"Interior
Health requires a qualified Mental Health Advocate to provide
individual and systemic advocacy for persons with a mental
illness who live in South Okanagan/Similkameen communities.
The contract would provide approximately 15 hours of advocacy
per week."
BC
Bid® Solicitation Number: 06-07 002
On October
30, 2001, the Campbell government eliminated the position
of the Mental Health Advocate. You can no longer find the
news release about that sacking on the government website
because everything before the May 17th, 2005, election has
been purged from the site. At the time of the sacking, the
government claimed that the appointment of Gulzar Cheema,
(MLA for Surrey-Panorama Ridge), as Minister of State for
Mental Health made the advocate redundant. Cheema soon showed
himself to be just another partisan, and the role of Minister
of State for Mental Health was eliminated after Cheema resigned
to unsuccessfully run in the federal election. It is virtually
impossible to get any details from the Campbell government
or its health authorities on expenditures or outcomes in
mental health.
The
Interior Health Authority has received a lot of criticism
for its many mistakes, from the Fanny
Albo case which involved separation and death of a couple
who had been married for 70 years, to the emergency
room crisis at the Kelowna General Hospital. Last week
the Interior Health Authority appears to have done something
right by acknowledging that the Campbell government made
a big mistake when it fired the Mental Health Advocate.
The BC Bid® website contains a
posting from the Authority for a Mental Health Advocate.
According to the request for proposals, issued on May 12th
and scheduled to close on June 8th:
"The
Advocacy Program addresses power imbalances. Through Advocacy,
people who feel they have been treated unfairly or that
their rights and entitlements have been ignored, or who
disagree with how programs and services have been delivered
to them, are heard by those who have authority to make decisions.
Sometimes, however, individual Advocacy is not enough. Action
must occur at a political or societal level before changes
benefiting individuals can occur. In addition to building
self-esteem and empowerment, Advocacy is a right to which
all people with a mental illness are entitled. The goal
of the Mental Health Advocate is to enhance the quality
of life and recovery of people with a mental illness through
this Program." (emphasis added)
It seems
to be the year for the Campbell government to admit it went
overboard and made mistakes in its first term. Even if the
latest admission comes from its agent, the Interior Health
Authority, it is welcome news to hear a government agency
say that "Action must occur at a political or societal
level before changes benefiting individuals can occur."
Hopefully the Campbell government will take the next step
and fully disclose what mental health services are being
provided compared to what services are needed.
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