An individual’s mental health is the most important thing keeping oneself regulated in their everyday lives.
Over the course of a year, one in five Canadians experiences a mental illness, and for Canadians over the age of forty, one in every two will have or have had a mental illness in the past.
Addiction has grown rampant over the last five years with the deaths contributed to drugs going up by more than 500%. Last year the drug overdose deaths were 464; for 2020 it was 327; in 2019 it was 179; in 2018 it was 139; and in 2017 that number was ninety-five.
Both topics are extremely important and affect a vast number of people annually.
Recently a new mental health and addictions centre opened in Moose Jaw and was unveiled by Alliance Health on August 2, 2022. The In-Patient, Residential Mental Health and Addictions Centre, is located at 401 Trinity Lane within Wakamow Valley.
The goal of this new centre is to lower the rising rates of mental health and addictions using a different approach than other mental health and addictions centres have used for the past hundred years.
Currently, they have seventeen beds available, with seventeen more beds being added, which will put the total number of beds to thirty-four.
The cost is half the price of the second lowest therapy cost in (Western) Canada, says CEO of Alliance Health, Dr. Mark Lemstra, as he looked at the cheapest programs in western Canada.
My first thought is we will have a much better shot if it is not group based, if (we) meet with you as an individual and we talk about your individual problems and your individual solutions, I think we will have a much better shot," says Dr. Lemstra
Dr. Lemstra approaches addiction and mental health in a unique way, partially due to his personal experience of losing both of his brothers to addiction, in two vastly diverse ways.
"My brothers were both completely different, so I have kind of two different viewpoints from it. My oldest brother was the stereotypical addict, that was homeless most of his life, on social assistance for most of his life, and suffered a lot, and he was addicted to many forms of drugs and alcohol, and he passed at a young age on the streets,” says Dr. Lemstra. “My other brother was completely different; he was a professional engineer, and he had an addiction in silence, and he just passed away one day in his apartment. Both were very young."
The Alfred Adler’s theory of individual psychology approach is known as Teleology. Adler's theory states a frame of context around “what I need to do today, to help you today, to make a change today, and then let us plan for tomorrow.” Adler felt that to make a productive change in one’s life we must bury the past. This might not work for everyone, but at least now we have two options.
"I think we need to be much more humble when it comes to mental health and addiction and say we don't really know a lot. My first thought is we will have a much better shot if it is not group based, if we meet with you as an individual and we talk about your individual problems and your individual solutions, I think we will have a much better shot," says Dr. Lemstra.
Additionally, Dr. Lemstra has made thirty substantial changes to his program that he has observed over the years. One of these substantial changes is group therapy. All therapy is group-based therapy, but that does not always work for a couple of reasons. The first reason is, for some people, it is exceedingly difficult to share these vulnerable topics, the second reason is, what happens if you are in a career that could be in danger if it is found out that you are struggling with addiction, like a police officer, a surgeon, or a teacher.
Another substantial change for this program would be family involvement. In all programs family members are not allowed any contact with the individual in the program, at this new addiction centre however families are welcomed and must be involved every step of the way.
The centre's newest plan entail an instruction by Dr. Lemstra for the office manager at the new centre to stay in touch with key figures from the community like the police chief. If there are empty rooms available, they will be set up so that they can be filled with people from the community that don’t have a place to stay.
"When those rooms are empty, we need to put people that are in need of shelter in those empty rooms. I am not going to have any empty rooms, and they will all leave with a good breakfast made by Families for Change," promises Dr. Lemstra.
To learn more about Alliance Health and the new mental health and addictions center you can visit their website at https://www.alliancehealth.ca/.
Dr. Lemstra approaches addiction and mental health in a unique way, partially due to his personal experience of losing both of his brothers to addiction, in two vastly diverse ways.
"My brothers were both completely different, so I have kind of two different viewpoints from it. My oldest brother was the stereotypical addict, that was homeless most of his life, on social assistance for most of his life, and suffered a lot, and he was addicted to many forms of drugs and alcohol, and he passed at a young age on the streets,” says Dr. Lemstra. “My other brother was completely different; he was a professional engineer, and he had an addiction in silence, and he just passed away one day in his apartment. Both were very young."
The Alfred Adler’s theory of individual psychology approach is known as Teleology. Adler's theory states a frame of context around “what I need to do today, to help you today, to make a change today, and then let us plan for tomorrow.” Adler felt that to make a productive change in one’s life we must bury the past. This might not work for everyone, but at least now we have two options.
"I think we need to be much more humble when it comes to mental health and addiction and say we don't really know a lot. My first thought is we will have a much better shot if it is not group based, if we meet with you as an individual and we talk about your individual problems and your individual solutions, I think we will have a much better shot," says Dr. Lemstra.
Additionally, Dr. Lemstra has made thirty substantial changes to his program that he has observed over the years. One of these substantial changes is group therapy. All therapy is group-based therapy, but that does not always work for a couple of reasons. The first reason is, for some people, it is exceedingly difficult to share these vulnerable topics, the second reason is, what happens if you are in a career that could be in danger if it is found out that you are struggling with addiction, like a police officer, a surgeon, or a teacher.
Another substantial change for this program would be family involvement. In all programs family members are not allowed any contact with the individual in the program, at this new addiction centre however families are welcomed and must be involved every step of the way.
The centre's newest plan entail an instruction by Dr. Lemstra for the office manager at the new centre to stay in touch with key figures from the community like the police chief. If there are empty rooms available, they will be set up so that they can be filled with people from the community that don’t have a place to stay.
"When those rooms are empty, we need to put people that are in need of shelter in those empty rooms. I am not going to have any empty rooms, and they will all leave with a good breakfast made by Families for Change," promises Dr. Lemstra.
To learn more about Alliance Health and the new mental health and addictions centre you can visit their website at https://www.alliancehealth.ca/.
