First - let me just say that 10 years ago when I began on this journey with my daughter, budget days were the furthest thing from my radar and would not likely have been a subject I would have felt worthy of a blog.  This year, 10 years into my advocacy work, I was primed, waiting for the budget, planning my response and anticipating what work would lie ahead of us after its release. I was thinking about this the other night, how my life has changed in so many ways, not just in the day to day items, and how different my journey of parenthood has been compared to anything I imagined, but also in the way I think, what now interests me, what now gets my blood pumping, my career path, truly not a single molecule of my life has been left untouched by the fact that my daughter suffers from a mental illness.  

It changed our course forever.  Then I began to consider some of the things that I have learned almost by accident, because of my journey.  

For instance - how many people are truly aware that funding for treatment of child and youth mental health issues do not come from the Ministry of Long Term Health, but the Ministry of Child and Youth Services?  Really, how many people are aware that there even is a Ministry of Child and Youth Services?  When our children are sick we take them to the doctor, the hospital, the specialists, and we are fully aware of our Ministry of Health and why wouldn't we assume that this is the Ministry where our children's treatment of mental illness would come from.  It is an illness, we take our children to doctors to diagnose them, and yet, in fact, this is not the Ministry from which Children and Youth Mental Health Services are funded through. It has occured to me recently that this may well be one of the reasons a public push of the Government has not yet occurred.  Every year there is an increase in funding to our Health System.  Education gets increases, so children are covered right?  Wrong! The illness that is responsible for more deaths in young people than any other illness is mental illness.  Suicide is the leading cause of non accidental death in our children aged 10 - 19, and mental illness is the leading risk factor to suicide, 90% of all children who take their lives have a diagnosable and treatable mental illness.  Yet, in the last 17 years funding to treat these children has been increased only 3 times.  For the last 3 years in a row there have been no increases to these services.
So what right?  We are in a recession, everyone has to tighten the belts and make adjustments.  Well lets give this some perspective - other than the fact that suicide rates have been on the rise for 3 decades, and that alone to me seems like justification enough to invest in treatment for our children, but okay, lets look at it more pragmatically.  Since 1992 the rate of inflation has been 35.94%, increases in core funding to Children and Youth Mental Health care in that same time frame totals 7%.  After this budget, approximately 54% of agencies are having to reduce services due to the consistent stagnant funding constraints being placed on them because our Government will not invest in Children's Mental Health.  Already 75% of children with mental health disorders are not receiving treatment and this statistic comes from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, so it is not like the Government is unaware of the problem, they have statistics proving it, and still nothing. Because of this lack of investment that 75% of children not receiving treatment is going to rise, there is no way to deny that.  Depression is predicted to be the number 1 driver of health care costs, meaning that it will be the main reason our health care costs are increasing.  An illness that when treated early and effectively has a proven 70% success rate, is being ignored, so our children are being allowed to suffer, to continue to be told no treatment is available, and at worst, take their lives.  Not only that, The Auditor General reported that for every $1 investment into Children's Mental Health would see a $7 savings, and still nothing!  Children do grow up, they become adults, when allowed to continue without treatment for their illness they often times are unable to work needing Social Assistance, or end up being "housed" in our criminal justice system, they become ill needing more medical treatment, there is absolutely no sound reason morally or economically to continue to ignore these issues.  So why is the Government NOT investing?
I like to think of myself as a logical person, and this fails to appear logical to me.  Remove my passion for my daughter and my work, and my strong advocacy efforts, it still makes no sense.  My tax dollars are not being spent in ways that are the most economical, and certainly not in ways I would choose to invest in times of recessions.  

 Big bankers getting larger bonuses - does this help us as a Province?  Will their bonuses reduce costs in the long run?  Will their bonuses save literally thousands of lives?  Yet this is where our money is going.  Whether I had a child or not with a mental illness I would find this completely illogical.  An illness that can be treated early, has been proven to have success with treatment, and an illness that if not treated is costing our Province billions of dollars, yet the treatment will not be invested in.  No logic, I fail to see it, I fail to understand it.
That only 1 in 6 children receive treatment now is intolerable and would not be accepted if so few children were treated for a childhood illness such as diabetes or cancer;  that the situation will deteriorate due to no increase in funding is an abadonment of our children.  This budget has once again ignored the severity of the situation that our children face, it shows neglect and abdandonment of the children, youth, their families, and those who serve them and as a consequence we will see an increase in the number of child and youth lives lost.  What makes this even more intolerable is the fact that our leaders know precisely the risk of this neglect yet choose neglect anyway.  They should be ashamed of themselves.