Thank you very much, Sarah.
Thank you to the chair and the committee for the opportunity to be here today.
CMHA B.C., through these bilateral health agreements, has received funding that has supported children, youth and families across the province of British Columbia, reducing strain on primary care providers and the hospital system, and thereby reducing health spending.
One example of a program is Confident Parents: Thriving Kids, a free, province-wide coaching service for families supporting children experiencing mild to moderate anxiety and behavioural challenges, which is really important, because untreated childhood mental health concerns often worsen over time, increasing the likelihood of more serious illness later in life.
This service helps families access support early, before problems escalate into a crisis. It also supports pediatricians, family physicians, school counsellors and other frontline providers by offering timely, community-based care at no cost to families. The results have been significant for thousands of people across B.C. Families report reduced anxiety and behavioural challenges, improved mental health functioning and stronger family well-being. We know these kids stay in school.
For many young people and families, there is no comparable alternative waiting in the public system. The federal funding to date has helped to increase access to many other community-delivered programs and service across this country, such as structured psychotherapy and counselling supports in Ontario and Quebec, intensive addiction interventions for at-risk youth in Alberta and 24-7 provincial mobile mental health crisis supports in P.E.I.
These are not nice-to-have ancillary services. They are core to a well-functioning health system.
Without renewed federal investment, these services that are relied upon to keep people well may have to be scaled back or end altogether. This means that kids and parents will sit on wait-lists for longer, get sicker and ultimately end up costing our health systems more, not to mention the significant social impact associated with supporting people experiencing an acute mental health or addictions crisis.
CMHA is recommending that the federal government ensure the continuity of such services by renewing the dedicated 10-year, $5-billion investment in mental health and addiction care for Canadians.
My last comment, Chair—