Ministerial Statement – Recovery Forum Opportunity to Share Perspectives on Mental Health and Addictions Care

  • Health and Community Services

November 8, 2018

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable John Haggie, Minister of Health and Community Services:


Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House to highlight a two-day provincial Recovery Forum held in St. John’s this week.

Hosted by my department in close collaboration with the Recovery Council, more than 100 people came together to share their personal stories and experiences with mental health and addictions. This included people and families with lived experience throughout the province, regional health authority staff, and community partners.

The Recovery Forum was an opportunity for those with lived experience to share their stories and to provide varied perspectives and insight into mental health and addictions care in this province. Thank you for your courage to come forward, and for sharing your narratives.

Your voices are crucial to our work on Towards Recovery: The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador, and are grounding our decisions in reality as we continue to move forward. One year in, we have seen a 68 per cent reduction province-wide in the number of people waiting for counselling services.

One of the reasons we are making such progress is in large part because of the tremendous work being done by the Towards Recovery Team led by Colleen Simms. The team were recently recognized as part of the Public Service Award of Excellence ceremony. A well-deserved award for Ms. Simms and the rest of the team who are making a real difference in the lives of people and families in this province.

Let’s keep working together because one year in shows what can be achieved with a plan, a vision, determination and partnerships between people and families with lived experience, all stripes and levels of government, grassroots community partners, and health care providers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

2018 11 08 2:00 pm