Province tabs $3M for 17 new clinical psychologist postings

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This article was published 21/07/2023 (1113 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government has announced 17 new clinical psychologist positions in Manitoba and pledged to fill them, amid a long-standing shortage.

On Friday, the province said the $3 million in ongoing funding tabbed for the new postings will come from its $200-million Health Human Resource Action Plan, announced in November.

The positions will focus on specialized psychologist services, including pre-school neurodevelopmental assessments, alcohol spectrum disorder treatment, and epilepsy care.

Most will be based in Winnipeg, but will seek to reduce wait lists for patients both in and outside the city, said Shared Health provincial medical specialty lead of clinical health psychology Dr. Lesley Graff.

“These doctors have been stretched thin in the health system,” she said at a news conference at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

“This investment is truly significant. This funding will help address the shortage of clinical psychologists in the province by creating additional positions in priority areas of the health system.”

Manitoba has faced a lack of psychologists for years. According to 2021 data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Manitoba had the lowest per capita number of psychologists compared with other provinces.

That shortage has resulted in long wait times, particularly for mental health services for youth. In May, the Free Press reported wait times for children to receive a psychological assessment by a publicly-funded specialist can take up to two years.

Rural areas have also seen the level of need rise, with just two current positions for clinical psychologists each in Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority and Southern Health, and one in Northern Health.

“We know that there’s an ongoing and significant need for access to many types of programming and supports, including psychologists… Psychologists are an incredibly important position among the many professionals and care providers who offer a network of supports to Manitobans,” Health Minister Audrey Gordon said Friday.

While psychologists trained in Manitoba typically stay in Manitoba, older professionals are retiring at a high rate, and there has been a struggle to train the number of psychologists needed, said Dr. Jo Ann Unger, president of the Manitoba Psychological Society.

“It’s around that training piece. We only have one institution in Manitoba to train doctoral-level psychologists, and so to be able to… fill the positions and match the need, has been a chronic issue,” she said Friday. “That’s something that isn’t new.”

Five new positions were posted last year, and all have been filled.

Some of the positions announced Friday have already been filled by graduating clinical psychology residents, set to start in the fall.

NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara derided the announcement as “disingenuous,” considering the shortage has been an issue for years.

“This is a PC election campaign announcement. Manitoba has had a critical shortage of clinical psychologists for years under the PCs, and the PCs have been well-aware of that,” Asagwara said.

“We have raised this issue many times in the legislature, and the PCs have taken absolutely no action whatsoever to address this, even during a pandemic, where we saw the needs and mental health needs of Manitobans skyrocket,” the Union Station MLA said.

“They’re choosing to make this announcement now because it’s for them, about an election. It’s not about the mental health and well-being of Manitobans.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca