Concerns over the school-based drug and alcohol prevention program coming to an end are unwarranted, according to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), which says the program will be enhanced this year.
Recently Coast Reporter ran a letter to the editor by former program co-ordinator Sheena Campbell, who said she was leaving the Sunshine Coast and noted the future of the program was "uncertain."
VCH denied there was any uncertainty this week, when media relations person Anna Marie D'Angelo said the program will continue in an expanded form.
"The person who wrote the letter has gone to a new job elsewhere. She resigned and that was effective at the end of August. So her job was co-ordinator of this program, and now we have it advertised for an adolescent mental health and addiction clinician," D'Angelo said.
Hiring a clinician for the position will allow for drug and alcohol counselling in schools, something Campbell was not qualified to offer.
"The position was more doing sessions in the classroom and engaging students. The qualifications for a clinician is they do that, and they can also take on a case load so they can do one-to-one counselling. So that really enhances the program," D'Angelo said.
She said the new position was posted after Campbell left because VCH had to wait until she officially resigned to advertise the new job.
"Whenever you have changing jobs, you can re-evaluate the position. We always review what we do from time to time and see how we can better provide the service for people, to find out if we are meeting the needs of clients and if there's anything we can do to enhance it," D'Angelo said.
She noted VCH will continue to run the program with a mental health and addictions focus and said the health authority will look at bringing special programs, such as the tobacco reduction program, into the school setting this year.
"The younger a person starts smoking, the more difficult it is later on to quit. So if you can catch that earlier and try to prevent it or stop it, people certainly benefit later on in life," D'Angelo said.
VCH is unsure when the new clinician will be hired to oversee the school-based drug and alcohol prevention program, as the job listing has not yet closed, but D'Angelo hopes they can make that announcement soon.
"We're really excited that we're going to bring this higher level of service for adolescents on the Sunshine Coast. It's wonderful," she noted.
