Two agencies that provide services to those with addictions and mental health concerns in Huron and Perth counties are joining forces.
It was announced on Monday that Choices for Change and Resilience Huron Perth are merging to become a branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. The organization will now be known as CMHA Huron Perth Addiction and Mental Health Services.
CEO Catherine Hardman says it really makes sense for them to merge the two organizations because the two organizations often see the same clients.
"It makes sense for us to do this because we have so many overlapping programs and our clients. And so, it really made more sense for us to be one and to be able to fully integrate our services and they won't get bounced between two different organizations depending on what their need is.”
She says the new structure will make it much easier for clients to access the service through one in-take and eventually one number to call and they won't have to repeat their story to several different people.
Hardman adds the incidence of mental health and addiction problems continues to grow so they have to streamline their system to address that growth. She says the pandemic has certainly had an impact, but she says the problem was growing even before the pandemic.
"The drugs that are out there now are very, very different than what they were at one time and I also think that people are talking about it more," she said. "It's always been there but I think there was, you know, a lot of stigma around it and lots of discrimination and that still happens, certainly, but there's more openness to talking about what's going on.”
Roughly 90 people work at CMHA Huron Perth Addiction and Mental Health Services. The new agency will continue have two offices in Stratford, two in Goderich, and one in Seaforth.