Teenage victim of sexual assault waiting 6 months – and counting – for counselling, P.E.I. Legislature hears

WARNING: This story mentions suicide and sexual assault. Help line information appears at the bottom. 

A six-month wait — and counting — for counselling services for a teenaged victim of sexual assault was held up by P.E.I.'s Official Opposition Wednesday as an example of a mental health care system failing those who need it most.

"Our system is broken," said Green MLA Michele Beaton during question period. "Immediate help is needed, but Islanders are waiting at every single stage of the process and the attempts for help go unheard."

Beaton told MLAs she had been given permission to tell the story of a high school student who reached out to say she had been sexually assaulted in October.

In November, the student said she had gone to the emergency room following a suicide attempt and was admitted briefly at Hillsborough Hospital, P.E.I.'s psychiatric hospital.

"She was released after two sessions with a psychiatrist," Beaton told the house.

"A follow-up from that psychiatrist promised a referral to another physician specializing in mental health, and she is still waiting. She is surviving, but she's still waiting. 

"And I quote from this brave young girl: 'Why are there so many channels to go through just for somebody to talk to someone?'"

"I agree that there are, by times, too many layers to go through," responded Health Minister Ernie Hudson, explaining that's why government has created a position for a patient navigator, so people "will know who to reach out to and to help them navigate that system."

Rachael Crowder, executive director with the P.E.I. Rape and Sexual Assault Centre, told CBC via email that the wait-list at the centre "is at an all-time high with wait times at almost a year in both Charlottetown and Summerside."

Crowder said the centre tries to prioritize cases where the assault took place within the last three months, and is usually able to connect those victims with a therapist "within a couple of weeks."

However she said with the current backlog of cases, "all our therapists have full caseloads which makes adding recently assaulted survivors a challenge."

In its new budget, which has been tabled but not yet passed, the Dennis King government included funding to allow PEIRSAC to add three more positions for counsellors, to increase its complement to nine. There are currently five on staff with one vacant position.

But Beaton questioned why government didn't provide the funding back in December, when officials with PEIRSAC explained their situation to the province's standing committee on health and social development.