on the frontlines of mental health and addiction care in oshawa: supporting the community with 'whatever they need’
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in 2025, the community development council durham found that two of durham region’s key issues in health care were a shortage of mental health resources and an increase in opioid usage.
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as a vocational specialist at canadian mental health association (cmha) and case manager with the hart hub network in oshawa, ont., gagan nagra has witnessed canada’s ongoing mental-health crisis firsthand.
“there’s a lot of people who struggle with things that society has just gotten used to turning a blind eye to,” she says.
nagra helps clients in oshawa overcome barriers with mental-health disorders and addiction to get their futures on track while providing them with adequate care. this includes delivering medication, cleaning out clients’ homes, or having one-on-one consultations with people in need.
often, nagra’s work entails responding to crises that arise suddenly. moving her schedule around to provide care for suicide attempts, drug overdoses, legal troubles with clients, hospital visits and mental health episodes is common.
her approach to care is simple: help with whatever her clients need. in doing so, she has sat in court to advocate for clients, helped others find safer living situations when facing homelessness and been put in harm’s way to take care of people who need a bit of extra guidance. the job is not easy; every time she leaves for work, she has no idea how the day will go.
“it’s very rare that our schedules go as they’re scheduled because we’re an act [assertive community treatment] team,” she says. “it’s basically supporting clients in the community with whatever they need.”
she recalls one shift in particular, where a coworker urgently told her that one of their clients had overdosed on an illicit substance in the building’s bathroom and was now unconscious. she ran to the bathroom, gave her client narcan and performed cpr until medical professionals arrived. she saved her client’s life.
“you almost feel desperate because you don’t want to lose this person. you’re going on adrenaline, just hoping they’ll wake up,” nagra says. “when paramedics come, we have to hand them off. we don’t know if they’re ok or not.”
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the need for mental health and addiction resources in oshawa
the durham region in ontario, specifically oshawa, is home to many people struggling with mental health and addiction issues.
in 2021, in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic, there were nearly 1,000 opioid-related emergency calls in durham. about three-quarters of those incidents occurred in oshawa, a city that still experiences detrimental impacts from a lack of resources for prevalent substance abuse and mental-health issues.
in 2025, the community development council durham found that two of durham region’s key issues in health care were a shortage of mental health resources and an increase in opioid usage. particularly between 2013 and 2021, overdose deaths had increased sevenfold in durham.
aside from cmha and hart hubs, there aren’t many physical resources for people struggling with mental health and addictions in the durham region. while hospitals like lakeridge health and clinics like durham community health centre have programs to help people who are struggling, the area needs more.
“it just takes that little bit extra effort to bring a person’s life back,” nagra says. “we need obviously many more [resources] than this.”
“we’ve seen clients who have gone from completely comatose, just walking around like zombies, to now working full time, being addiction free, pain free and just hearing their stories. it’s incredible.”
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