A look at mental health care in Princeton
Similkameen SpotlightNov 15, 2018
After a year of searching, a mental health and substance use clinician has been hired full time for the community, according to
Duchene has been employed as a Community Mental Health Clinician since 2006. She holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from
"It's really, I think, a good news story," said Fraser. "I think we are feeling pretty good about the situation right now."
A replacement was hired, but that worker was terminated last November by
Fraser would not comment on the nature of the complaints received.
While a full time and permanent counsellor was being sought, local patients were seen by out of town professionals.
"We were stick-handling with some casual resources."
Fraser said it is unfortunate it took so long to hire a clinician.
"It's not unusual to have recruiting challenges for smaller communities. We've been experiencing this in numerous other small communities across the province," he said. "With the substance use crisis in the province there's been new money that has gone into hiring new positions in the more densely populated areas, which has put a strain on our inventory of clinicians."
He said it was also necessary to secure a professional who is committed to staying in
"It is a bit unusual…to have a vacant position go that long but we wanted to make sure that we weren't making decisions based on being seemingly desperate," said Fraser. "We had to go back to the drawing board a couple of times."
The clubhouse was shuttered after the building was sold, and the program was run temporarily out of the hospital and rotating locations in the community.
Last month The Kn ala Inclusion House re-opened on
When asked about
"There's certainly socio-economic challenges in Princeton…socio-economic and access to employment."