Breaking Down Barriers to Addiction Management

Timely access to addiction treatment in Ontario is limited and many mental health and addictions services have long wait lists due to increasing service demand – pair this with the stigma associated with addiction – and we end up with a crisis.

Millions of Canadians live with substance use disorder. In fact, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness or addiction problem in any given year. As rates of opioid related emergency visits and resulting death continues to rise, the message is clear: something must be done; people need more help.

With appropriate treatment and support, most individuals with addiction problems can recover – but how do they overcome the barriers they face accessing help in the first place?

Thanks to a transformational $350,000 donation made by the Solcz Family Foundation to the Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) Changing Lives Together Foundation, HDGH and OTN announced the future availability of Breaking Free™ Online in Windsor-Essex.

Virtual health care solutions, like Breaking Free™ Online, support clients by increasing access to care and are an effective and cost-efficient way of providing addiction management. The online solution assists with early intervention, prevention, or rehabilitation, and engages people to better manage addiction, eliminating the need to attend in-person sessions and decreasing the chances of relapse.

Once successfully integrated at HDGH, Breaking Free™ Online is being rolled out to local service providers and will be available to clients of the hospital in 2020. The virtual care solution is said to be transformative for the Windsor-Essex community and is expected to improve the quality of many lives.