Quinte West council has approved the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan.
The plan, which has been in the works since 2019, is centred around finding ways to prevent people from struggling with mental health and addictions and to intervene before people struggle with affordable housing.
At Monday’s Quinte West council meeting, Inspector Christina Rieve and Grant Research Analyst Laurie Caouette presented the plan to council.
The focus is to change from a responsive model to a preventative one, working backwards from desired outcomes and trying to prevent problems before they happen.
Rieve explained some of the finer points of the plan.
“We looked at the results that we were hoping for and, as Laurie said, we worked backwards into how we could achieve that result. Result number one around mental health and addictions is that Quinte West low-income residents with mental health are supported and the local policies that examine preventative approaches and reduction of barriers for those individuals. Result number two, all Quinte West low-income residents will be navigated through a client-centred, seamless mental health system and number three is that all Quinte West low-income residents are mentally and physically healthy.
The plan will follow a timeline of:
- Action table recruitment in July – September 2021
- Strategy sessions in September – October 2021
- Presenting strategies to council in November – December 2021
- Implementation of strategies by January of 2022
- Data collection and analysis in 2022
- Re-evaluate priorities for the next version of the plan in January of 2024
They say that while there were many other things they considered making the focal points, the two they selected were the most immediate needs.
To read the full report click here.
