Not-for-profit says successive N.B. governments have not made youth mental health a priority

One year after 16-year-old Lexi Daken’s death, Partners for Youth launched a pilot program aimed at getting teens rapid access to a licensed counsellor or therapist.

The New Brunswick not-for-profit, which has been helping at-risk children and youth for almost 30 years, finds the practitioner, provides the teen with transportation, and pays for multiple sessions.

The bill is big, but so is the payoff, according to executive director John Sharpe.

“We've had 170 youth so far in the last 18 months referred to the program. We'll turn around the request from the time they ask for the licensed counseling or therapy…to the time we have them connected with someone is seven days. That's a reduction of six-to-nine months from the time of request to the public system,” he said. “We’ve probably funded well over $50,000 in private counseling therapy in the last 12 months.”

The province says they have been able to make improvements in those wait times, reducing the waitlists for child and youth services by more than 60 per cent. That’s because of their new one-at-a-time therapy for youth, which has an average wait time of five days.  

Sharpe said as soon as he learned of Daken’s death, he knew they had to get the program going.

But he says it’s not enough and the province needs to start fulfilling promises they’ve made over and over.

“We're pointing the finger at successive governments for years that have not done their job in regards to creating a comprehensive youth, family and community centred system of youth mental health care in the province. We don't have it. It does not exist,” he said.

He believes Daken’s death was entirely preventable.

It’s been more than 15 years since the concept of a youth mental health treatment centre – or centre of excellence – was brought to the New Brunswick government’s attention by experts and consultants.

Successive governments have promised it would be built, but changes in locations and priorities have plagued those plans.

Last year, the province committed to the centre being operational by 2025.

Daken’s sister hopes the inquest will spark more action from leaders.

“We have seen through various testimonies that there are discrepancies in the wait times, and I think this is a really good opportunity for the province and our political leaders to take some action and to fix a system that has been around too long,” said Piper Daken.

Sherry Wilson, the minister responsible for Addiction and Mental Health Services, said in a statement that the province is reviewing the recommendations from the inquest’s jurors, and recognizes that “work isn’t done.

The N.B. government and Horizon Health Network have six months to respond to those recommendations.

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