Mental health funding cut could affect 70 Bonnyville children: CAMHC

Image: Bonnyville Child & Adolescent Mental Health Collaborative. Town council is being asked to pick up the shortfall, as provincial dollars are cut. 

Roughly 70 children and families accessing mental health resources in Bonnyville may soon be discharged with few alternatives following the news that a provincial funding stream is cutting critical dollars.

The Child & Adolescent Mental Health Collaborative (CAMHC) alerted Bonnyville town council last Tuesday of their “significant funding challenge” which will impact local mental health support for youth aged 6-17 dealing with ADHD, anxiety, and depression.

Recovery Alberta, established July 2024 in the provincial government’s overhaul of AHS, was one of the key funding streams they use.

With a different mandate now, Recovery told (CAMHC) that the $67,700 annual contribution will be cut as of March 31, 2025.

In hopes of council support, a letter was submitted to council, outlining that Recovery Alberta has provided no contingency plan to replace the program.

“The loss of this funding presents a significant challenge to our program, which has been supported by both the Town and the Municipal District of Bonnyville since 2016,” it reads.

“Currently, we serve over 70 young people and their families, with new referrals continuing to come in from schools, local physicians, and providers who see unattached patients.

“Without funding, we will be left with just 60 days to discharge vulnerable youth with no clear alternative for care.”

Navigator position affected

The Town and M.D. have been consistent funding partners of $25,000.

In September 2024, the collaborative came to the table asking for an additional $50,000 to increase supports, which the Town increased to a total contribution of $50,000 in the recent budget.

That would increase the ask as of Tuesday of another $25,000, and $50,000 requested to the M.D. of Bonnyville, to finish out the year.

That $67,700 was used for the mental health navigator position, the center piece of the entire operation.

This individual does referral coordination and intake, finding the mental health supports, operations and management of assessment clinic, amongst other roles.

The Mental Health Collaborative Program is under the guise of Bonnyville Primary Care. Without it, the clinic structure will be affected, with how local physicians have used this program for patients, taking some strain and workload off of the doctors.

‘Confusing messaging’, says Mayor about Province

Other grant programs and corporate sources are being sought after, like the big oil companies. A federal grant, called “Mental Health Initiatives”, could provide $500,000 over four years.

“It bothers me,” said Mayor Elisa Brosseau on The Morning After. 

“We go to these conferences and we talk to ministers, and they often will tell us, you come up with a solution. Then we come to the table and say this is a solution for our municipality, or this is a solution that would work for us, right?

“Then, on the other hand, they say, no, we can’t do that. It’s a confusing messaging to the municipalities.” 

Brosseau said council will discuss it at their next meeting on Feb. 25.

“It would affect up to 70 families. That’s a lot. And so without the lack of the support, where are these local families going to go? We need to take that into consideration.”

The CAMHC is currently operating out of the top floor at The Hive.