Creating connections: Alberta’s Addiction and Mental Health strategy September 2011.

The purpose of the Strategy is to transform the addiction and mental health system in Alberta. The ultimate goal is to reduce the prevalence of addiction, mental health problems and mental illness in Alberta through health promotion and prevention activities and to provide quality assessment, treatment and support services to Albertans when they need them.
The Strategy is based on our current understanding that addiction, mental health problems and mental illness are caused by a complex interplay of genetic, biological, personality and environmental factors. We now know that
the basic architecture of the human brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood.