Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Mental health needs separate ministry

Re: “Don’t isolate mental health,” editorial, June 20. We feel the editorial makes some solid points.

Re: “Don’t isolate mental health,” editorial, June 20.

We feel the editorial makes some solid points. However, the problem is not that there is no separate ministry, but rather that there is not enough attention, financial and otherwise, given to mental health in our province.

The opioid/fentanyl crisis has finally drawn attention to mental health and addictions, thus driving the NDP and Green parties’ decision to create a separate ministry. The entire medical system is seriously underfunded and stretched to a critical point.

In the current “combined” ministry model, only those with life-threatening medical conditions get attention, while it seems that mental illness gets pushed to the back. It is getting attention now only because people are dying and the public is outraged. That is what it takes to have people and the government address mental illness and addictions.

In the current “seamless care” model, welcoming these patients into the mainstream perpetuates a system where only those with serious medical conditions will get attention, while there is no time to deal with those who suffer from mental-health issues. It takes specialized care and education to know how to deal with mental illnesses, not the current medical model where the system just wants to apply a Band-Aid and move to the next patient.

With all of its challenges, a separate ministry is the only thing that will ensure mental health will receive the attention it is due, unchallenged by countless other demands on a seriously underfunded medical system.

M.J. Gardner and family

Saanich