The Alberta government has taken a recovery-oriented approach when it comes to fighting mental illnesses and addictions. In response, the Alberta government will be creating two new organizations to support the mental health and addictions care system. “Refocusing healthcare enables us to better prioritize the healthcare and services Albertans need,” said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in a Tuesday press release. “Giving Albertans living with mental health or addiction challenges an opportunity to pursue recovery and live a contributing life is the responsible and compassionate thing to do.”Smith acknowledged she is “so proud of the work we have done to be leaders on recovery, and I am looking forward to seeing both Recovery Alberta and the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence continue this work for years to come.”When it comes to Recovery Alberta, the government said it will be responsible for the delivery of mental health and addiction services provided by Alberta Health Services (AHS). Additionally, it said it is establishing the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CORE) to support it in building recovery-oriented systems of care by researching best practices for recovery from around the world, analyzing data and making evidence-based recommendations. Alberta Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams said the government is leading Canada with the development of the recovery model to address mental health and addictions challenges. “The establishment of these two new organizations will support the delivery of recovery-oriented services to Albertans and will further cement Alberta as a leader in the field,” said Williams. “We are proud to establish Recovery Alberta and CORE as part of the Alberta Recovery Model.”In August, Alberta Mental Health and Addictions (MHA) began the process of consolidating the delivery of mental health and addiction services within AHS — a process that was completed in November with no disruptions to services.The Alberta government said Recovery Alberta will report to MHA and support its mandate to provide high-quality, recovery-oriented mental health and addictions services to Albertans. It predicted Recovery Alberta will be fully operational by summer 2024 and will have an annual budget of $1.13 billion. The current leadership team for AHS Addiction and Mental Health and Correctional Health Services will form the one for Recovery Alberta. When it is fully established, AHS Addiction and Mental Health and Correctional Health Services Chief Program Officer Kerry Bales will be appointed as CEO. Bales said Recovery Alberta “will build on the strong foundation of existing mental health and addiction services that staff and clinicians deliver.”“By working closely with Alberta Mental Health and Addictions and the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, Recovery Alberta will continue to set a high standard of care for mental health and addiction recovery across the province and beyond,” said Bales. While timelines are dependent on legislative amendments yet to be introduced, MHA has aimed to establish the corporate structure of Recovery Alberta by June 3. Following the establishment of the corporate structure and executive team, staff and services would begin operation under its banner on July 1.Frontline workers and service providers will continue to be essential to care for Albertans. To ensure stability of services to Albertans, there will be no changes to terms and conditions of employment for AHS addiction and mental health workers transitioning to it. The CORE leadership team will consist of former Manitoba mental health and community wellness deputy minister Kym Kaufmann as the CEO. Kaufmann will be supported by AHS Medical Director of Addiction and Mental Health Nathaniel Day as CORE chief scientific officer. Smith followed up by saying Alberta has taken a different approach. “And you can see the difference between British Columbia and Alberta,” she said. “And we want to make sure we’ve got good information, testing out, looking at what the outcomes are so that we’re able to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t work.” She pointed out Alberta’s first recovery community opened in Red Deer in May, and the Lethbridge one began accepting people a few months ago. As more recovery communities open, the Alberta government will receive more data. Alberta NDP MLA Janet Eremenko (Calgary-Currie) slammed the announcement, saying it will not stop the drug poisoning deaths climbing to record levels under Smith’s watch. "The UCP (United Conservative Party) is deeply underfunding mental health supports, because they refuse expert advice about what tools and treatment methods can help save lives, which should be everyone’s number one priority," said Eremenko. “The UCP’s plan focuses exclusively on addictions and offers nothing to address permanent supportive housing, treatment wait times and wraparound services. Williams became emotional at the Alberta Municipalities Spring 2024 Municipal Leaders Caucus on March 15 when speaking about the increase in funding his ministry has received since 2019. READ MORE: Alberta cabinet ministers vow municipal conduct reforms, recovery communities at conference“This government takes incredibly seriously this crisis around addiction and this crisis people face in their homes with mental health challenges,” he said. “On this piece, particularly around overdoses, the metric we need to look at is are we getting people treatment.”
