Imagine a place where 20% of youth are affected by a mental illness and where 75% of mental health problems arise before the age of 24. Now imagine the same place but with only 1 in 5 of youth who need mental health intervention getting access to the appropriate care. On top of that, youth who do receive mental health care are faced with long delays in receiving treatment, which can go from several months to several years.
Now what if we told you that this place is Canada?
We would both agree that there is an urgent need for change!
One solution is the ACCESS Open Minds pan-Canadian youth mental health project, with the objective of transforming youth mental health services across Canada, through the provision of high-quality mental health care services, youth and families/carers engagement, and the generation of new knowledge. Operating in 14 communities across 6 provinces and 1 territory, the ACCESS Open Minds network presents its first paper, “Canadian response to need for transformation of youth mental health services: ACCESS Open Minds (Esprits ouverts)” which gives you a front row view of what this transformation looks like! It covers all things from early identification, rapid access, appropriate care, youth and family engagement to continuity of care and everything in between– including novel approaches such as mobile/technological methods of connecting youth to the care they need.
You do not want to miss it: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eip.12772