Joy MacPhail, Chair of the Adler University Board of Trustees, published an op-ed in the Vancouver Sun addressing the British Columbia’s new 10-year vision for mental health and addictions care. Under the plan, called “A Pathway to Hope,” the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction will create a more inclusive and integrative approach to care. MacPhail cited this as “a step in the right direction to improve the well-being of all citizens.”

British Columbia has the highest rate of hospitalization due to mental illness and substance use in Canada. Colonialism and racism have also contributed to disproportionally poorer mental health outcomes from Indigenous peoples.

“By engaging First Nations communities to design and deliver mental health services, the plan will begin to reduce the barriers to mental health care that Indigenous peoples currently experience,” MacPhail said. “Key to the ministry’s plan is the creation of seamless and integrated mental health services, an approach that would strengthen the opportunity for early intervention and ensure the accessibility and appropriateness of needed services.”

Read more in the Vancouver Sun op-ed, “Joy MacPhail: We need to fix social problems to improve mental health in B.C.”