Alberta doubles addiction treatment spaces commitment
Alberta’s government has funded more than 8,000 addiction treatment spaces annually, doubling the original commitment made in 2019 and firmly establishing Alberta as a national leader in treating addiction.
“Two years ago, our government made a commitment to fund 4,000 annual treatment spaces. Not only have we achieved our goal, we have more than doubled our commitment by funding over 8,000 annual treatment spaces. This means 8,000 Albertans will now have the opportunity to seek treatment and enter recovery every year without having to pay privately for life-saving services. Treatment works and recovery is possible. This is a key promise made, promise kept.” - Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta
“We have heard for years that the addiction care system is broken. When we came into office Albertans were having to decide between selling their car and remortgaging their home to access life-saving treatment and recovery services. This was completely unacceptable. Our government is doing the hard work of building an accessible system for the future. Recovery is possible, and the opportunity to pursue recovery is something every Albertan deserves.” - Mike Ellis, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
Alberta’s government is supporting everyday Albertans by building a comprehensive recovery-oriented system of care. This system is built on the premise that recovery is possible for everyone, and that no Albertan should be left without access to life-saving treatment and recovery services.
In 2019, Alberta’s government committed to funding 4,000 annual treatment spaces. That commitment has been exceeded two years ahead of schdedule. Albertans now have access to over 8,000 new publicly funded annual treatment, detox and recovery spaces.
Publicly funded addiction treatment is completely free for any Albertan. This was made possible when Alberta’s government eliminated daily user fees for all Albertans accessing publicly funded addiction treatment. Historically, Albertans were charged $40 per day for publicly funded residential treatment, a financial barrier that prevented many people from seeking help.
Both residential treatment and residential recovery focus on helping individuals improve all aspects of life that support long-term recovery. This includes improving physical and mental health, family and community connections, employment skills, housing stability and more.
As part of Alberta’s plan to fix the broken system and build a comprehensive recovery-oriented system of care, operators will begin implementing the My Recovery Plan software in the new year. My Recovery Plan will help Albertans build their recovery capital and will support Alberta’s government in transitioning toward a recovery-oriented system of care that is based on personalized outcomes.
Recovery is about more than simply stopping drug use, it involves improving multiple aspects of a person’s health and well-being. Recovery capital is defined as the breadth and depth of internal and external resources that can be drawn upon to intitiate and sustain recovery from addiction.
My Recovery Plan will improve connections in the addiction care system by providing wait-list management, tracking treatment and recovery outcomes and allowing clients to own their data. Clients will be able to take their data with them from agency to agency so that they are not continually starting from zero as they move throughout the system.
My Recovery Plan will help Albertans build their recovery capital using a strengths based approach in eight domains of recovery capital:
• physical and mental health
• family, social supports and leisure activities
• safe housing and healthy environments
• peer-based support
• employment and resolution of legal issues
• vocational skills and educational development
• community integration and cultural support
• rediscovering meaning and purpose in life
Alberta’s Recovery Plan is helping Albertans access life-saving addiction and mental health-related prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery resources. A $140-million investment over four years is supporting the addition of new publicly funded treatment spaces; the elimination of daily user fees for publicly funded residential addiction treatment; a new patient matching tool, Recovery Access Alberta; and services to reduce harm, such as the Digital Overdose Prevention System (DORS), the introduction of a nasal naloxone pilot and the expansion of opioid agonist therapy.
