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Two-months for most mental health counselling in Hay River

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Aside from emergency situations and cases involving addictions, it takes about two months to see a mental health counsellor in Hay River.

That was the timeframe revealed by Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy in the legislative assembly on June 1.

Abernethy noted the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority has five full-time resident counsellors in place.

"As of today, there is an approximate wait time of about eight weeks, which is quite a bit," he said. "However, there are no wait times for addictions counselling."

Abernethy explained the length of time on a wait list varies throughout the year from factors including vacancies in the counselling positions, urgency of the clients, and matching client needs with the specialization of staff.

The minister noted there are two scheduled emergency appointments per day, five days a week, for those clients who need emergency services in Hay River.

Abernethy was responding to questions from Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson.

"The government often pays lip service to mental health issues and produces many frameworks, strategies, and action plans with the best of intentions, but since I have been in office, I have seen little come from these efforts in terms of what is happening on the ground in Hay River," said the MLA on June 1. "The wait list for community counselling in Hay River is still months long. They simply don't have the resources to keep up with the demand, meaning that many of the people who need treatment never end up receiving it."

Simpson thanked Abernethy for the "quite detailed" answer on the wait list.

And the MLA expressed concern about what happens after a person is accepted into counselling.

"The minister mentioned there's an eight-week waiting list," said Simpson. "But then, once people get into counselling, it’s still only once a month, maybe once every few weeks, which I believe is inadequate for most people."