Denise Batters is on her way to Ottawa as Saskatchewan’s newest senator, and she hopes to continue advocating for mental health issues on a national stage.
“I really look forward to working with those kinds of people to see what we can do nationally to make people more aware of these issues and also to combat some of these problems,” she said.
Batters is very familiar with Ottawa. It is where she spent time with her husband Dave, who was the former MP for Palliser. In 2009 he committed suicide. Since then Batters has visited Parliament Hill, advocating for more awareness of mental health issues. Now she can do it as a senator.
It is an appointment Dave Nelson, the executive director for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) Saskatchewan division is happy to see.
“We believe she’ll do a great job in the senate,” he said.
Batters recently lent her name to Bill C-300 to create a national framework to prevent suicides. It became law just before Christmas and now work is underway to help people know where to turn.
“Very often they have a hard time in speaking about that and they don’t get the support they need,” Nelson explained. “It’s getting better, but we need it to be much, much better.”
He says much more work needs to be done in Saskatchewan, explaining there has been five decades of neglect when it comes to mental health.
“The first priority we’d really like to see is a provincial plan for mental health in this province,” Nelson said. “We’re one of the few provinces that does not have a plan for mental health and addiction.”
The province has met with organizations like CMHA and says they are trying to improve mental health services. A top priority is to reduce wait times for appointments.
“We’re also working on integrating mental health and addictions with primary health care where we think there will be opportunities for an earlier identification and intervention,” said director of mental health and addictions for the Ministry of Health, Kathy Willerth, said.
Work is being done in Saskatchewan, but Batters is off to make a difference on a national stage.
“I look forward to continuing the work I’ve done and hopefully it can help people, because that’s really what it’s all about,” she said.
Comments