Local mental health staff played a round of golf at the Sechelt Golf and Country Club and dined at the Augusta Grill as part of a team-building training day this week.
"We had a round of golf this morning, and then we're having lunch, and then we'll spend the afternoon together and break into small groups," said Timothy Hayward, co-ordinator of adult short-term assessment and treatment services for Vancouver Coastal Health Mental Health. "We're trying to do a bit of planning, a bit of visioning, appreciate each other and develop a good teamwork model."
Hayward said he didn't know the cost of the all-day outing Tuesday, Oct. 20, but said that it didn't involve bringing in temporary staff replacements.
"We've scheduled around it," he said, when contacted in the midst of the event. "Essential services are still in operation."
Hayward said that this is the first time Vancouver Coastal Health Mental Health has hosted a team-building event at the golf club.
"This is something new," he said. "From time to time in the past we have had retreats historically, but nothing like this."
Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, said the golf course event may be useful for boosting morale, but the optics aren't good in a time of government cuts.
"As a former worker in this area, I do understand the need for maintaining morale. I think what you're really seeing is Vancouver Coastal and the government lowering morale so drastically in so many ministries that I've come across, and this might be an attempt to address that," he said.
"But I think it obviously doesn't look good in the midst of probably the most significant cuts to health and addiction services that Vancouver Coastal has seen in five years. I think people have a right to be asking questions when you juxtapose huge cuts to services that have been so essential to individuals and to families and to our community, and you see what appears to be a questionable cost."
