Minister of Corrections Christine Tell and Foxvalley Counselling Mark Fox. Photo by Manfred Joehnck
The provincial government has launched a two-year pilot project aimed at helping the most vulnerable families rebuild.
A partnership between a handful of provincial ministries and Aboriginal-oriented Foxvalley Counselling will provide intensive support for 10 families struggling with things like family violence, crime, addictions, truancy, poverty and unemployment.
The program aims to get to the root causes of family issues and fix them, said Corrections minister Christine Tell.
“It’s intensive supports. It isn’t just, you know, someone being available by phone whenever somebody needs something. No, no, it’s much more hands on than what has ever happened before,” she said.
The executive director of Foxvalley Counselling, Mark Fox, says the program is long overdue.
“It’s about time a program like this has started in the city of Regina,” he said.
With that said, Fox is confident the program will make a big difference.
“We have the tools to assist them to start working on those barriers so that they can live a better life for themselves, for their children,” he said.
This is the first program of its kind in Canada. Tell said a new approach was needed.
“We are hoping for some real changes that occur, with the use of government services and that we actually end up with happy, well-adjusted families and children.”
It is part of the government’s “Healthy Families Initiatives,” involving several ministries that have contact with vulnerable families.
The program will be reviewed after an 18-month test run.
It will cost about $750,000 to fund the program for two years. However, it’s expected the government will save about $1.5 million in additional costs for things like health care, corrections, policing and social services.