MPP Dave Smith Announces One-Time Investment in Talk Now Virtual Clinic
One-time Funding will Bolster Services and Enhance Capacity at Peterborough’s Mental Health and Addictions Clinic
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 15, 2022
Peterborough – Today, Dave Smith, Member of Provincial Parliament for Peterborough-Kawartha announced a $200,000 investment in Talk Now.
Talk Now is a virtual mental health and addictions clinic that offers free counselling by mental health and addictions professionals, supported by a nurse practitioner specializing in mental health. Talk Now delivers their services five days a week to individuals of all ages, including follow-up appointments.
“Our community faces immense challenges in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals and their families struggling with mental health and addictions need access to timely and quality support within our local community,” MPP Dave Smith said. “This investment in Talk Now builds those supports; it assists the clinic so that when someone calls the phone, it is answered by a trained professional with the resources to care for them.”
TALK NOW is a service offered in partnership between Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Peterborough Youth Services, Canadian Mental Health Association HKPR, Four Counties Addiction Services Team, Kinark Child and Family Services and Peterborough Family Health Team. Each organization is combines existing resources to staff the virtual clinic.
“On behalf of all of the partners involved in the TALK NOW initiative, I would like to thank MPP Dave Smith, Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health for today’s important funding announcement,” said Brenda Weir, Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive with Peterborough Regional Health Centre. “This one-time funding will support our partnership in continuing to offer the TALK NOW service for people of all ages in the Peterborough region, providing timely access to free counselling sessions with a mental health and addictions professional.”
The government of Ontario’s $3.8 billion 10-year Roadmap to Wellness plan focuses on closing gaps and building a patient-centred mental health and addictions system. This one-time funding is to sustain and enhance capacity in mental health and addictions services and supports, specifically within the community mental health, addictions, eating disorders, complex mental illness sectors, and Indigenous programs, with additional targeted investments for system enablers.
If you, or someone you know, needs help call Talk Now at 705 876 5826
QUICK FACTS
▪ In 2021, the government announced $500,000 in annual funding to strengthen and expand detox services at Fourcast
▪ The province is investing $1,000,000 annually in the Canadian Mental Health Association HKPR to operate two custom-built buses operating as mental health and addictions mobile clinics
▪ The Peterborough Opioid Response Hub, with $1,350,000 in annual funding, opened its doors in 2022
▪ A new pilot project, Moving Beyond Addiction, has received $375,000 in funding over an 18-month period in Peterborough City and County for 2022-2023