Mental heaith services for youth lacking, meeting told Children and youth at risk forum THE PRECARIOUS high-wire act of dealing with children’s mental health problems is increasingly relying on a gap-riddled safety net that is failing to catch an alarming number of young people. That is the message the authors of the Children and Youth at Risk: Towards a Mental Health Plan report told a crowded com- munity forum at the North Van- couver’s Leo Marshall curriculum centre on Tuesday night. “There is a lack of mental health services and coordination at all levels of government in the North Shore,’’ said North Van- couver City Ald. Rod Clark. Clark, the chairman of the North Shore Union Board of Health, said the forum was orga- nized ‘‘to enlighten and _ enlist community support for the rec- DR. OERRAYCK SMITH... head of psychiatry at B.C. Children’s Hospital. ommendations of the Children at Risk report.”’ The report was commissioned by the five communities that make up metro Vancouver. Though it contains St recom- mendations, the report’s major themes for change are increased community involvement, coor- dination of services, and the reallocation of health services funding. . According to statistics, one out of every five children requires mental counselling during their teen years. Currently, there are 10,605 children in the 13- to 18-year-old age group on the North Shore. Colin Ensworth, chairman of the North Vancouver's Children and Youth Committee, said ser- vices on the North Shore are not adequate to meet the demands of the growing community. “We lack preventative services and residential treatment services for children and adolescents,” said Ensworth. He added that, according to a recent study, 85% of adolescents currently receiving treatment ‘or a mental health problem were known to agencies by the time they were of daycare age. The average cost of treating an By A.P. NMeCredie Contributing Writer adolescent is $12,000 per case. A child aged up to four years old costs approximately $1,000 per case. The majority of current ser- vices, and money, is allocated for teens. The report states that high-risk groups — poor families, alcoholic Parents, parents with mental prob- lems — should have preventive help so that their children will not need the cost-ineffective teen ser- vices. Dr. Derryck Smith, head of psychiatry at B.C. Children’s Hospital, and chairman of the Children at Risk Project, told the forum’s audience that the recom- mendations of the report ‘‘will only fly if governments kick in money and the community sup- ports it.’ Smith added that because the report has no authority to imple- ment changes to the present system it is up to communities to .ssure politicians to get behind eport’s recommendations. Vhe majority of funding for chi'dren’s services comes from the erevincial Ministry of Social Ser- vices and Health (MSSH), though the ininistry’s mandate is only in the ‘‘rrotection of children.’’ “*Tiey may provide a place to live,’’ said Smith, ‘‘but they are not involved in the health and educating of these kids.”’ The report’s recommendations envision a system in which all agencies that deal with the welfare of children — hospitals, schools, municipalities — would work together for the child’s well-being. The report characterizes the current system as overburdened, inefficient, and increasingly inef- fective. Tom Tupper, principal of the Keith Lynn alternative secondary school in North Vancouver, and a co-author of the report, believes that the best way to implement the recommendations would be to allow a school to. act as a pilot project, where all agencies con- cerned with the well-being of a child would be represented. “This way, we could these ideas really work,”’ Tupper. But program's success is dependent pressure on politicians.”* Without such community sup- port, the authors of the report ter if said Tupper reiterated, ‘‘The implementation and on voter fear their ‘‘living’’ document will. end up on some dusty bureau- cratic shelf. 1.2.88 ® Editorial Page @ Home & Garden & Mailbox @ Paul St. Pierre @ Trevor Lautens & What's Going On Saturday, Sunday, sunny. Highs 22°C, lows 10°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 Se NEWS photo Mike Wakefletd HEAD GARDENER Todd Major assesses the damage caused by vandals to the Japanese garden section of North Vancouver's Park and Tilford Gardens. P&I Gardens trashed Vandals dump lamps, tear plants at NV location VANDALS HAD A field day trashing Park and Tilford Gardens on Tuesday night. By Michael Becker News Reporter Gardens staff arrived at work Wednesday morning to find wrecked lamps, shredded plants, smashed rocks, up-ended garbage cans, a damaged concrete bench and destroyed electrical wiring. The gardens are open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to dusk. The destruction took place sume time between ti p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Sporadic incidents of vandalism are ongoing at the gardens, but Tuesday’s rampage was the worst case head gardener Todd Major has seen. The garden was closed Wednes- day morning to allow staff time to assess ‘ie damage. . Said Major, ‘‘My job here is io train students and maintain this to- show standards. Everybody gives their blood and sweat. When you come in and you see this, you fig- 44 J don’t want to make this like a fortress with razor-wire fences. It’s a community garden. 99 ure, ‘What the hell do I do this for?’ Somebody just comes in and Slaughters the stuff. The gardens are at their total peak, and then this happens.”” The non-profit gardens are supported by Park and Tilford mall tenants and the mall's owner, Morguard Investments Ltd. The gardens provide a hands-on training ground for students enrolled in the Capilano College horticultural program. Major said the facility may re- quire improved security measures. “W's not a cheap thing to do. I don’t want to make this like a fortress with razor-wire fences. It’s a community garden. Thankfully they (vandals) left the rare plants alone.”* Major added that he is worried — Head gardener, Todd Major about the fate of a sundial do- nated by the Lynn Valley Garden Club that is slated for installation at Park and Tilford Gardens. ‘Now I’m thinking it might be trashed. We may have to drop a level of sophistication here,’’ he said. The gardens were originally de- veloped by Canadian Park and Tilford Distilleries Ltd. in 1968. They quickly became a distinctive North Shore landmark. The gardens were closed in 1984 folowing the closure of the Park and Tilford distillery. in 1987, the gardens were restored at a cost of approximate- ly $350,000. Last December the gardens at- tracted about 25,000 people to a Christmas lighting display.