A New Day in the Peace Ministries
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FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A local non-profit society is one of 53 across the province receiving funding from the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.
Northern Health was awarded two grants A New Day in the Peace Ministries in Fort St. John and 333 Recovery Homes Society in Prince Rupert were each given $25,000.
These grants will help with modified operating costs that took place due to the pandemic to meet public health requirements. These funds will help to offset pressures and allow continuing access to services as part of B.C’s overdose response.
In early December, when they discovered Andre had stopped taking his medication for depression and anxiety, the Courtemanches had called the youth crisis line and their family doctor. The doctor had referred Andre to a psychiatrist six months earlier, when the teen said his medication wasn’t working. But by late December, as Andre’s mental health deteriorated, the family still hadn’t received a call from a psychiatrist. Denise pressed the family doctor to check on the referral. On Jan. 3, two days after Andre was last seen leaving his Cressida Crescent home and walking along the E & N rail line that abuts the backyard, the couple got a call about a psychiatric appointment in February.
Moira Wyton, Local Journalism Initiative
Patrick Evans and Jess Lamb say the provinceâs safer supply program is failing to meet the needs of substance users or the provinceâs objectives.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED January 22, 2021 - 7:00 PM On Christmas Day, Jess Lamb needed three injectable vials of naloxone to revive her partner from a fentanyl overdose in their home. The next day, when Patrick Evans experienced an overdose again, it took three nasal sprays and one injection by Lamb to save their life. “I was too scared to call 911 for the second overdose. I didn’t know what would happen to him,” said Lamb on the phone from the couple’s home in Cranbrook.
Province defends response to overdose crisis in light of criticism from head of Vernon charitable foundation - Vernon News castanet.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from castanet.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“It’s not that it was suicide that took Andre’s life, it was depression that took Andre’s life,” said Kirsten Marten, who is speaking on behalf of Andre’s family as they grieve. Last week Marten set up the Searching for Andre Courtemanche Facebook page, which mobilized people across Greater Victoria to search for the missing teen. The family received a call on Jan. 4, three days after Andre was reported missing, about setting up an appointment with a psychiatrist to talk about Andre’s depression, Marten said. By that time it was too late. “It’s so heartbreaking that they had to wait that long and they’ve been fighting so hard to get help for Andre,” she said. “The system categorically failed him.”