Grief and Mental Health Support Arrives
Mass casualty mental health, grief, and bereavement services arrive in Cumberland, as promised.
Nova Scotia’s Minister of Addictions and Mental Health says, “Last week, we made a commitment to provide immediate mental health and grief support to the communities most impacted by the tragedy that began in Portapique three years ago, and to work with them to design and deliver the programs and services that meet their unique needs long-term.” Yesterday, Brian Comer said, “We've made progress in our first week, and we're bringing in new people and linking to more services and supports every day while our team continues to listen and gather feedback on the community's needs.”
A program of mobile clinics was launched yesterday in Cumberland, Colchester and Hants counties. Mobile clinic hours and locations, community health and wellness supports, and how to provide feedback to an engagement team is available at: https://novascotia.ca/community-support/.
The mobile health and wellness team can provide:
- primary care assessments, support and navigation
- prescription refills or renewals (except for controlled substances)
- navigation to grief and bereavement resources
- mental health and wellness services, like brief intervention and navigation to other resources, including ongoing mental health and addictions supports
The Mass Casualty Commission recommended the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia jointly fund a program to address the unmet needs for mental health, grief, and bereavement supports in the affected communities.
The two governments committed $18 million over a two-year period. The Province contributed $9 million, and the federal government committed an initial $9 million.
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