Addiction and mental health services engagement

Status: Completed
Ministry responsible: Health
Completed: 2018

Overview

Alberta is working to improve the addiction and mental health system. About 20% of people will experience an addiction or mental health issue in their lifetime. When seeking treatment, it's important they receive safe, quality care and consumer protections.

One of the key actions in the Valuing Mental Health: Next Steps report is to develop regulations and standards for service providers and treatment facilities.

Stronger safeguards and consumer protections will help protect people from physical, mental and financial harm when receiving treatment and services.

Engagement

Albertans were invited to complete a survey to provide input on ways to better protect people seeking addiction and mental health services, such as:

potential core standards to ensure a minimum and consistent level of quality care and safety in addiction and mental health facilities
create standards so important fee and service information is available upfront so people can make informed decisions before signing anything
possible minimum standards for professionals working in the mental health and addictions field

Under the existing system, there is limited regulation of addiction and mental health services or treatment facilities outside of those provided through Alberta Health Services. This means there is no oversight on:

who can open residential addiction treatment centres
what services are provided or if they’re based on science or evidence
how much patients are charged

The survey closed Sept. 14, 2018. Thank you for your input.

Outcomes

Input received from Albertans helped inform proposed legislation to establish a new professional regulatory college and licensing requirements to protect Albertans receiving mental health services or attending residential addiction treatment facilities.