In Hay River, North Western Territory there seems to be a community outrage as Health Authorities are not budging one bit from their earlier decision of demoting some mental health counselors and hiring only those that have attained a Masters Degree. The community’s primary concern is that these new counselors will not be understanding of their concerns or will have a lack of knowledge of northern or aboriginal culture.
The demoted counselors were given the options of changing jobs or accepting a severance package, all three took the severance package. “Joletta Larocque, the director of Community and Continuing Care Services, said this change is an improvement in care for people.” Indicating that the stand that the health authority is taken is that regarding the betterment of the community in regards to the quality of care provided, as well as being able to handle far more delicate mental health issues that “life experience” can not compensate for, and is developed by learning in educational institutions. It stands to reason. Counseling is actually a complex, multidisciplinary field on par with psychology. We need people with a strong academic, clinical foundation.
That said, there is a place for “wellness workers” to work within a framework established by professional counselors. Ideally, the demoted individuals should be given the opportunity to get trained within a reasonable time at the expense of the employer. This would be consistent with the approaches taken by various public health authorities in BC, Ontario and Quebec when the minimum requirement to be a psychiatric nurse was upgraded to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN)
By Ahmad Khan
Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/ canada/north/story/2012/11/11/ north-hay-river-counsellors-demoted.html
