New Brunswick needs to double addictions and mental health care spending

Mental health refers to a person’s psychological and emotional well-being which may be negatively impacted under various circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the rate of mental health challenges due to the social isolation many New Brunswickers experienced. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), 27.9 per cent of New Brunswickers indicated having difficulties with their mental health in 2024. Additionally, Statistics Canada reports that New Brunswick has the third highest suicide rate among all Canadian provinces, with 15.1 deaths per population of 100,000. It is crucial that New Brunswickers have access to timely and effective mental health services.

Unfortunately, in New Brunswick there are limited and inadequate supports for individuals seeking mental health care.

Mobile crisis teams and mental health supports are only available during limited hours. This forces patients to seek support through emergency departments which are not equipped to adequately address mental health crises. To make matters worse, wait times for mental health interventions are unacceptable. According to a recent Auditor General report, from 2022 to 2024, only 44 per cent of patients assessed as high priority received treatment within the Department of Health’s 14-day target.

In 2024-25, the Government of New Brunswick spent approximately $223 million dollars on mental health and addictions services, accounting for a mere 6 per cent of the total health budget. This is completely inadequate considering that the CMHA recommends spending 12 per cent of the total health budget on mental health and addictions services. This results in the lack of and underfunding of the services.

As the mental health and addictions crisis continues to progress in New Brunswick, it is vital that the Holt government heed CMHA’s recommendation and double the mental health and addictions budget to $446 million in Tuesday’s budget. This would enable more New Brunswickers to access more diverse and targeted supports, better aimed at addressing and alleviating negative mental health.

There are many areas where the money could be effectively spent; however two immediate areas that would improve access to care are expanded mobile crisis response teams and the availability of emergency mental health services outside of hospitals. For example, in Fredericton, mobile crisis response teams are only in action from noon to 10 PM, not considering the fact that mental health crises can also occur throughout the evening. They need funding to operate 24/7 to meet the needs of New Brunswickers. Similarly, if the community mental health centres in our cities were equipped to offer 24/7 walk-in emergency services, this would help ease the strain on emergency rooms in our hospitals.

Much needs to be done to improve access to mental health services in New Brunswick, but it begins with a recognition from the Holt government that far more money is required to provide the needed services. Without the proper funding, mental health among New Brunswickers will continue to decline.

Chloe Wright, Evan Jollimore, Hannah Gillam and Jenna Sweeney are social work students doing a social action placement researching mental health policies at Green Party Leader David Coon’s legislative office.