By Jill Sperling

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions visits Kamloops

Nov 15, 2017 | 3:56 PM

KAMLOOPS — Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy stopped into Kamloops Wednesday as part of a province-wide information gathering tour. 

Darcy stopped by the King Street Centre, the Aboriginal Friendship Centre, and ASK Wellness to talk to people with addictions and front-line workers and discuss initiatives and needs within the community. 

Darcy says harm reduction services like the mobile consumption site, and take-home naloxone kits are saving lives, but she hopes to implement new strategies to help people overcome their addictions. 

“My mandate as the Minister for Mental Health and Addictions is both to respond to the overdose crisis, and to keep escalating our response to be bold and innovative, and to expand the number of tools in our arsenal to save lives,” Darcy said. 

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“But, it’s also to build a better system for mental health and addiction and overcome the fragmentation and the gaps and build a more coordinated system so we get to a place down the road where you ask for help once, and you get help fast, and where every door is the right door to service and to care.” 

ASK Wellness Executive Director Bob Hughes says it’s important for government officials to meet with people living with addictions and see the services being provided.

However, he adds there needs to also be some recognition of the impact the addictions crisis is having on the greater community. 

“We are consistently hearing peoples’ concerns about the safety for their kids in playgrounds, businesses being impacted by the level of chaos outside the business and neighbourhoods,” Hughes said. “So, I think that’s a message that she hadn’t really heard, and that’s something that I think is so essential that our community be able to present. 

“We are compassionate, and we do need to have ways to help people that are living with addictions, and living homeless, but we also need to recognize that this isn’t just about helping that population.”