Two locally-based social agencies have secured funding to provide expanded counselling services to people with mental health and addiction troubles.
In each of the next three years, Carrier Sekani Family Services will get $120,000 and Central Interior Native Health Society will get $92,000.
CINHS executive director Shoba Sharma said its grant will add an elder to the agency's counselling staff and "build on an indigenous world view that has been so long forgotten."
"A lot of the ceremony and work we will be doing with our clients is stuff that went underground, it was banned here in this local area," Sharma said. "And bringing out Dakelh tradition enables individuals to connect themselves to their identity and hopefully work through mental health and addiction issues that have come in response to all of the trauma that they've been enduring for so long."
Sharma said CINHS has 1,300 clients and 30 per cent are active patients with addictions and 55 per cent are active patients with mental health conditions. Over the last year, CINHS has taken over 1,600 appointments for methadone and suboxone treatment.
"Each one of those clients we work with to provide counselling services," Sharma added. "Our hope is to provide care that treats the whole individual, so as opposed to just providing them with addiction medicine, it's providing them with connection to culture, connection to each other, connection to all of the supports that they require."
Carrier Sekani Family Services will use its grant to focus on people with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit sexual orientations through the organization's health and wellness program. How many people that may add up to is still to be determined, said Christina Dobson.
CSFS serves the on-reserve communities of 11 First Nations and off-reserve communities in Prince George, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake and Fort St. James, spread over 76,000 square kilometres.
In all, $10 million will be distributed to 29 agencies across the province. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy said it's stable funding and guaranteed for the next three years. The grants are meant to help agencies reach under-served or hard-to-reach populations.
"What was really motivating us to invest $10 million in community agencies that provide counselling is that too often access to health care, especially when it comes to mental health and addictions care, can depend on the size of your bank account," Darcy said.
