With the mental health crisis in this country, it is good to see that something is being done to help the young people needing help. However, the family is distanced from the child as s/he receives the needed treatment. It is not as if Sydney is a small town without the capability of setting up its own facilities. That could lead to more employment, perhaps an influx of other types of medical professionals into the province; a sort of boomerang effect. Living in Moncton I see so many young people on the streets, with obvious problems and a need for help. The drugs are rather fluid for such a small town - comparing to Toronto where I lived for the last 30 years. It seems to me that proportionately speaking (drugs to person ratio), there seems to be a higher percentage of young people using drugs, recreationally (if there is such a thing). I see too many young mothers, with young kids, pregnant with another, using street drugs. Good many of the elderly I've met have prescription medications for 'nervous' disorders, sleeping and pain. We're walking around like Zombies. Drugs do help, but if it becomes our means of 'existing' then we are not living; we are indeed just existing. If a person has a mental or psychological need, then maybe prescriptions are needed, but don't make that the be all and end all. The person needs counselling and should be seen regularly until the psychologist or other medical professional is satisfied the patient is dealing with the issues in a healthy way. Then get them off the drugs. My brother was given a prescription for depression that had a warning "may cause depression." Really? It's difficult to separate mental health from addictions. I know what I am talking about, as I used alcohol to mask my pain as my marriage was falling apart. I didn't want to feel. Any people with addictions whom I have ever met are suffering from emotional issues - mental issues that is mentally they can't and don't want to deal with their emotions. Mental health and addictions - in people we label addicts, they are one and the same thing. Are these kids being shipped from Sydney to Halifax going their primarily for counselling due to addictions and suicidal ideation's or is it because they do have an organic mental condition that does require in-depth medical care as well. I am not a medical person; I only speak from my own experiences as living with addiction, losing three brothers, working as a counsellor for the Salvation Army at a shelter in Toronto, and just being on the face of this earth for a few years. We have land, lots and lots of land and lots and lots of people out of work. Couldn't we wed what we have (land & people) and go about building what is needed. Surely people in the community would be willing to donate labour, lumber and whatever else is needed, because they and their family (now and for generations) will benefit. I know, I am not logical enough, sometimes too right-brained. I just think that we here in North America analyze things to death instead of just getting off our behinds and doing it. http://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/cape-breton-teens-to-be-sent-to-iwk-for-inpatient-mental-health-services-171906/#.Wju210XXJyk.twitter