Thème : Policies and key issues

Racialized and Indigenous communities are often faced with systemic barriers that impact every social determinant of health. They must face these barriers to gain access to the labour market, health care and educational opportunities. Furthermore, they are often unable to find services offered in their first language, are over-represented in our justice system, and also face discrimination in interactions with police services and the courts. The result is a negative impact on mental health…

This past year, the CAMH Health Promotion Resource Centre (CAMH HPRC) launched a new report that outlines the substantial amount of mental health promotion (MHP) work being done across the province of Ontario. CAMH HPRC is part of the Evidence Exchange Network (EENet) in the Provincial System Support Program (PSSP) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). EENet is a provincial knowledge exchange network that brings together mental health and addiction stakeholders from across Ontario.

I like to say that psychotherapy is the treatment that has been researched the most. There is plenty of scientific data available, and when so much data is available, researchers can begin to summarize that data in what we call a systematic review. In fact, there is so much data that we can not only conduct systematic reviews, we can also conduct reviews of reviews. My goal here is not to describe any of these reviews in detail; instead, I hope to draw on what is consistent from one review to the next and to translate that into terms we can more easily relate to.

A research report released in Ontario last summer entitled Connecting the Dots indicated that local public health units are doing a substantial amount of mental health promotion for children and youth without having a specific mandate to do so. In Ontario, illness prevention and health promotion are at the heart of public health, yet the role of public health in the mental health of Ontarians has not been well defined. For instance, the Ontario Public Health Standards, which guides the work of public health units, lacks an explicit mandate to address mental health.

Let’s be frank…
Rest assured. If you develop an anxiety disorder after an accident at work, the government will help cover treatment costs, including costs for psychotherapy if necessary.
Your son committed suicide? Well…

A province as large as Ontario poses significant challenges to anyone trying to get a handle on the policy landscape for mental health and addictions. Nevertheless, it’s an honour to have an opportunity to contribute to Qualaxia, and over the course of my next few blogs, I hope to offer an overview of some of the key documents informing the Ontario context.

This past February, Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services published an evaluation of the implementation of the province’s Mental Health Action Plan (MHAP) 2005-2010¹. The report states that progress has been made in implementing many aspects of the MHAP and that noticeable improvements to service delivery and organization have occurred in regions where implementation efforts have been successful. However, the evaluation also revealed that full implementation of most local, regional and national measures remained incomplete both across and within regions, and that specified service targets have, with few exceptions, failed to be met.

The mission of the Health and Welfare Commissioner is to contribute to improving the health and welfare of the Quebec population through appraisals of the performance achieved by the province’s health and social services system. The Commissioner also makes public information that informs societal debates and government decision-making. In December 2012, the Commissioner released its fourth appraisal report, which examines the performance of Quebec’s mental health system.

The 2009-2010 New Brunswick Student Wellness Survey draws an alarming portrait of the student body’s mental health. According to the survey, only 17% of students have a high level of mental fitness (15% of boys and 19% of girls). These rates clearly indicate a need to further develop approaches that aim to improve the mental fitness of youth in our schools.

The semantics of a word often has an impact on perceptions, ideas and beliefs associated with that word. Unlike physical health, we often think of illness or disorder in connection with mental health. That’s why New Brunswick’s Wellness Strategy uses the term ‘mental fitness’ to promote mental health.