ARICHAT - As he begins his second year as Nova Scotia's first-ever Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Cape Breton East MLA Brian Comer is hoping his combined experience as an MLA in the Progressive Conservative caucus and a long-time paramedic is giving him the perspective he needs to carry out the provincial government's renewed focus on mental health service delivery. 

Speaking to TELILE 24/7 host/producer Adam Cooke for the series' second annual Special Mental Health Edition, Comer said his department remains committed to removing the barriers that currently exist for those seeking mental health care and treatment. The department's most recent moves in this regard include a new toll-free mental health peer support number that officially launched today [Wednesday], and the new Rural Access to Mental Health program, a virtual-care option that was tested as a pilot project at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney and St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish. This program will expand to Nova Scotia's South Shore in 2023 and could reach new communities in Cape Breton by the following year, Comer added. 

"It also takes away the unnecessary travel burden for people who would [otherwise] have to leave their communities to go to a more centered hospital," Comer pointed out. "And that helps the EHS [Emergency Health Services] as well, because it reduces the strain on ambulances."

Also appearing on TELILE 24/7's Special Mental Health Edition: 

12:35 - Tyler Shea of Louisdale, an early childhood educator and behavioral analyst, has established a GoFundMe page for his proposed Mental Wellness Centre. If the project reaches its fundraising goal of $50,000 - a far cry from the $885 it has raised since May - it will not only feature mental health services but also join the efforts to bring a new full-time physician to the Strait of Canso to fill existing vacancies at local health-care facilities. 

29:47 - The executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association's Nova Scotia division, Karn Nichols, says she has seen progress in the service-delivery sector within her first 14 months on the job and is appreciative of the support her organization has received from both the provincial and federal governments as well as opposition parties on both levels. However, Nichols also warns that much needs to be done to bridge the gaps in such areas as rural mental health care and proper service delivery for Nova Scotia's Mi'kmaq communities. 

48:14 - One of the first participants in Telile's mental health panel discussions, Alex Forgeron of West Arichat, returns to our Arichat studios to share his story of how childhood trauma related to sexual molestation has followed him through his life and set him on a path of alcoholism and gambling addiction. Now clean and sober, Forgeron credits his family and Arichat physician Dr. Scott MacNeil for giving him the help he needed and still needs, while encouraging others to reach out to the services available for those needing mental health attention.