P.E.I. MLAs question province on how mental health campus will improve access to care

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Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.

Opposition MLAs questioned government officials during a standing committee meeting Wednesday about how the province’s new mental health campus will improve access to care. 

Liberal MLA Carolyn Simpson shared a personal story about her experience trying to get help for her husband, Dave, who died by suicide about five years ago. 

“I wasn’t heard, I wasn’t listened to and I tried every angle I could…. But the system was not there for him,” Simpson told officials with Health P.E.I. during the meeting.

“I recognize his illness was severe, and I recognize that his reality of living to be an old man was slimmer and slimmer as time went on. However, in that moment, I truly believe that had I been taken seriously, we might have had another intervention for him at that point in time.” 

Construction on the province’s mental health campus should be complete by 2028, including the decommissioning of the existing Hillsborough Hospital, say Health P.E.I. officials. (P.E.I. Department of Health and Wellness)

Simpson said being denied access to care for her husband may not have changed his outcome.

But as the province constructs its new mental health campus, she said the government needs to improve services for those advocating on a family member’s behalf. 

“When a family reaches crisis and they identify that they’re in crisis, you need to listen differently,” she said. 

Intervention and prevention

Health P.E.I. is working with families to understand how to better help their loved ones who are struggling — especially children, said Rebecca Jesseman, executive director of mental health and addictions with the provincial health authority.

“I’m truly confident that in a similar situation today we would be able to provide more options,” Jesseman said. 

“We’re certainly working with families in many of our child and youth programs, recognizing the importance of family member involvement, and we’ll continue to look into how to increase the program access.” 

Reaching people as early as possible is key, and education partners are best suited to be working with young people on a day-to-day basis, says Rebecca Jesseman, executive director of mental health and addictions with Health P.E.I. (Tony Davis/CBC)

Reaching people as early as possible is key, said Jesseman, and education partners are best suited to be working with young people on a day to day basis. 

Although student well-being teams are in place in schools across the Island, Green MLA Karla Bernard said they’re not enough. 

“We need to have a few full-time mental health professionals in schools to help kids in real time where they are, because that is true trauma-informed care,” Bernard said. 

As for timelines on the construction of the mental health campus, Jesseman said the plan is to open a mental health and transitions building this fall. 

The hope is to have the entire campus completed by 2028, she said, including the decommissioning of the existing Hillsborough Hospital.

Back in November, the province confirmed the overall cost of the new mental health campus, initially announced at $100 million, has gone up to more than $271 million.

If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where to get help:

This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you’re worried about.