Gagan Nagra, a vocational specialist at the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and case manager with the HART Hub network in Oshawa, Ont., has been on the frontlines of Canada’s mental health crisis.
“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 assists clients in Oshawa in overcoming obstacles related to mental health disorders and addiction. Her responsibilities include delivering medication, cleaning clients’ homes, and providing individual consultations.
Crisis Response and Flexible Care
Nagra’s role frequently involves addressing sudden crises. She regularly adjusts her schedule to handle suicide attempts, drug overdoses, legal issues, hospital visits, and mental health episodes.
Her approach is simple: offer the support her clients require. This has led her to advocate for clients in court, help secure safer housing, and even place herself in harm’s way to provide guidance.
“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.”
During one shift, 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, administered Narcan and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, saving the client’s life.
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“You almost feel desperate because you don’t want to lose this person,” Nagra says. When paramedics arrive, they have to hand the client off. “We don’t know if they’re OK or not.”
Mental Health and Addiction Challenges in Oshawa
The Durham Region in Ontario, specifically Oshawa, is home to many people struggling with mental health and addiction issues. In 2021, during 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.
A 2025 report by the Community Development Council Durham identified two critical healthcare concerns in the region: a shortage of mental health resources and an increase in opioid usage. Particularly between 2013 and 2021, overdose deaths in Durham had increased sevenfold.
Aside from the CMHA and HART Hub network, there aren’t many physical resources for people struggling with mental health and addictions in the Durham region. While facilities like Lakeridge Health and the Durham Community Health Centre offer programs, the region 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.”
She reflects on the transformative impact of her work: “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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