This is an excellent question. I think in the programming that we are offering there has never been a hidden agenda to say this is not an existing problem. It's an existing problem, but we have missed an element that appears now in this framework, which is moving forward with helping people to participate actively in their community and in the economy.
There was one thing that we fell short of in the program. We were dealing with the crisis, dealing with the addiction problem, but then not really looking much at the aftercare and the support in the community. This is something that we are adding to the program, because to deal with the pure element of stigma we need to help the clients, those who are affected by these problems, to take back their lives and be active on the economic side, by going back to school...supporting there.
The connection with the other types of programs in the provincial and territorial services is also very important, because if we only take a health approach to it, we deal with the health issue. Really if we want to bring those who are affected by mental health and addiction issues back into having control of their lives, we need to have a connection with these other programs to help people move forward in their lives after they have been dealing with a crisis or an addiction problem.
Maybe this is not a straight answer to stigma, because we are so immersed in trying to deal with the issue that the element of stigma is not always coming up front. I think the way to deal with stigma is the addition of these components into our intervention, which is to help the person to move ahead with his or her life after treatment and deal with the addiction problem or crisis.