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WWLHIN funding to support CMHA WW’s response to opioid addiction
Mar 27, 2018
The Waterloo Wellington LHIN (WWLHIN) has announced more than $2.3 million in provincial funding to prevent opioid addiction and overdose for residents across Waterloo Wellington. The WWLHIN worked in partnership with local addiction and mental health service providers, including CMHA Waterloo Wellington, to allocate the funding to initiatives that will have the greatest immediate impact in addressing the current opioid crisis.
As part of the provincial funding, CMHA WW is receiving $390,000 of combined one-time and base funding to respond to the community’s opioid crisis. The funds will be allocated as follows:
- $120,000 in one-time funding to aid in bridging supports in colleges and universities
- $270,000 in base funding to enhance CMHA WW’s Flexible Assertive Community Treatment Teams (FACTT) to meet the needs of clients with significant substance use challenges
In working with Waterloo Region and Wellington County’s colleges and universities, CMHA WW will look specifically at how Here 24/7 can partner with them to support students who are struggling with academic pressures, living away from home, emerging mental health issues, and the availability of alcohol and illicit and prescription drugs.
“We need to intervene with students who are at risk, and reach out to students to promote healthy coping and wellness, and ultimately prevent crisis,” says Helen Fishburn, Senior Director, Services with CMHA WW. “Here 24/7 can also provide a formal link from the campus environment to the mental health and addictions system.”
In enhancing FACTT, CMHA WW will add dedicated addictions workers to the teams supporting people living in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, and the Guelph-Wellington area.
“Adding additional staffing resources and addictions expertise will help us address these complex needs and build the capacity of our service,” says Fishburn. “CMHA is proud to be working closely with our addictions partners, such as Stonehenge Therapeutic Community and House of Friendship, so that we can continue to build our capacity to provide support and treatment to people with addiction issues. This is a great step forward for our system of care, and will result in more people receiving the care they need.”
Connecting our community through supports, from mental health to addiction to complex needs – we are creating better care for our residents and patients. #Addiction #MentalHealth #LetsTalk #KWAwesome #Opioids pic.twitter.com/7kx8SVRZ6G
— Waterloo Wellington (@WW_LHIN) November 9, 2017