The B.C. government announced a new effort Wednesday to bolster the mental health and addictions workforce in the province. 

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside, alongside Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu, appeared outside the Vernon Health Centre July 31 to announce that the Health Career Access Program (HCAP) is being expanded into mental health and addictions care. 

HCAP has trained more than 8,000 people as health-care support workers in long-term care homes, assisted living facilities, home support and acute care settings since it began in 2020. The expansion of the program will aim to fill roles in ther mental health and addictions workforce by offering a fully funded certificate program and an educational stipend throughout their training period. 

The first group of 30 students began their training in May, and a second group is slated to begin in September. The first cohort involves students from across the Interior Health Authority, including Vernon, Penticton, Enderby, Kelowna and Kamloops. It is being provided via remote education through Vancouver Island University.

Whiteside said the province is aiming to recruit and train up to 500 students across B.C.

The announcement came one day after the BC Coroners Service reported that there were 181 deaths due to unregulated drugs in May of this year, and 185 such deaths in June. 

"We continue, as a province, to be in the grips of a terrible crisis," Whiteside said, while commending Vernon's Mental Health and Substance Use division, the Vernon branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, local addiction treatment centre Bill's Place, and "all of our partners that are really trying to turn the tide on that crisis."

"We understand that the lives that we are losing to the toxic drug crisis are absolutely irreplaceable," Whiteside continued. "Every life matters."

Asked which kind of mental health and addictions professionals are most needed in the province currently, Whiteside said there are shortages across the board, including community support workers, psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, and social workers.

She said the aim is to start filling these positions "very soon," with the first cohort finishing their education at the end of this year, to start filling positions in January. 

Whiteside said the HCAP program was put in place as a way to bring more workers into the health care sector during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it has been "phenomenally successful."

"I am so pleased that we are taking the success that we've had in that area of our health care system and we are expanding that program for people who want a career in the mental health and addictions support field," she said.

Sandhu called the expansion of the program "one of those very significant puzzle pieces" that needs to be in place to provide better mental health and addictions support to people across the province.

Michelle Newall, a participant in the first HCAP cohort, joined the politicians at the announcement, giving an emotional speech about how enroling in HCAP has been "life-changing."

She said she enroled after taking a position as a medical office assistant at the Downtown Vernon Mental Health and Substance Use Clinic, which inspired her to "learn how to help people in a more meaningful way."

The program enables people like herself, who have kids and bills to pay, "embark on a fulfilling career without being buried under a mountain of debt."

Heather Herman, Interior Health manager of community mental health and substance use, said recruiting in the health sector has been "exceptionally challenging," adding the region faces "a growing need for qualified workers."

"The Health Career Access Program is a lifeline creating opportunities for individuals who are passionate about health care but might lack the traditional qualifications," Herman said. 

The HCAP expansion is supported by $43.3 million from the 2023 budget over three years.