Niagara Region will be getting more mental health supports for people living with psychosis.
Yesterday the Public Health and Social Services Committee approved the creation of two new full time mental health positions thanks to funding from the Local Integrated Health Network.
Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mustafa Hirji spoke about the benefits of positions dedicated to psychosis.
"It's the condition where people start to have delusions, hallucinations. It really makes them very much incapable of functioning in terms of having a regular job, etc. Often when we talk about people with mental health who may be homeless or living on the streets, it's often people who suffer from psychosis."
He went on to explain the program.
"We identify people right after they have their first episode of psychosis. So they're early on in their illness progress, they haven't really developed very debilitating symptoms and we try to intervene at that stage so we can stabilize them when they still have high levels of function. And so it's really a way of preventing further deterioration, preventing downstream need to use health care services, and really allowing people to maintain their good quality of life."