Response to Ontario Budget 2018: OASW Applauds Investments in Mental Health and Welcomes Improved Access to Interprofessional Primary Care and Income Security Reform
TORONTO, March 28, 2018 /CNW/ - The Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW), the voice of social work in Ontario, applauds the Government of Ontario for prioritizing mental health and addictions services in the Budget for 2018. Additionally, we welcome expanded access to interprofessional primary care teams and Government's commitment to income security reform.
Joan MacKenzie Davis, OASW's CEO stated, "It is always a challenge for government to consider the needs of Ontarians against a balanced budget. We applaud the government for investing in mental health and reducing poverty today because it will provide a significant return in the form of future cost savings for government, particularly in health care, the largest expenditure in the province."
There are over 18,000 Registered Social Workers in Ontario, representing the third largest group of regulated health professionals in the province. Many social workers provide counselling and psychotherapy services to children, youth and adults. Social workers know first-hand about the challenges faced by those living with mental health and addictions concerns and the family members who support them. Many of these individuals experience barriers in accessing service due to excessive wait times and the availability and quality of services closest to home.
It is imperative that investments in mental health and addictions services be used to provide accessible, integrated and high quality mental health care to those who need it most. This is exactly what social workers do every day and we look forward to working with government on implementation to ensure social workers play a key role in these programs, particularly the expansion of access to publicly funded structured psychotherapy, a key recommendation of OASW.
Additionally, social workers make up a significant portion of health care professionals on interprofessional primary care teams. Evidence supports the effectiveness of collaborative care interventions and social workers provide essential mental health services to individuals in these settings. OASW welcomes the expansion of this valuable model of care into further communities across the province.
Finally, OASW has long championed increases to social assistance and transformation of this system into one that promotes respectful and meaningful collaboration to move Ontarians out of poverty. While the investments made by the Government of Ontario to increase social assistance rates in the 2018 Budget is not what OASW recommended, it is our hope that these signal a sustained and progressive approach by government to address poverty and we are committed to assisting the government in this process.
OASW is the voice of social work in Ontario. It is a voluntary, provincial, non-profit association representing approximately 5,300 social workers. All practicing members have a university degree in social work at the bachelor's, master's or doctoral level. OASW works actively to speak on behalf of social workers and advocate for the improvement of social policies and programs directly affecting social work practice and client groups served.
SOURCE Ontario Association of Social Workers
Rita Mascherin, OASW, [email protected], 416.923.4848 Ext. 224
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