Community Action on Mental Health and Addiction
Thousands of Calgarians are affected by issues related to mental health and addiction every day. People need help, and many are falling through the cracks or getting lost between various systems of support. We need to help Calgarians access and navigate the important services and supports already available in our city. Change can’t wait!
The City of Calgary, in partnership with community leaders, has announced $1 million in funding for new and innovative ideas to help alleviate mental health and addiction issues in Calgary. This investment is meant to find new solutions to help Calgarians struggling with mental health and addictions challenges.
It’s just missing one thing… your great ideas.
No idea is too small or too big. Some will be simple, complete solutions that can be implemented with minimal investments; other ideas will require a bigger investment to move forward to that next step while showing results along the way.
Requirements
Whether you’re an individual with a great idea, a service provider with professional expertise, an innovator with creative solutions, or a service user with first-hand experience, we want to hear from you to solve two main problems. Your idea must propose a solution to address one of the two, or both.
Problem #1
Help for mental health and addiction can be hard to access.
Access means obtaining the care needed in the right place and at the right time.
- Mental health and addiction services include medical services, psychosocial services, and resources outside the formal service system such as peer and family support.
- Sometimes people don’t know where to get help or where to turn to for support.
- Even when people try to access support sometimes wait times are too long and they don’t get help when they need it.
Problem #2
Moving between different types of mental health and addiction services can be difficult without navigation support.
Navigation is the process of a person making their way through the health care and other support services in order to receive the assistance needed with the appropriate care provider.
- Calgarians dealing with mental health and addiction issues may need more than one service to address their, and their families’ needs.
- For some, it is hard to know how to move from one service to another.
- Sometimes it is hard to know what the best community care options are.
The deadline for ideas is February 16, 2020.
Visit calgary.ca/communityaction to find out more and submit an idea.
