Desperate need for our governments to invest more in the community support, affordable housing and health care that people with mental illnesses require.
Ottawa (8 Feb. 2008) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is supporting calls for renewed public investment in mental health services following a powerful report released last week by the Vancouver police department.
The report, called Lost In Transition, vividly describes a critical lack of support and services for people dealing with mental illnesses. The result is that people with mental illnesses fall through the cracks and often end up in the criminal justice system, the report said.
In recent decades, across Canada, large hospitals housing the mentally ill were closed based on the argument that patients could do better living independently or in group homes with plenty of support.
But this report demonstrates that the trend to treating people with mental illnesses in their own communities rather than in institutions has not been accompanied by sufficient resources.
"At the heart of this crisis is a mental health system that has not kept pace with the loss of resources in the wake of deinstitutionalization,” said Detective Fiona Wilson-Bates, the author of the report.
“There are so few services that only the extremely mentally ill get care and the rest are sent on their way," said Wilson-Bates.
"Our members who work in health care, social services, and corrections consistently tell us that this is a problem that extends well beyond the borders of Vancouver and is nation-wide,” said James Clancy, NUPGE National President.
“There is a desperate need for our governments to invest more in the community support, affordable housing and health care that people with mental illnesses require,” said Clancy.
The National Union has been attempting to raise awareness of the crisis faced by people with mental illnesses for a number of years - including urging the 2002 Romanow Royal Commission on Health Care to address the situation. NUPGE
More information:
? Mental illness a serious problem in correctional facilities
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