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By Connor Gunn

Alberta investing additional $60 million in addiction and mental health supports

Mar 15, 2022 | 2:05 PM

EDMONTON, AB – An additional $60 million will go towards addiction and mental health care in Alberta.

The Alberta Government already allocates nearly $1 billion annually for addiction and mental health, and over the next three years, that funding will be increased.

During the next three years, the province will add more money to build a recovery-oriented system of care.

The government will focus on increasing access to a range of prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery services.

A provincial release says these projects and funding are made available through the 2022 Alberta Budget.

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“Budget 2022 also prioritizes increasing access to addiction and mental health supports for children and youth, seniors and people with complex needs, as well as making it easier for Albertans who come into contact with the judicial system to access recovery-oriented support.”

“Alberta’s government will also continue to address the increased need for mental health and wellness supports as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the rising number of opioid-related overdose fatalities.”

The objectives of the projects come from the recommendations of the Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Council.

The Council made three main recommendations to support the transformation to a recovery-oriented system of care:

• Establish a shared vision and collective commitment to recovery
• Improve foundational supports by enabling policy, consistent processes, service integration, and information technology
• Strengthen recovery-oriented systems of care by building capacity in communities and filling gaps in community supports

Provincial officials say a recovery-oriented system of care has already started and actions include:

• Established the Alberta Recovery Council, a cross-government committee with a mandate to support the implementation of a recovery-oriented system of care across all relevant ministries
• Established 8,000 new publicly funded addiction treatment spaces and eliminated daily user fees so residential treatment is free
• Introduced recovery communities, also known as therapeutic communities, to Alberta to provide holistic treatment to individuals experiencing addiction. Communities have been announced in Gunn, Red Deer, Lethbridge and on the Blood Tribe First Nation.
• Supported the expansion of youth mental health hubs, which provide young Albertans with a one-stop shop for services that improve their mental health and overall wellness
• Implemented licensing and quality standards for supervised consumption services to help ensure clients are better connected to the health-care system, to improve the quality of services that are being offered to people with addiction, and to improve community safety
• Supported services to reduce harm, such as the development of the Digital Overdose Response System (DORS) app, the introduction of a nasal naloxone pilot, expansion of opioid agonist therapy and fully covering the cost of the injectable opioid treatment drug Sublocade.
• Continued work with police services and fire services to improve Albertans’ connection to recovery supports, including the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program, and provide first responders with the support the need to help respond to Albertans experiencing addiction and mental health challenges. This includes the implementation of the digital mental health tool HealthIM.

More information on the funding and projects can be found at Toward an Alberta Model of Wellness.