Requests through the County of St. Paul and Elk Point FCSS community counselling program are at an all time high this year according to the update County of St. Paul interim CAO Tim Mahdiuk presented at the regular county council meeting, July 9.
"They only have $500 left in their budget for the year and it will be discussed at their next board meeting," said Mahdiuk.
In a follow up interview after the meeting, FCSS Director Janice Fodchuk said they budgeted the same for community counselling in 2019 as what they did in 2018, but the program is typically one of the most difficult areas to budget for.
"Because we just don't know what's going to be happening in the community from year to year," said Fodchuk. She said typically they see a spike in requests in years where there are a number of fatalities on the road, and they saw a big spike in the year following the accident at Racette School in 2012.
"Can I think of anything that happened from January to June? Not really other than the economy. We've been going down in the last two years, but people were managing to use their savings or unemployment or whatever, to save their house, to save their car. That's all been depleted and now it's all hitting the fan. But that's why. We're at the end of all their savings, their EI, now it's critical. That's what I think happened," said Fodchuk.
"People are thinking about suicide. They're saying 'I can't fend for my family, I can't provide.' One guy is 'I'm losing my house, I've already lost my car. I can't even get to town to apply for unemployment, I've got no way.' These are true stories that we hear every day, just about," said Fodchuk.
The community counselling program subsidizes short term counselling for individuals, families and groups. They also provide referral services if the client needs long-term help or care, which falls outside the FCSS mandate. All decisions are made on a case-by-case basis following an application process that factors in income and the number of children in a family.
"Then it goes on a floating scale, so you could pay anything from $0 to $120, and counselling usually costs more than that," said Fodchuk.
She said the issue of where continued funding for the program will come from will be discussed at the next County FCSS board meeting, scheduled for July 25.
"My board and myself are strong believers in community counselling and so I know that we'll figure out a way to either massage some of our other programs, or not have other programs, just so we can continue to have community counselling," said Fodchuk.
"We see the value. If we save one kid, one adult, one person, one human being, it's worth it. So I'm not worried about not having money there."
