The BC Humanist Association is encouraging people to share their stories about the importance of secular and evidence based treatments as part of a new consultation for a draft provincial mental health and addictions strategy.
Last year, the Government of BC created the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction. The Ministry has set out to create a draft strategy to help tackle the challenges faced by people with mental health and addictions issues. It has launched an online consultation to solicit feedback from British Columbians.
In 2016, the BC Humanist Association appeared before the BC Legislature's Standing Committee on Health to call for an end to coercion in addictions recovery. Byron Wood talked about his human rights complaint against Vancouver Coastal Health following losing his job for refusing to attend AA after being denied secular alternatives like SMART Recovery or LifeRing.
The BCHA launched a petition calling on the Government of BC to put secular recovery options first. It will submit this petition, along with its own recommendations, to the consultation on August 20.
The online consultation runs until August 21, 2018 at 4:00 PM.
Submit comments to the government's consultation
Banner: Judy Darcy, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions flickr/BCGovPhotos