Sask. youth at 'crisis point' for accessing mental health services: Children's Advocate report

The Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth is raising concerns about gaps in mental health and addictions services for youth and young adults in the province.

Advocate Lisa Broda released a report highlighting “decades-old issues” with access and availability to supports.

“Children and youth are at a crisis point in trying to access and receive mental health and addictions services,” said Broda.

Mental health and addictions supports focus on “reacting to crisis,” Broda said, which leaves out a significant number of young people who need “middle-tier” supports.

The report, Desperately Waiting, identified a number of systemic challenges to accessing mental health and addictions supports for youth and young adults, including wait times, availability, transportation, language barriers and lack of culturally appropriate services for Indigenous youth.

Roughly 500 participants including families, children, professionals and ministry sectors contributed to the report’s research, according to Broda.

Gaps in the system have been documented for more than two decades in similar reports released by previous Saskatchewan Advocates for Children and Youth.

“We must not be satisfied with the state of mental health and addictions service provision as it is today,” Broda said.

“After decades of the same issues, we cannot expect outcomes to change without significant investments and for the system to immediately prioritize the well-being of children.”

The report lists 14 recommendations related to mental health and addictions inpatient and community-based services:

• Implementing Youth Advisory Councils within the Ministry of Health and Health Authorities
• Decreasing wait times for mental health and addictions services to meet or exceed public expectations
• Funding and implementing more mental health counsellors and Indigenous Elders/Knowledge Keepers in schools
• Expanding outreach-based mental health and addictions services
• Funding and providing in-home support services to families who require this service to maintain care for their children at home
• Developing “middle-tier” therapeutic residential services for children and youth
• Evaluating and enhancing current detox and addictions treatment models
• Improving transitions from child and youth to adult mental health and addictions services
• Implementing the electronic Mental Health and Addictions Information System
• Moving all child-serving ministries to an integrated service-delivery model to enhance communication and coordination of services and achieve better outcomes for mental health and addictions services
• Developing a province-wide ‘Children’s Strategy’ to mitigate the social and environmental factors that negatively impact the well-being of children and youth

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults in the country, according to Statistics Canada.

Indigenous boys are 29 times more likely to die by suicide, Broda said. Indigenous girls are six times more likely.

Between 2010 and 221, 235 youth aged 0 to 19 died by suicide, according to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, which is an average of approximately 20 youth suicides each year.

“What concerns me most is knowing that the profound impact of poor mental health and well-being of children and youth can tragically lead to the gravest of outcomes,” Broda said. “Until young people have full and effective access to preventive mental health and addictions services, their well-being will continue to suffer.”

The government received a copy of the report several weeks ago, according to Broda.

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Everett Hindley said he only saw the report on Friday.

“We’ll be taking a good, close look at all the recommendations in the report and acting on them and making some decisions on them as quickly as possible,” Hindley said, although he could not provide a timeline as to when any recommendations would be implemented.

Some of the recommendations are addressed by funding in this year’s budget, according to Hindley. He said his ministry will work with the social services, education, and justice and policing ministries to “better coordinate the services already present.”

Saskatchewan’s official opposition is calling on the government to recognize the “mental health and addictions crisis sweeping the province” and implement all of the advocate’s recommendations.

“All of the others who have spoken up are sick of hearing the government say more work needs to be done and not actually commit to doing that work with meaningful timelines attached to that,” said NDP deputy leader Nicole Sarauer.

MEETING KIDS IN THE MIDDLE

The report recommends developing middle-tier therapeutic services for children and youth that do not fall under a critical care category.

In the eyes of the healthcare system, mental health advocate Alexis Epp said children are considered “either fine or critical,” there is no middle ground for supports.

"We’re not in crisis, but we still need support,” Epp said.

“We can’t manage it on our own, we don’t have the tools.”

Epp, who grew up in rural Saskatchewan, said having someone to provide coping skills, mental health education and an ear to listen would have helped her in high school.

“I missed so much school taking care of my own mental health,” she said.

“I really had to choose between my life and my education and like I said both of them declined rapidly because of that.”

Broda said it’s crucial to bring services to children, rather than children to services.

“When you have services around the schools and go where the kids are you’re going to have quicker outcomes,” Broda said.

Broda hopes to see all recommendations accepted and implemented by the government.