Incarcerated Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) workers in Cochrane-Timiskaming and their patients are worried as the labor dispute has dragged on for 17 days.
Almost 150 employees of the organization have been locked out since February 13.
Since that time, approximately 1,600 patients in Timmins, Cochrane, Matheson, Iroquois Falls, Kirkland Lake and New Liskeard have no longer had access to their regular mental health services.
Kristen Molson in Kirkland Lake couldn’t get an appointment for over a month.
I’m afraid that if the conflict continues, I won’t have support and will backslide instead of continuing with my treatment plan.
she confided.
A stay-at-home mom, Ms. Molson has been receiving mental health treatment since she was 16. He is now 23 years old.
Kristen Molson has been receiving mental health treatment since she was 16 years old. She says her recovery plan could be delayed without the support of the Canadian Mental Health Association workers.
Photo: Courtesy of Kristen Molson
Molson says she now has to use emotion management techniques she learned in therapy to deal with the uncertainty while she waits.
On the Iroquois Falls side, where the offices areACSM Cochrane-Timiskaming were closed, Zoreena Liznick-Voyer was also deprived of mental health services.
When someone is in a dark place and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, these support workers are that light at the end of the tunnel, they are just compassionate and willing to give you hope.
France Desmarais, a social worker in Iroquois Falls, says the longer workers don’t see their clients, the more exposed they are to threats to their mental health.
I worry about their safety
she says. Some often have suicidal thoughts, others have a hard time accepting their diagnosis and have intrusive thoughts and a tendency to self-harm, and I worry that the situation will escalate.
Julie Barr, a mental health nurse in Cochrane, fears some of her patients could end up homeless.
I can see that they are not doing well. Some of them come to the assembly (…) and say that they cannot trust anyone and want us to return.
The new pension plan in question
The biggest issue for Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 631 is intentACSM switch to a new pension plan that would cost employees more.
Local 631 President Maggie Wakeford says employees who join the plan will have to pay their own long-term disability, which is about 4% of their gross wages. Under the previous plan, the employer covered long-term disability.
Paul Jalbert, General ManagerACSM Cochrane-Timiskaming, indicated that the new pension plan much better
than the previous plan, but costs more to administer.
Mr. Jalbert added that employees can choose to keep their current pension plan if they want.
The union wants all workers to be offered the same coverage options.
Based on a report by CBC’s Erika Chorostil