B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau made promises for mental health support during a visit to Creston on Thursday afternoon. 

鈥淭he job of government is to make the delivery of services simple, easy, and accessible for people,鈥� said Furstenau. 鈥淎nd that's something that our whole platform is oriented to - how do we get reliable services to people?鈥�

She announced a four-part plan, including coverage for mental health professionals under the Medical Services Plan (MSP), regulation of psychotherapy, mental health integration as a fourth option into 911 services, and an all-party review of the Mental Health Act to ensure legislation is updated to reflect modern understandings of mental health care.

鈥淢ental health is something that we have to recognize as being a part of our health-care system,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e know that one in three British Columbians struggles with mental health, so this is a stigma that is dangerous and is causing harm to people. It's far more effective and far less expensive to invest in preventative, proactive mental health care than it is for people to have to wait until they're in crisis.鈥� 

When asked what the upfront cost of providing six fully-covered visits with a mental health professional under MSP would be, Furstenau said she didn鈥檛 have the answer yet, but a fully costed platform would be released soon. 

Local candidate Nicole Charlwood for Kootenay-Central was also in attendance to echo the BC Greens鈥� message. 

鈥淭here's been a breakdown in our social fabric, and a lot of people don't feel emotionally supported,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here's a lot of heart and head work that people need support to do. When most of us in rural communities need to lean into an emergency room to get support, it's a very vulnerable time. Walking into a big emergency room is not appropriate for these moments.鈥�

For those concerned the BC Greens major focus has moved away from traditional environmental issues, Furstenau said that is not the case. 

鈥淲e have not for a moment strayed on our positions,鈥� said Furstenau. 鈥淲e've been advocating for evidence-based and long-term approaches to sustainability, to climate action, to biodiversity protection. We have been very firm, very consistent in our positions on environment and climate. The approach that we take to every issue, including mental health, is to look at how to create the conditions that make the well-being of people, of communities, and our natural systems at the centre of our decision-making." 

When asked how the BC Greens will prevent people from voting between the NDP and Conservatives, Furstenau said the strategic thing is to elect a Green. 

鈥淗aving a legislature where it's winner take all, where one party has all of the power, is a legislature that fails to serve all British Columbians,鈥� said Furstenau. 鈥淚t's a legislature that is focused on conflict and finger-pointing and forgets that we are here to serve the people.

"We cannot continue to hand all of the power to one party and expect that we're going to get different outcomes than we've had election after election. When we had a minority government from 2017 to 2020, what British Columbians got was more transparency, better outcomes, accountability, and a legislature that actually learned how to work collaboratively and cooperatively.鈥�

Voting day is set for Oct. 19.