Calls for better mental health supports in Manitoba’s north

A family from Norway House Cree Nation is calling for better mental health supports in their community, because they say their teenaged loved one is facing barriers when they reach out for help.

Maureen Albert says her now 14-year-old girl suffered a psychotic episode last April, when she was 13. The mother and daughter moved to Winnipeg for six months for in-patient treatment at the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre (MATC).

“One day she woke up and she wasn’t her,” said the girl’s aunt Suzan Alberta.

“We’re just trying to help her stay alive. To stay with us.”

Her family claims she began to receive medication and was discharged back to Norway House in October without proper support. They say the drugs, weekly virtual therapy appointments, and a monthly telehealth appointment with a psychiatrist are not helping.

“It doesn’t go away,” Suzan said. “She sleeps with it, they’re living in the community with it.

“There’s nobody (up north) that we can go to say, ‘I need help for her.’ We had hit barriers.”

They want a second opinion on treatment by someone from out of province, saying they were denied one by MATC.

“She needs answers. We need answers,” said Maureen. “We wanna know what’s wrong. Is it gonna go away?

“It’s an every day thing. It’s not just once in a while.”

At a press conference Wednesday, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Albert family put out calls for mental health supports in the province’s north.

“Your child deserves better care and we’re not getting it, and that’s why we’re here,” Suzan said. “We have to fight for their care.”

AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson says if programs like MATC can’t meet the need, then First Nations need funding to develop their own Indigenous-led programs in their communities.

Wilson is calling for mental-health resources in Manitoba for First Nations children, youth and families; referral and funding for out-of-province support when it’s not available in Manitoba in a timely manner; and funding for First Nations to develop capacity to address mental health for youth outside of urban settings.

“No longer will we accept a one-size-fits-all approach that disregards our knowledge, our traditions and our cultural values,” Wilson said.

CityNews reached out to Shared Health, who said thorough mental health assessments are an essential part of the care provided to patients at Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre, either in the hospital or through community programs.

“These assessments, along with clinical care and observation, occur throughout a patient’s admission and also prior to all planned discharges,” a spokesperson said in an email statement.

“After a hospital discharge, appointments and other ongoing treatments continue, and will vary depending on the needs of each patient, as deemed appropriate by their care team. Care plans developed for each patient may include medication, ongoing mental health treatment in the community, or referral to other community supports.”

The spokesperson said Patient Relations has been in touch, and Shared Health encourages Maureen and her family to continue working with their care team.

“There’s no relief,” Suzan said. “There’s nobody there that’s gonna say ‘OK, this is what’s wrong. This is what’s going on.’

“We just want to see her again. We want to see her, who she was before all of this.”