A report identifying gaps in mental health services in the Central and South Cariboo indicates that client experiences were either poor or fair, said Cariboo Regional District director Joan Sorley after the CRD board received the report at its regular meeting Friday.
“We hired a researcher who prepared a survey and contacted service providers and asked them to pass it along to other colleagues,” said Sorley who, along with director Margo Wagner, initiated the report.
The survey was put on Facebook and social media and passed along to people who had accessed or tried to access mental health services.
“We had good response and we think it’s a good tool to take to the authorities and say this is what we need and we need to start to fill those gaps,” Sorley said.
It was the suicide of a friend that prompted Sorley to advocate for a review of mental health services in the Central and South Cariboo.
“My friend who committed suicide had struggled with getting help for a long time before his death.”
Soon after her friend’s death, an audit report released in June 2013 indicated that Interior Health didn’t reach minimum standards in providing mental health services in the region.
Then when Wagner, who is also vice-chair of the Cariboo Chilcotin Regional Hospital District, attended a presentation where Interior Health was showcasing its mental health facilities around the health authority’s region, Wagner noticed there were no facilities listed for the Central and South Cariboo.
When Wagner asked why that was, she was told there were a lot of agencies providing mental health services so there wasn’t a need to do more by Interior Health.
All of these factors made the two decide to initiate the project, Sorley recalled.
An initial meeting, organized by the two in Lac La Hache, attracted 19 different organizations.
“It was incredible,” said Sorley.
A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 12, again in Lac La Hache.
A copy of the report is available on the CRD’s website at www.cariboord.bc.ca.