A spike in Penticton youth suffering from mental health or substance use issues over the last year has not been met with proportional resources say community organizations.
A 2015 Vital Signs report indicated 18 per cent of youth had considered suicide, 10 per cent have attempted suicide and a Interior Health report indicated a 75 per cent increase in mental health and substance use cases for Penticton youth from 2014 to 2015.
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“In order for us to address this issue, we need to change the way we think about mental health,” said Victoria Ritchie, Grade 12 student at Pen High and YES (Youth Engagement Strategy) Project youth advisor. “We all experience good and bad mental health and in order to keep it as good as possible we must understand the spectrum and respect how we are feeling.”
Ritchie is hoping to see more funding and collaboration for the YES Project to continue its work.
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“My dream is for every young person to feel like they belong here in Penticton and or them to feel encouraged and valued within the community. Mental health issues must be addressed and the resources and support must become more accessible for all young people,” Ritchie said.
The YES Project, which meets with youth advisors on a regular basis, continues to pursue its goal of centralizing youth services in a youth centre, however the problem Penticton is facing is growing.
“What we’re seeing in the community is a lot of people and organizations working really hard to provide services to youth in crisis and at the same time youth are falling through the cracks because there are some cracks in the system in the way that they’re being supported,” said Aaron McRann, executive director of the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen. “That’s not to say that the people doing the work are not doing a great job and working really hard, it’s that there’s more work to do than they currently have resources for. That’s the challenge we’re facing.”
The Community Foundation funds and co-ordinates the YES Project, who are looking to establish a one-stop-shop in the form of a youth centre in Penticton. The project applied for funding from the province’s new Integrated Youth Services Initiative, but was denied. The initiative aims to establish a provincial network of easily accessible youth mental health, substance use, primary care and social service centres hosted by local non-profit organizations for 12 to 24 year olds.
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Kristy Anderson, director of media relations with the Ministry of Health, said the initiative is in the prototype phase and serving as a “proof of concept” at this stage.
While the ministry would not provide the specific reasons as to why the 75 per cent increase was not addressed, with funding instead going to Kelowna (who have a 1.6 per cent increase) and five other communities, Anderson noted the 25 applicants were reviewed by an independent, interdisciplinary panel.
The panel consisted of seven members representing family, youth, First Nations organizations, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, frontline staff, health authority and national experts at the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Kelowna, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Campbell River, Prince George and Abbotsford were chosen via a comprehensive rating criteria to develop service centres for youth. Anderson noted “expansion into the areas of the province such as Penticton may be considered at a future point.
McRann feels the numbers in Penticton are at crisis levels.
“This is a very large number in comparison to other communities, so there’s a lot of need and a lot of demand for services. That’s part of the challenge, just that there’s a lot of crisis in our town right now,” McRann said.“It doesn’t matter what the resources are in our town at the start of that process, but when you see a 75 per cent increase with no change in funding or staffing or anything else, there is going to be gaps. That’s the challenge we’re facing right now as a community.”
Based on the research done by the YES Project and monthly discussions with Penticton youth, the organization feels that Penticton needs a crisis response process in the community. There is currently a youth support worker working outside of office hours.
“There should be two of those people probably,” McRann said. “Besides that there is no specific crisis response team for Penticton. That is probably something that needs to be considered. These are things that, from the outside looking in, you see them in other communities that we don’t have yet.”
The big picture
McRann said Penticton needs a co-ordinated, collaborative response from all service providers in the community.
“We are very close to that. We already do that, all of the service providers work closely together already, but we want to work to the point where we can actually deliver some service out of the same building, where they can work together to help individuals in need across different organizations and across boundaries,” McRann said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges. Youth might be touched by every different service provider whether it’s the school district, Interior Health, the Boys and Girls Clubs, all of them, but because of things like confidentiality rules and processes within each organization, it’s challenging to actually collaborate, so that’s what we’re working towards, setting up a system to allow for that collaboration.”
McRann hopes to see youth transitioning from their school councillor to their community will have supports in place and staff who know their history, and more collaborative efforts in that vein.
“So part of that, in our opinion as an organization, is the development of a youth resource centre,” McRann said. “One that youth can access outside of office hours, on their own terms, when they want to, how they want to, without the barriers that a formalized system forces them into.”
If there is a three-week wait before they can see somebody, that’s going to be a problem. If they need to fill out four pages of paperwork and provide their social insurance number and their parent’s phone numbers and all that before they can talk to someone, that’s a barrier too. We need to create an environment where there are fewer barriers and that allow kids to come forward without feeling threatened and seek help without feeling stigmatized.”
Over 20 agencies have agreed to work together in Penticton as part of the community response including the school district and Interior Health.
“It’s a community response. We can’t do this by ourselves,” McRann said. “Everyone is ready to go, we just need to get the space in place. That’s a key, important part for us. At the same time, the reality is, if a kid needs help, they need a person to help them.”
The youth centre is in the final stages of business plan development.
“We’ve got the partnerships in place, we’re in the final stages of the business plan and we’re getting to the point of basically saying OK, where are we going to put it? And how much is it going to cost to put it there? And that cost is partly determined by the location. We don’t quite have that figured out yet,” McRann said.
Those looking for more information on the YES Project can contact Amberlee Erdman at 250-460-2439 or for Community Foundation questions or concerns call Aaron McRann at 250-493-9311.
