'Save lives and change lives': New addictions recovery fund launched in Ontario

Provincial funding for addiction treatment From CTV Kitchener’s Stephanie Villella: The province announced new funding for mental health and addictions services.

The Ontario government has launched a new addictions recovery fund that will go towards expanding mental health and addiction supports.

The province will provide $90 million over a three-year period that will help make accessing enhanced specialized services easier.

Michael Tibollo, the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, was at the House of Friendship in Cambridge Friday morning to make the announcement.

“This is an important step forward to helping ensure individuals and families across the province have targeted, reliable access to high quality, recovery oriented, mental health and addiction support and services.”

The funding will go towards 396 new addiction treatment beds that will support up to 7,500 clients a year.

It will also include six new youth wellness clubs, two mobile health units and three new police-partnered mobile crisis response teams.

“We’re tying a lot of investments in places we know we’ve seen a large number of opioid overdoes,” Tibollo said. “This includes clients that are in the high need areas, which includes rural, Northern and Indigenous communities across the province.”

House of Friendship said the money will help fill existing gaps, adding since the start of the pandemic, wait times to accessing supports have doubled

“The mental health and addiction crisis that we currently find ourselves in is serious,” said Tara Groves-Taylor, addiction services director at House of Friendship. “These added resources will quite literally save lives and change lives.”