Our mental health and addictions system is overwhelmed

By MPP Toby Barrett

To The Haldimand Press

I had a 20-year career with the Ontario Addiction Research Foundation (ARF) prior to becoming an MPP. ARF was a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre and one of the premier alcohol and drug research organizations in the world.

We always knew there was no panacea, no silver bullet, for the misuse of alcohol and other drugs given its interconnectedness within society. It required a constellation of approaches through research, treatment, enforcement, prevention, education, and health promotion.

My wife, who is a psychiatric social worker, holds a similar view with respect to mental health.

Ontario has a mental health and addictions system that, in spite of the good efforts of front-line workers, is overwhelmed by extensive wait times, significant barriers to access, a lack of standardized data, and widespread bureaucracy.

Current data reveals one in three Canadians will experience a mental health and addictions issue within their lifetime – 70% of those issues will develop early in life, either in childhood or as a young adult. Recent data also reveals, between 2016 and 2017, roughly 158,000 Ontarians visited an emergency department for a mental health or addictions-related issue. This number continues to increase annually. Half a million Canadians call in sick to work because of a mental health or addictions issue. These are staggering numbers.