Yellowknife — September 17, 2024
In February 2023, the Addictions Prevention and Recovery Services Work Plan (2022-2024) was released. As of today, at the plan’s conclusion, 100% of the action items in the Work Plan have been completed.
The Work Plan contained 24 action items to strengthen addictions and wellness programs for residents of the Northwest Territories (NWT). The items in the plan responded to the Auditor General of Canada’s recommendations, delivered in 2022.
The completed action items include:
- Established a Territorial Addictions Working Group to support collaboration among key stakeholders.
- Determined best practices for categorizing demographic information and approach for the NWT addictions recovery system.
- Combined the Community Counselling Program Service-User Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Addictions Recovery Experience Survey into a single Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Experiences Questionnaire that includes additional demographic categories.
- Administered the Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Experiences Questionnaire across the NWT using a mixed method (online and paper-based surveys).
- Completed a review of best practices and national standards in addiction recovery and aftercare.
- Developed a process for aftercare planning and documentation that consistently aligns with person-centered practice and cultural safety.
- Developed Standard Operating Procedures and tools to support providers in the implementation of the aftercare planning approach.
- Developed a Cultural Safety and Anti-Racism Tool that will function as a lens for Health and Social Services staff as they develop internal and external documents, programs and policies.
- Reviewed the Community Counselling Program Standards and the Facility Based Addictions Treatment Program Manual using this lens. Created updated drafts of these documents.
- Created and implemented an overarching logic model and monitoring framework for all core mental wellness and addictions recovery programs to support informed decision making.
The GNWT recognizes the importance of transparency and accountability and has developed an online action tracker that enables residents to stay informed of the progress made on each of the action items in the Work Plan.
Quote(s)
"The completion of all action items in the Addictions Prevention and Recovery Services Work Plan marks a significant milestone in our commitment to strengthening mental wellness and addictions recovery services in the NWT. These achievements reflect our dedication to creating a culturally safe, equitable, and accessible system that meets the needs of NWT residents. Moving forward, these initiatives will be embedded within our programs to ensure lasting and meaningful support for those who need it."
- Lesa Semmler, Minister of Health and Social Services
Quick facts
- The Addictions Prevention and Recovery Services Work Plan responded to issues identified through the 2022 Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) Report and Standing Committee on Government Operations.
- The Work Plan identified five areas within the addictions prevention and recovery system needing improvement to address the seven recommendations from the OAG:
- Increased understanding of residents’ self-determined mental wellness and addictions recovery needs to inform program planning and priority setting;
- Enhanced partnerships with Indigenous Governments and communities to ensure a continuum of services that better meets the needs of residents dealing with addictions;
- Improved access to culturally safe addiction prevention and recovery services;
- Increased consistency in coordination of addictions services and aftercare; and
- Enhanced ability to track community-identified and service user-identified outcomes.
- To date, all 24 action items have been completed.
Related links
For media requests, please contact:
Andrew Wind
Manager, Communications
Health and Social Services
Government of the Northwest Territories
(867) 767-9052 ext. 49034