Ontario's Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy

June 22nd, the Minister of Health for Ontario, the Honourable Deb Mathews released the new Mental Health and Addictions Strategy for Ontario, ‘Open Minds, Healthy Minds’. This document has been long in the making and it appears the focus of the first 3 years is on children and youth, including in the schools. There also appears to be an increased focus on public education and mental health literacy.

Open Minds, Healthy Minds

Here's a summary from http://news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2011/06/ontarios-comprehensive-mental-health-and-addictions-strategy.html :

• Improve mental health and well-being for all Ontarians by:
  • Identifying mental health needs as early as possible and provide coordinated, high quality programs and services closer to home.
  • Improving mental health health literacy through targeted education and awareness programs to reach people most at risk.
  • Involving workplaces and encouraging them to develop and deliver education and awareness programs and services, while helping those with mental health and addictions issues to better cope in the workplace.
• Create healthy, resilient, and inclusive communities by:
  • Reducing stigma and discrimination through more mental health promotion practices for children and youth, educators, health providers, workplaces, seniors' service providers, municipal service providers, justice providers and the public.
  • Building on current programs to deliver services through community settings.
• Identify mental health and addiction problems early and lay down a foundation for good mental health early in life by focusing on kids first and:
  • Enhancing the capacity of our first responders to identify people with early signs and symptoms of mental health or addiction problems.
  • Building school based capacity and enhancing mental health resources at school.
  • Strengthening the capacity of family health care providers to offer mental health and addiction services.
• Provide timely, high quality, integrated, person-directed services. For example:
  • Creating a single-access directory with information on mental health and addictions services, self-care and peer support.
  • Delivering mental health and addictions services in schools, universities, colleges, community services, settlement services and long-term care homes.
  • Improving transitions between different services, including between youth and adult services, between adult and seniors services and between the justice and health systems.
  • Better coordination across the health system to reduce avoidable emergency room visits, hospitalization and wait times.