SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Kathy Meyer remembers playing on the computer with her 22-year-old daughter, Angela four months ago.

A few minutes later, Angela went out for a cigarette in the backyard. Her sister Candace looked out the window to check on her and Angela was still there. Three minutes later, Angela's mother peeked out the window and Angela was nowhere to be seen.

"It was a matter of minutes," said Kathy of the events on Nov. 27. Angela Meyer was home in the care of her family on a weekend release from Stanton Territorial Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment for a mental illness. She had only enough medication with her for one night and the morning, and the family was about to go back to the hospital to ask for more medication so she could stay Saturday night as well.

Her mother said she was about to head to Independent Advocacy Inc. on Dec. 16, a private organization in Edmonton which supports adults with developmental disabilities.

"She was getting ready to move to Edmonton to have access to better services for mental health. There isn't much here," said Kathy.

If a patient is accepted into such a facility and has been receiving treatment in the NWT, the program would be paid for by the GNWT, said Kathy.

"We think she was looking forward to it," said Dean Meyer, Angela's father.

He said he wishes there were more services and programs offered in the territories for those suffering with mental illness.

"Instead of sending our kids, parents, grandparents out of the territories ­ thousands of kilometres away ­ they should be housed up here. I wish that I could campaign for stuff like that more publicly," he said.

Dean said sending Angela to a facility in the south was the "only option." After living in group homes on Ptarmigan Road and 51A Avenue, Angela was starting to spend more and more time in the hospital before her disappearance.

"They couldn't do anymore to help her ... She was spending more time in the hospital than she was out. They were switching her medication around like crazy," said Kathy. "The psychiatrists were bouncing in and out all the time."

"Her illness was progressing ­ manifesting is what it was called. She would get quite withdrawn. (The hospital) would discharge her when they felt she was doing well, but really she wasn't."

According to the Department of Health and Social Services, counselling services, psychiatric services and case management supports are available through the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority's mental health and adult services.

The department also states the YWCA offers supported group home living, where the level of support each client receives varies, based on the needs of the individual.

"Generally, the support includes assistance and training in basic living skills and community inclusion, emotional support and some level of supervision," said Umesh Sutendra, a spokesperson for the department.

He also said services are available through the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, which offers supported living services designed to teach, assist, support and encourage the participants to live independently in their own homes or with roommates.

"This service is designed to contribute toward quality of life through increasing independence and community inclusion to prevent isolation and loneliness," said Sutendra.

The last organized search for Angela took place in mid-January, where Dean said more than 150 people came together to search the city and outer-lying areas.

"It's not just the immediate families that are affected by this. The community feels it too," said Dean.

Kathy said the family is coping as best they can. She said when family birthdays are approaching or when the weekend arrives, where the family would spend time together, that;s when she feels most emptiness. Angela will be 23 in June.

"We're coping. But it seems whenever the weekends come up like Friday night, it comes back. Like where is she? Where is she? Is always the question."

Angela is described by RCMP as a 5-foot-11 Inuit female weighing between 220 and 240 pounds. She has short, dark brown hair and wears glasses. Angela's parents said she is very friendly and family oriented. She swam with the Special Olympics and really enjoyed occasions with friends at the local bowling alley, said Kathy.

The Meyer family is hoping to organize another search in the spring.

"Even if it's just me looking," said Dean.