Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alana Ross (far left) and Prince Albert Catholic Family Services Executive Director Louise Zurowski (mid left) speak at the funding announcement Wednesday afternoon. (Nolan Kowal/paNOW Staff)

By Nolan Kowal

Mental health support

‘It will help’: Provincial funding bolsters mental health supports in Prince Albert

Oct 18, 2023 | 5:00 PM

More mental health resources are coming to Prince Albert after the province announced $3.2 million in annual funding through Family Services Saskatchewan.

The province announced Wednesday that $1.7 million will go towards the expansion of rapid access counselling services for children and youth, along with another $1.5 million for ongoing services to adults and families.

“We have a number of youth and young children that are a part of our client load,” said Louise Zurowski, the executive director of Catholic Family Services of Prince Albert. “And so this program will hopefully address that need where people will be able to access and be able to get their kids into services sooner, and it will just be another resource for them.”

“It will help…to the extent that it will help, we will do the best that we can with the resources that we have and we always do take that attitude.”

Zurowski added that the new funding will also allow her staff to be more collaborative when working with clients. She said they see roughly 3,000 clients a year with a counsellor usually working with 50-60 clients at any given time.

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Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alana Ross said mental health support continues to be a priority for her government.

“We do as a government recognize the importance for the mental well-being of all the citizens of our province, and especially for our youth,” Ross said. “We will continue to work to support and provide the services.”

The province said the money will go towards support for a range of social issues, including stress, depression, family conflict, addictions, and domestic violence.

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nolan.kowal@pattisonmedia.com