The Saskatoon Health Region plans to lay off one of three youth addictions counselors at the Saskatoon Mental Health and Youth Addictions Centre. The move comes following a review of spending in all health region programs.
But the decision has attracted some criticism from groups across the city, including the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan. Karen Wasylenko, from the HSAS, says eliminating a counselor is an ill-advised plan. "There are other options here that the region could've addressed."
Wasylenko says youth are waiting more than one month to get in to see a counselor, and with only two available she now expects the wait time to double, which could be dangerous. She says waiting may give teens who have made the tough decision to get help enough time to change their minds about treatment.
"I think this is a very important position for youth suffering from addictions. It just seems like an unjustified layoff," says Wasylenko.
Tracy Muggli, with the health region, disagrees with the union's claim that treatment will be delayed. "There's not a wait list. So people can get in pretty much right away after they call through our central intake system."
The health region says the number of teens coming in for addiction counseling has been steady, but it was always under control.
"We looked at this program and because we didn't' have a waitlist, we thought we could manage it without having any negative implications for the clients that we serve," says Muggli.
The Health Sciences Association was shocked by this answer. It says it has received multiple calls from employees in the region complaining about their teenage patients waiting for counseling.
The association plans to continue to put pressure on the region to reverse its layoff decision.
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