Growing demand for mental health services linked to long wait times

As social norms shift and more people become willing to acknowledge and seek help for mental illness, those who work in the field say the amount of funding and service available hasn't kept up with the growing demand. 

The increasing demand for mental health services is also linked to lengthy wait times for local, free mental health services. 

Numbers provided to CBC News by the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association show that estimated average wait times for certain kinds of mental health services can stretch for several months to a year or more.

"I think the fact that we have de-stigmatized mental health is a good thing. It means more people are willing to access the care they need," said Alison De Muy, director of strategy and community engagement with CMHA Waterloo-Wellington. 

"That's a good problem, but it still is a problem."

De Muy says that her staff have also noted a growing number of people with more complex mental health conditions, who need more frequent help and a higher level of service. 

More long-term services needed

De Muy said that in the event of a mental health crisis, help is available through emergency rooms and the help line Here 24/7.

But once people are out of that moment of crisis, she said the mental health system lags behind in its ability to provide ongoing care.

"We never want to have a situation where you have to get really sick to be able to access care," she said. "Unfortunately we don't have a great system that works on prevention and working with people on a level of stability."

One such type of service is the "assertive community treatment team," which is provided in the tri-cities through Thresholds Homes and Supports and Grand River Hospital. It connects people with severe and persistent mental health issues with a team of service providers to help them live independently, including nurses, social workers and occupational therapists. 

As of January 13, the expected wait time for assertive community treatment was an average of 454 days, according to the wait list provided by CMHA. 

Vince Carruthers, clinical manager at Grand River Hospital, says industry estimates suggest Kitchener-Waterloo could benefit from an additional four ACT teams to meet the local need. 

"We're drastically underserved just in population density alone," he said. "We need more funding based on the amount of resources that we currently have in Kitchener-Waterloo for this population."

Abe Oudshoorn, an assistant professor of nursing at Western University, who studies mental health policy, says investing in long-term, comprehensive mental health services is expensive but necessary to keep people living in the community and out of hospital. 

"When we look at people with high needs, chronic conditions, concurrent conditions, who are going to need ... support to be able to live in the community, support to meet their basic needs, that's where the money just hasn't been," he said. 

Promising signs, researcher says

Still, Mary Bartram, a researcher at McGill University, is optimistic about the future of mental health care.

She pointed to a new program introduced last spring by the province called Improving Access to Structured Psychotherapy (IASP). The program is offered through four specialty mental health and addictions hospitals and provides free, short term cognitive behavioural therapy to people with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. 

If expanded to Waterloo-Wellington, Bartram said it's the kind of service that could help reduce service backlogs. 

"It is certainly a reform that's underway in Ontario with the intention of scaling up across the province," said Bartram. 

"It is I think a fairly promising initiative," she said. 

CBC News requested an interview with a representative of the Ministry of Health Wednesday to discuss funding of long-term mental health resources.

In an email statement, a spokesperson said the government is spending about $4.7 million dollars on community-based mental health and addiction services in Waterloo-Wellington this fiscal year, and plan to spend about $3.8 billion dollars on mental health and addictions over the next 10 years province-wide.

Regarding the IASP program, the spokesperson said it is currently set up as a "hub and spoke" model, with four regional centres set up "with service being delivered to clients in over 70 different locations by 110 clinicians across Toronto, Central and Central East Ontario, Muskoka and the Ottawa region, both in-person and by telemedicine."

The spokesperson said the province is looking at how it can expand the program in the future. 

If you are in crisis or wish to discuss whether CMHA has the right service for you, call Here 24/7: 1-844-437-3247 (HERE 247).

Where the money goes

Here's where 2019-2020 Ministry of Health funding is being distributed by the provincial government to community-based organizations in Waterloo-Wellington.

Table submitted by Ontario Ministry of Health