P.E.I. mental health summit shares best ways to help Islanders

Mental health on P.E.I. was once again in the spotlight Wednesday as government and community groups met to discuss what services are available to Islanders and how they can better help people with mental health issues.

The mental health summit was organized by Health PEI and Mental Health and Addiction Services and invited dozens of community organizations to share information about their services and discuss options for helping people. 

"The point of the session is to build relationships between many many sectors that are offering services to Islanders," said Dr. Heather Keizer, chief of mental health and addictions for Health PEI. 

"The point is for us is to learn what one another does and to build collaborative relationships so we don't duplicate services, but we can be community-based in our delivery of patient-centred care." 

I think an increase in funding is the basis for us to be able to strengthen our work.— Jillian Kilfoil

Verna Ryan, CAO of mental health and addictions, said the summit was also an opportunity to raise awareness of the services that are currently available across P.E.I. and how to make sure Islanders have access to them.

"We're talking about services that people might not be aware exist," said Ryan.

"Most importantly, we're talking about how do we make our services as easy to access as possible for people that need help."

More efforts needed to prevent mental health issues

One issue that got a lot of attention at the summit was the need to improve services that can help prevent mental health problems. 

"It's very complex," Keizer said. "Every individual needs those factors that builds their resilience, helps them cope."

"It's about housing, it's about a livable wage, it's about meaningful work, it's about child care," she added. "We need to be aware of those."

Is more funding the answer? Some community groups said more money invested into social programs across the Island may help. 

"We see a lack of funding, chronic under-funding, in the community sector but also across social departments," said Jillian Kilfoil, executive director of Women's Network P.E.I. 

"I think an increase in funding is the basis for us to be able to strengthen our work, but what we're seeing is groups coming together that are under-resourced and chronically under-funded and are trying to respond to needs that are more intense and complex."

Connecting people with services 

Officials said Wednesday's summit will help the province develop its long-term strategy to improve mental health services.

"I know as a caregiver, and despite my role, I find it's sometimes difficult to know how to connect people," Keizer said.

"This is one means by which I'm getting to build relationships with other caregivers in the community, agencies in the community that can give better support to patients and individuals in Prince Edward Island who need those services." 

"It gets us down to the grass roots, helps us to build collaborative relationships with those delivering services in the community," Keizer added.

"I now have connections with individuals, I know their names and I know what they do that I didn't know yesterday, and that's true for everyone at this meeting."

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