Mental health service providers in the Ottawa region say they are struggling to cope in the face of continued provincial funding freezes.
The largest of them, Royal Mental Health Centre, announced job cuts and other reductions Monday to eliminate a $4.2 million shortfall.
The Royal’s base budget is $161.4 million and has been frozen by the province for four years.
“It’s almost like death by thousand cuts,” said Tim Simboli, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Ottawa branch whose funding has been frozen for six years.
“Every year, you’ve got to stretch same dollars further and further,” he said. “There is a point when you can’t do it any more and you have to cut. So it goes from a manageable problem to more and more unmanageable.”
The situation is exacerbated by an increased demand for mental health services that is a direct result of a long and sustained effort to reduce stigma around mental illness.
Along with a commitment to mental health services in general, the provincial government announced several new initiatives last summer.
Groups acknowledge the value of new initiatives but say they don’t solve the fundamental reality of increasing costs and sinking resources.
“It’s one thing for the province to say it’s important,” said Simboli, “but there is all sorts of evidence that funding is inadequate. We’ve been raising the issue and complaining for almost six years now.”
“Expanding into new areas and not properly funding old areas is a shell game,” he added. “More money is, quite simply, what’s needed. On the community side we are running as close to the line as we can.”
New programs are important, said Lisa Ker, executive director of the mental health service and housing provider Salus, because they help community services to be current with new treatment initiatives.
“Ideally, most would say that they would like to see the best of both worlds,” she said, “with new programs being funded and agencies being able to keep up with the cost of living.”
The quality of services to clients are the one thing that can’t be reduced, added Ker whose organization employs 85.
“You have to look at other things you have in your budget, and you look to trim those,” she said. “Services to clients, though, you can’t cut back on.”
In a statement Monday, The Royal said: “These financial constraints come despite the fact that mental health and addictions have been identified as a priority by the provincial and federal governments as well as by the members of our community.”
In a written statement to the Citizen, provincial Health Minister Eric Hoskins defended his government’s record on mental health funding, adding that Local Health Integration Networks (LIHNs) are responsible for co-ordinating care and allocating funds.
He did not specifically address the issue of frozen base funding but said that in Ottawa, the government has increased funding for community mental health programs by 14 per cent since 2007-08 to $67 million this year.
“Our No. 1 priority is making sure that Ontarians get the right care, at the right time, in the right place,” said Hoskins. “We have increased funding to the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group by more than $19 million — or 24 per cent — since 2003.”
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