Health Minister Terry Lake has issued the following statement in recognition of World Mental Health Day:

“Mental health and substance use are on the forefront of the minds of British Columbians right now. Wrestling with these issues has affected too many, taking the lives of children, parents, husbands, wives, friends and other loved ones.

“The theme this year is ‘psychological first-aid,’ and on Monday, Oct. 10, British Columbians and the world come together to recognize that any of us may need to step in to help when someone needs it. All of us may need to build our confidence to do this with the people we are close to, our family, friends and colleagues.

“Over the past year through a cabinet working group initiated by Premier Christy Clark, we have been developing an integrated, cross-government mental-health and substance-use strategy for British Columbia. Our goal is to address key gaps in the current system and ensure individuals and families can access support services early, before they find themselves in a crisis.

“Government invests billions of dollars in services, beds and new capital projects to keep building a better system of supports for people with mental health and substance use challenges. Our list of new resources is long. New facilities underway include a 105-bed facility on the Riverview grounds, which will replace the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, a 75-bed facility at the redeveloped Royal Columbian Hospital site, the 10-bed inpatient unit at the HOpe Centre in North Vancouver, to provide specialized, intensive services for youth, and the reopened Crossing at Keremeos, a 22-bed residential substance use treatment program for young adults. And we have also committed to opening 500 substance use beds, and are on track to reach that goal in 2017.

“Another critically important part of our collective work is a focus on the strengthening supports children and youth with mental health and substance use concerns. Part of this work has included the establishment of the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative. First launched in Interior Health, its membership has grown to 2,400 providers, family members and youth, all successfully driving grassroots-level change by testing local solutions to improve access to services and supports.

“Mental health and substance use have also been identified by federal, provincial and territorial health ministers as a priority for collaboration and I look forward to having further discussion with my colleagues in mid-October in Toronto.

“We know that beds and services alone cannot solve this issue. The community, friends, colleagues and family members need to support each other, recognize value in people, and help them when they are in trouble. This is critically important – if someone close to you is struggling or in crisis, don’t stay silent. Mental health concerns affect thousands of British Columbians and sharing, learning and opening up about mental health is one of the most important actions we can take to remove the stigma.”

Learn more:

To read more about World Mental Health Day, please visit: http://www.who.int/mental_health/world-mental-health-day/en/