The past year has ushered in growth and change in the area of mental health and addictions for SCHSS. 

We have grown both in numbers of people accessing our services, and in the number of staff who are working in this department.  Much emphasis and effort has been put into developing the mental health area of SCHSS, as it is understood that good mental health is fundamentally important if the membership and communities are to flourish and grow in a healthy and balanced manner.

There has been a concerted effort in the past year to identify and address the predominant mental health and addictions issues with which the membership presents; and in accordance with this, we have adjusted and increased our resources where needed: developing more programs, developing and compiling accessible resource material; offering formal education/training to existing staff to enable them to move into the area of mental health, increasing caseloads and one to one counselling, offering workshops, healing and talking circles, youth groups to the memberships, and providing ongoing training for all staff in various areas of mental health to increase awareness and understanding.