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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

‘Mental Health and Addictions don't care what your political stripes are’ – Doug Clovechok


In a post on Facebook earlier today, Columbia River – Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok remarked, “Today the NDP Government have finally outlined their 10-year plan to deal with Mental Health & Addictions in BC”.

The BC Government media release stated that people experiencing mental health and addictions challenges will soon have better access to the services they need, through a program outlined in, A Pathway to Hope: A roadmap for making mental health and addictions care better for people in British Columbia.  
Commenting for the government, Premier John Horgan said, “For too long, little attention was paid to mental health and substance use care by previous governments”.

A Pathway to Hope lays out our plan to help people now and improve the health and wellness of all British Columbians in the long term. We’re taking a provincewide approach to build a system of care where services are always within reach and people have the supports and opportunities they need.” 

A Pathway to Hope lays out government’s 10-year vision for mental health and addictions care that gets people the services they need in order to tackle problems early on and support their well-being. It identifies the priority actions government will take over the next three years to help people immediately and reduce demand on services down the road.

According to the government, the focus will be on supporting the wellness of children, youth and young adults, supporting Indigenous-led solutions and improving access and quality of care. The roadmap will also build on the ongoing work to address the overdose crisis by starting to establish improved systems of addictions care.

There is nothing more pressing than ensuring every young person has the supports they need to not just survive, but thrive,” said Judy Darcy, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

These longstanding problems in mental health and addictions care won’t be fixed overnight. But by starting to move from a crisis-driven system to early intervention and prevention – especially for children and youth – we can help people before their problems become more severe.”

Support for those suffering from mental health issues, and the problems surrounding substance abuse, have long been a topic of concern for me, and I have written a number of commentaries on this topic – and these issues cross all boundaries.


Mental Health and Addictions don't care what your political stripes are; the BC Liberals will continue to advocate for improved services – such as the Safe Care Act’ remarked Clovechok.

Again, quoting from the government media release, it indicates that the heart of A Pathway to Hope is a plan to begin transforming mental health and substance use care for children, youth, young adults and their families to reach them where they are — in their homes, communities and schools. This will start moving the mental health care system from a crisis-based approach to upstream early interventions and begin to replace the current patchwork of services with wraparound services and supports.

I am happy to see this 10-year plan increase the integrated support services with schools and communities.”, Clovechok concluded.



CLICK HERE to read about the Pathway to Hope

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