring mental illness, mental handicaps and psychogeriatric conditions. Northwestern Ontario is lacking this psychiatric option for its population of approximately 250,000 people.
Northwestern Ontario is facing a rapidly growing mental illness and addiction crisis. Thunder Bay Regional Hospital treats thousands of visits annually in this regard, and the city’s detox bed numbers are inadequate. Untreated mental illness and addiction most often results in violation of the law, leading to unnecessary incarceration in our already over-crowded penal system.
Northwestern Ontario is drowning in “Mental Illness and Addiction” and deserves the same model of care as the rest of Canada.
We the undersigned support the creation of a “new” stand-alone modern psychiatric facility for Northwestern Ontario.
