The Honourable John Haggie, Minister of Health and Community Services, provided an update on Towards Recovery: The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador this morning during a national ‘Stigma Ends With Me’ workshop at the Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland in St. John’s.
Reducing stigma is a key component in many of the recommendations in Towards Recovery, and the province is well ahead of schedule, with 28 of the 54 recommendations complete. The remaining 26 are in progress and will be completed on time.
For the workshop, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction in partnership with the Community Addictions Peer Support Association, brought together people with lived experience, health care professionals, Indigenous communities, academics, members of government, treatment providers, and community partners in harm reduction. The objective of the workshop was to create connections and build partnerships among participants, to continue to expand effective actions to confront and end stigma around mental health and addictions in Newfoundland and Labrador and across Canada.
Towards Recovery: The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador meets the commitment in The Way Forward to deliver better services and better outcomes for residents. The Way Forward outlines all actions the Provincial Government is taking to achieve a strong, diversified province with a high standard of living and can be viewed at: thewayforward.gov.nl.ca.
Quotes
“We each have a role in ending the stigma around mental health and addictions. By working together in partnership, we will change attitudes in our society. Stigma leads to silence and silence leads to death. We must end stigma by making mental illness part of our daily conversation so that people feel comfortable enough to speak up, reach out, and get the help they need.”
Honourable John Haggie
Minister of Health and Communities Services
“The negative language, attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate stigma are not always malicious, or even intentional, but they have, unfortunately, become normalized for all of us. To address stigma, we need to increase understanding one dialogue at a time. We need to find a new perspective so that we all can see the person behind the substance use disorder. Hosting this workshop is the first step towards ending the stigma that exists towards people with a substance use disorder.”
Rita Notarandrea
CEO of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
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Learn more
Towards Recovery: The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador
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Media contacts
Kathy Dicks-Peyton
Health and Community Services
709-729-6986, 699-1982
kathydickspeyton@gov.nl.ca
Scott Hannant
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
613-316-0796
shannant@ccsa.ca