CYMH Leadership Summit Series: What We Learned From COVID About Ourselves Our System Our Future
Anecdotally, over the past several months, Children’s Healthcare Canada members are reporting a significant spike in visits and hospital admissions related to eating disorders, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. Media are also sharing powerful narratives from children, youth and families describing the challenges children are facing even before they seek out professional services or arrive in hospital emergency departments. Anxiety, restlessness, changes in eating patterns, sleep disruptions, substance misuse and other behavioural changes are commonly described, though not captured in any meaningful (quantifiable) or consistent way across jurisdictions.
The pandemic has demonstrated that mental health systems built for the future need to be crisis-proof and must be inclusive of all segments of society and the multiple levels of healthcare. Models of care must reflect both the unique settings where services are delivered and the teams that provide those services. The reality is that teams are stretched beyond their limits in effort to support families through the increased pressures of the pandemic. The needs of children, youth, families and service providers must be considered in all the planning to provide the same level of evidence-based care across the board.
Co-hosted by Children’s Healthcare Canada and the IWK Health Centre in April 2022, this was the first in a series of events that will lead to a better understanding of service needs coming out of the pandemic. Brief presentations on mental health data, health human resources, clinical service, and lived-experience were followed by facilitated break out rooms. The discussions were focused on the present state with an eye to what is working and looking towards solutions. Individuals from across the continuum of care as well as provincial ministries, and Members of Parliament engaged in small group discussions led by Deloitte and Children’s Healthcare Canada staff.
Event Summary Session Recordings
This invitational Leadership Summit brought together leaders and decision makers in child and youth mental health from across the country and across the continuum of care to take part in the beginning of a year-long discussion on the challenges facing the children’s mental health system as the country recovers from the pandemic.
With the support of Deloitte, a report was produced; reviewing the requirements for the workforce of the future and outlining recommendations for next steps. This output will inform the work of the following sessions in the Child & Youth Mental Health Leadership Summit Series. The summary report has been shared broadly and key takeaways will inform the next round of consultations in May and June.
We would like to thank our co-host, the IWK Health Centre, as well as Deloitte and Frayme for their support to make this event possible
