Nova Scotia announces $13.8M for community mental health and addictions programs

The head of a Dartmouth mental health organization says new multi-year provincial funding for community mental health and addictions programs will allow staff to focus more of their efforts on helping the people they serve.

Twenty-three organizations will receive a total of $13.8 million over three years through a community wellness grant program of the Office of Mental Health and Addictions.

Alison O'Handley, executive director of Healthy Minds Cooperative, said staff have spent considerable time in the past reporting how funding was utilized and writing grant applications for the following year. 

"All of that is probably like a four-month process every year where our brains are not fully on the jobs that we're supposed to be doing in the community," O'Handley said. "So having that commitment over three years as opposed to year to year or six months at a time is huge for organizations like us."

O'Handley's organization will receive $565,980 over three years. She said the amount per year is more than double what it would normally get.

"We do know community groups have spent a lot of time filling out grants and paperwork and being more concerned with applying for funding than actually providing care to Nova Scotians," said Brian Comer, minister of mental health and addictions, at Thursday's announcement in Dartmouth.

Through the program, organizations could apply for up to $250,000 per year for up to three years to provide mental health and addictions programs and supports, said a provincial news release. 

The founder and executive director of Eating Disorders Nova Scotia welcomed news her organization will get the maximum $750,000 over three years through the program. 

"This is almost twice as much funding as we received from the government in previous years," said Shaleen Jones. 

Jones said the three-year commitment allows the group to deepen its commitment and start delivering in-person programming again, which it hasn't been able to do since before the COVID-19 pandemic.