Saskatoon – In June, Sask Polytechnic cut several programs, including addictions counsellor training, as part of its response to the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the New Democratic Party is calling for addictions counsellor training to be restored, citing new numbers from the coroner’s office showing an increase in the number of deaths from overdose.
From Jan. 1 to Aug. 6, Saskatchewan had 139 suspected drug toxicity deaths, according to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service. The province has only had two years in the last ten with more than 139 drug toxicity deaths for the entire year, and 2020 is not even two-thirds over. In 2018 there were 171 deaths, and in 2019 there were 158 for the whole year.
Sask Polytechnic had previously graduated about 10 addictions counsellors per year, according to the NDP. Now, there is no training program in place in this province.
NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat said on Aug. 20, “We are facing a mental health and addictions crisis in this province. We have seen the silence from the government coming through quite loudly. And we're here today to call on the government to reverse the cuts to addictions counseling, training programs at Sask Polytechnic, particularly in light of the recent numbers coming out of the coroner's office on overdose deaths. We know that people were already struggling before we were hit with the pandemic. And that COVID has just made things so much worse. There's so much more need for services such as addictions counseling than there ever was before.
“And these overdose deaths highlight that need, but because of this cut, we know that there will be fewer addictions counsellors available. And that means that folks who are in need aren’t going to be able to access those services. So it's a senseless cut. It needs to be reversed. And we are calling on the government today to make that happen,” Mowat said.
The province is currently working on restoring in-patient addictions treatment at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan after a hiatus of many years. Asked about how cutting training of counsellors impacts that, she said. “I think it's definitely a step in the right direction. We do need in inpatient treatment facilities, and ones that are specifically focused on not using not being tied to the 28-day model. But we still see this as a drop in the bucket of what's needed.
“We've had folks coming forward for years to highlight the gravity of the situation. And we may see these announcements that were made pre-COVID as being small steps in the right direction, but we need a larger concerted effort. So, the fact that these addictions counseling positions have been cut, folks aren't going to be able to get the training to help people who are in need.
“And when they don't get that help, we see them ending up in emergency situations where, in many cases, they're not able to be cared for. If they can get to the treatment facility, that's great, but there needs to be folks there who can counsel them once they are able to get to those services. So, we think this is a crucial piece of the puzzle is being able to make sure that there are trained folks that can help people through their recovery.”
Mowat said of the Sask Polytechnic program, “I think they're expecting it to be shut down for about a year but it's not entirely clear what date it will come back. The announcement was made in around June that they weren't going to be that there were a number of different programs that had to be cut and it was as a result of some layoffs at Sask Polytechnic that came about because of COVID.”
Asked if, due to the number of people laid off across the country, there may be other counsellors available across the country to be hired, she said, “The focus for me is making sure that we can get as many Saskatchewan people employed and helping out other folks in Saskatchewan, because we see this as something really impacting our province and would like to make sure that those services can be filled.”
