City organizations get mental health grants
By Lethbridge Herald on February 12, 2021.
Lethbridge-East MLA Nathan Neudorf said Phase One funding acknowledges and attempts to address a significant gap in mental health services in Lethbridge.Tim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
The Alberta government has announced two grants for Lethbridge organizations to help those in the community struggling with their mental health due COVID-19.
The Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society received $105,000 grant to conduct a needs assessment of urban Indigenous mental health supports in Lethbridge, and to arrange counselling with Elders and those who possess knowledge of traditional medicine in the city for those seeking support.
The Family Ties Association received $250,000 to offer subsidized access to counselling for anyone in the city who needs extra support due to COVID-19.
The funding was allocated last fall, but was only formally announced on Thursday.
Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf said this Phase One funding acknowledges and attempts to address a significant gap in mental health services in Lethbridge.
“As we all know this pandemic has gone on a lot longer than a lot of us would have initially anticipated,” he stated, “and we know the winter months, January and February, are cold and dark, and there is a lot activities that are really restricted just by the weather, and by COVID.
“So making sure we have programs and funding, and supports, available to those who might be facing some challenges with their mental health is very important. I am really happy to see these organizations put forward a great plan, and now are funded to be able to reach out into the community to provide those supports.”
Neudorf said the government is prepared to do even more if necessary going forward to help support mental health in all communities as the pandemic continues.
“We are going to take a little bit of a wait and see, and hopefully these programs will address the needs that are out there,” he explained.
“But we are always watching and seeing how groups are responding to all different types of factors. Hopefully with good weather maybe only a few months away, and vaccines starting to roll out here right away, and all those kinds of things, we’ll maybe not have to need many more of these grants.”
Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society executive director Tanya Pace-Crosschild said the grant funding was helping her organization really dig down to identify where gaps in mental health counselling and supports exist for Indigenous people in Lethbridge.
“With the Indigenous population, our health outcomes aren’t as good as others,” she explained, “just because of the lack of access to healthcare professionals. And we are also taking a look at poverty. We are taking a look at discrimination in the healthcare system. A lot of my Indigenous community doesn’t have a family doctor, or access to funding to acquire counselling, or ongoing assistance for mental health issues. The life expectancy of Indigenous people across Canada is considerably lower (than average).
“We are dealing with a lot of systemic and institutional barriers we face. Then you put over top of that the pressures of the pandemic, and then you have difficulties in accessing basic needs such as food security or access to transportation. This grant is really trying to help us create a program that will benefit our people in our ways, and will be meaningful to us.”
Family Ties Association clinical supervisor Chelsie Grenier said the provincial grant effectively allows anyone in Lethbridge who needs counselling services because of stress and anxiety associated with COVID-19 to access them through her organization, regardless of their financial situation.
“We are doing groups, we are doing individual counselling, and we do play therapy as well,” she explained. “This is for all ages, and this funding is for anybody who has been impacted by COVID-19. It is going to allow us to subsidize those that wouldn’t otherwise be able to access counselling. We are able to provide both in person and online supports to people to support them through this time.”
One group of people her organization is seeing more of in recent months is those who have been afflicted with COVID-19, or are in recovery from the disease.
“They have anxiety in general around safety issues, maybe depression from isolation,” she said, “and it is something you might not want to talk about because you might not want people to know what you are going through because you might get judged. And so you are then further isolated.”
Anyone wishing to access counselling support at Family Ties can call 403-320-8888. Any among Lethbridge’s Indigenous community seeking traditional health supports can call Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society at 403-380-2659.
Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter
-1
What a gross waste of money! Discriminatory, pandering to a specific focus group, in a time when money could be better spent saving on real life issues. Or spent helping everyone, not just indigenous. Very discriminatory.