New research network will develop strategies to ensure that more young people are connected to the mental health services they need
In Canada, one-in-five people experience a mental illness in their lifetime. However, it is young Canadians that suffer the most, with 75% of mental health problems and illnesses beginning prior to the age of 25, and more than 50% beginning between the ages of 11 and 25.
An estimated 1.2 million Canadian children and youth are affected by mental illness—yet less than 20 per cent will receive appropriate treatment. With more than two-thirds of adults living with a mental health problem reporting that symptoms first appeared during their youth, establishing the foundation for healthy emotional and social development is vital to ensuring the mental well-being of all Canadians as they progress from childhood to adulthood. [Mental Health Commission of Canada]
But services fragmentation, coupled with under-funding, a shortage of mental health professionals, and a failure to involve younger people, and their families in long-term treatment solutions, has resulted in the delayed application of inadequate treatment interventions. [The Kirby Report, 2006]
Canada’s mental health care is so dysfunctional that more than 50 per cent of teens don’t get the care they need, says the head of a national project launched Friday (June 13, 2014) in Montreal to help youths dealing with mental health issues. [The Gazette]
In British Columbia, youth and their families have identified long waits – some a year or longer – to see a mental health professional or to receive treatment as a major barrier to getting help. Key systemic deficiencies include a lack of acute emergency care for transition-age youth, a lack of community-based intensive intermediate supports, and a lack of mental health education, support and respite services for parents and caregivers. Other gaps include low mental health literacy among youth, their families and potential “first-responders,” major inconsistencies in services across the province, and poor planning for youth who are transitioning from youth mental health services into the adult mental health system. [Still Waiting: First-hand Experiences with Youth Mental Health Services in B.C.]
New research network announced
The ACCESS Canada project is a new Canada-wide research network annouced on June 13, 2014. Its goal is to use research evidence to bring about positive changes to the way we care for young people (age 11 to 25) with all forms of mental illness. It will seek to fix a gap in health care nation-wide by developing and implementing strategies to ensure more young people have quick access to youth-friendly and flexible mental health services.
McGill University psychiatry professor Ashok Malla of the Douglas Mental Health Institute will lead the new five-year, Canada-wide research network, which is funded equally by private and public interests. “We’re going to find new ways of providing help to youth between the ages of 11 and 25,” said Malla, who is the director of the prevention and early intervention program for psychoses (PEPP-Montréal) at the Douglas, and Canada Research Chair in Early Psychosis. The new network is structured to seek input from several stakeholders, including patients and policy-makers, to help identify effective therapies so that the “right patient receives the right treatment at the right time” [The Gazette, June 13 2014].
We speak with Ashok Malla.
RELATED | The Gazette: New approach unveiled to help tackle mental health issues in teens (June 13, 2014) | Government of Canada: CIHR and Graham Boeckh Foundation launch mental health research network (June 13, 2014) | Douglas Mental Health University Institute: ACCESS Canada: The Douglas Institute at the heart of the future in youth care (June 13, 2014) | Canadian Mental Health Association: Still Waiting: First-hand Experiences with Youth Mental Health Services in B.C. (May 16, 2013) |
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Tackling youth mental health issues (CBC, The National, June 13, 2014)
