Response Paper: Building BC’s Recovery, Together

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Over the past month, the BC government has been soliciting feedback, ideas, and priorities for our province’s economic recovery. The discussion paper, Building BC’s Recovery, Together, asked key questions like:

  • What do we need to do together to strengthen and improve our health care system?
  • What is the top priority for you personally when it comes to improving your quality of life?
  • What would most help improve your work life or work prospects?
  • Are we on the right track? Do you see your concerns and needs reflected in this approach?

Last week, The Federation submitted our official response to the discussion paper laying out two central recommendations that we believe need to be prioritized.

  1. That the provincial government ensures reconciliation is truly and structurally at the heart of our economic recovery.
  2. That the provincial government prioritizes investments in BC’s community social services sector as part of the economic recovery.

You can read an excerpt from our response paper below. The entire submission can be viewed here.

While this crisis has demonstrated the importance of a strong social care system, it has also laid bare some of the gaps in the system that still exist. The fact that social services have been more urgently needed than ever does not mean the inequities and barriers that challenge our sector have magically disappeared. In many ways, our province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a shining example of how to handle a crisis. But BC’s social services sector has been in crisis for decades.

Ours is a sector that has to fight tooth and nail to provide basic supervision and training for people who work with traumatized children. Ours is a sector where losing one contract means organizations are faced with the prospect of having to close their doors for good. In spite of all these barriers and risks, BC’s social services sector accomplished remarkable things over the past few months in unprecedented conditions. But issues related to wage gaps, funding structures, and procurement continue to cause stress and, if not addressed, could weaken this essential sector at a time when it is most needed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made apparent the strength and potential of BC’s social services sector but it has also exposed the frailty and vulnerability of this essential sector in ways that are hard to ignore. As you consider the goals and priorities for this recovery, we urge you to (1) ensure reconciliation is truly and structurally at the heart of this recovery and to (2) include BC’s community social services sector as a key partner in achieving those goals.

BC Social Care Oral History Project

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All the way back in 2011, The Federation and the United Community Services Coop (now Realize Strategies) partnered on a pilot project to interview social sector leaders and document the oral history of their careers and of the sector at large. We were really excited about the opportunity and even had a potential funding source lined up but unfortunately, that funding never materialized and the project was put on hold.

In 2019, guided by The Federation’s strategic plan, the project was brought back to life and we began conducting interviews with sector leaders across the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented us from conducting any interviews over the past six months, but we didn’t want that to stop the project from moving forward.

So this week, we are both publicly launching the Social Care Oral History Project and opening nominations for the next round of interviews to (hopefully) take place in the fall and winter. As of today, you can visit the Federation website to read the full transcripts and watch clips from our initial interviews with Jennifer Charlesworth, George Klukowski, Norma Strachan, Kendra Gage, and Tim Agg as well as the original two pilot project interviews with Ian Mass and Tim Beachy.

You can also use this form to nominate the people that you think we should talk to next. (You can submit as many names as you want.) We’re looking for people who have stories to tell, who have attempted or accomplished significant things, who survived challenges, and who have important lessons and insights to share.

The goal of this project is to inspire the future of BC’s social care sector by documenting and sharing it’s past. Over the coming months and years, more and more stories and interviews will be recorded, edited, transcribed, and then added to a growing archive of our collective history, knowledge, and experiences.

This sector is full of valuable wisdom and important history—stories and moments that show what altogether better really means. We believe this project will prove invaluable for raising awareness about the social care sector, paying homage to past leaders, recruiting future leaders, disseminating knowledge and best practices all while strengthening our sense of community.

If you want to get involved or have questions or comments, please contact marshall@fcssbc.ca or rebecca@fcssbc.ca.

Rebecca Ataya Lang
Associate Executive Director

Marshall Watson
Communications Coordinator

 

Check out the rest of the clips and interviews here.

Federation Research Bulletin: July 2020

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This month’s research bulletin includes new articles and reports about youth substance use, treatment needs and barriers to accessing services, hospital stays relate to youth substance use, and a systematic review of youth substance use interventions.

  1. Youth Substance Use Services in BC: An Update (2020)
  2. Assessing service and treatment needs and barriers of youth who use illicit and non-medical drugs (2019)
  3. Interventions for Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents: A Systematic Review (2020)
  4. Hospital Stays for Harm Caused by Substance Use Among Youth Age 10 to 24 (2019)

For more information, research to share, or feedback about how we can make this member service more useful, please contact us—we’d love to hear from you.

1. Youth Substance Use Services in BC: Update (2020)

This report provides an update to the 2016 inventory of youth substance use services in British Columbia conducted by the BC the Representative for Children and Youth. This report provides a new baseline of substance use services for youth that will allow the representative to measure and publicly report on progress made by ministries and health authorities to improve access to and information about youth substance use services in BC.

The report contains a number of significant findings that are detailed at length. Among many others: (1) the landscape of youth substance use services in BC is complicated, with no centralized point for access or information; (2) youth-specific substance use services are limited across BC; (3) information about services is hard to come by; (4) cultural safety training does not necessarily result in culturally safe service; and (5) available services are not always accessible.

The report also highlights the fact that many youth are also getting caught between two streams of funding: youth mental health services funded by MCFD and youth substance use services funded by the Ministry of Health. This means that youth with concurrent mental health and substance use concerns are unable to access either service due to eligibility criteria or lack of staff training on concurrent disorders.

2. Assessing service and treatment needs and barriers of youth who use illicit and non-medical drugs (2019)

The goal of this study was to assess specific service and treatment needs for youth who use illicit drugs in Northern Ontario as well as the barriers and deterrents they face in accessing and utilizing services and treatments.

The study identified an overall lack of services available to youth. More specifically, barriers to accessing treatment and services included: lack of motivation, stigmatization, long wait-lists, and transportation/mobility issues. The needs articulated by the youth interviewed revolved around the necessity of harm reduction-based services, low-threshold programs, specialized programming, and peer-based counselling.

Although each community varied in terms of drug use behaviours and available services, there was an obvious lack of service availability and an overall need for youth-specific, low-threshold, and accessible services as well as wrap-around treatment options and support navigating service systems.

3. Interventions for Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents: A Systematic Review (2020)

This in-depth and extensive report from the US systematically reviewed an array of substance use interventions for youth and adolescents in order to help health care decision-makers, clinicians, and policymakers improve the quality of services available to youth with substance use disorders.

The researchers found that motivational interviewing for adolescents with problematic substance use reduced both heavy alcohol use and overall days of use (and may also decrease problems related to substance use, such as missing school or work. Among intensive interventions, family therapy (with a focus on intervening in the entire family system) was the most effective. Neither brief motivational interviewing nor intensive interventions appeared to reduce cannabis use but combined cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing did decrease illicit drug use.

4. Hospital Stays for Harm Caused by Substance Use Among Youth Age 10 to 24 (2019)

There is limited analysis of indicators of harm caused by substance use among youth—such as emergency department visits and hospitalizations—but studies suggest that harmful substance use is a growing issue for youth in Canada. This report takes a closer look at who is being hospitalized for harm and for which substances in order to help inform efforts to improve access to services for youth. It provides a Canada-wide snapshot of hospitalizations for harm caused by substance use among youth age 10 to 24 in 2017–2018.

Key findings include: (1) one out of every 20 hospital stays among youth in Canada were related to harmful substance use in 2017–2018; (2) about 70% of hospital stays for harm caused by substance use among youth involved care for a concurrent mental health condition; and (3) hospitalization rates higher for youth living in lower-income neighbourhoods or rural and remote areas.