Windsor lacks funds for mental health services 

The funding for mental health services is not enough to meet  needs in Windsor, social workers say.   

 Windsor does not have enough resources for the number of mentally ill people needing help. Windsor Regional Hospital has 30 acute beds for psychiatric patients and runs at over 100 per cent capacity, according to some nurses.  

 “Working in Detroit they have a ridiculous amount of community resources,” said Janice Ransom. “Windsor falls far behind in community resources.”  

Ransom has been in mental health field for 20 years. She used to work at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor as a mental health counselor. She now works at Development Centers in Detroit.  

“For children there’s very few resources and it takes months to get in a lot of cases,” said Ransom. “To see a psychiatrist it is extremely difficult, six months or longer wait.”  

The Ministry of Health and Long–term Care Services in Ontario has a budget of $63.5 billion dollars, and budgets  $174 million for mental health and addiction services, mental health and justice services, supportive housing and acute mental health impatient beds from 2019 to 2020.  

Sabrina Orlando, 24, is in the process of getting help for her mental illness. She has been on the wait list for months. Orlando can only use specific resources that her workplace, Lush, covers.   

“The hospital’s mental health resources are severely underfunded,” said Orlando. “There is no follow up, and the wait lists to get a social worker or counsellor is extremely long.”  

People who are mentally ill are being put on wait lists that are up to six months long according to Ransom.  

For more information on The Ministry of Health and Longterm Care Services visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/published-plans-and-annual-reports-2019-2020-ministry-health-long-term-care