With today’s article we once again open our gaze to the world to learn about the different systems for providing mental health services .
The global crisis due to the health emergency we are experiencing has highlighted important gaps compared to the health service delivery models implemented so far. This situation has put us in a position to begin to reflect and imagine effective solutions for the future capable of healing or strengthening some health sectors, in particular that of mental health which today appears to be particularly difficult.
So what is the objective we aim to achieve with today’s article?
Starting from this premise and from sharing what recently happened in the New Brunswick region in Canada, where a young girl committed suicide due to a failure to respond to her request for help in an emergency room at Fredericton’s Chalmers Hospital, Let’s look at the plan to strengthen mental health services proposed by the New Brunswick Ministry of Health led by Dorothy Shephard.
What were the proposals?
In March 2021 Dorothy Shephard ordered a review of the mental health system, announcing 21 recommendations from the Department of Health and regional health authorities. For 2021-2025 the recommendations have been grouped into four main areas: education , emergency departments , community addiction and mental health services.
Let’s see them in detail!
- Training area. Provide training to emergency room personnel , police and other first responders on trauma care . These modules are designed to support staff in a busy emergency department environment.
- Launch a provincial awareness campaign for services aimed at addictions and mental health crises.
- Develop and distribute crisis care educational materials to community service providers.
- Re-establish and streamline the use of the emergency number as a 24-hour response line for addiction and mental health issues.
- Complete the proposed Suicide Crisis Response, Intervention and Prevention Plan.
Emergency departments area
- Implement a treatment path for the problem of standardized suicide in which the phases of screening , evaluation , intervention , safety planning and reduction of lethal means are foreseen for each patient who presents to the emergency room with suicidal thoughts.
- Expand your education , training and knowledge transfer plan to include emergency room staff.
- Develop and implement efficient, evidence-based collaborative care models and care pathways to guide and support the care of people presenting to an emergency department with addiction and mental health issues.
- Develop a plan to provide 24/7 coverage of an emergency room mental health care team.
- Establish the emergency department mental health care team with defined roles (registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, social workers and community liaisons) and peer support.
- Ensure that the provision of specialist psychiatry advice is included in any care model or other care pathways.
- Implement a psychiatric resource strategy , including the provision of emergency services in this strategy.
- Improve the environment in emergency departments by allocating space and defining requirements to create a therapeutic environment, while maintaining safety features.
- Establish virtual access to emergency room mental health services at the local and regional level. This recommendation is the critical basis for ensuring that community hospitals have access to virtual care in the event of a mental health crisis when accessing emergency departments.
- Optimize the use of mobile crisis services to support emergency departments and emergency department mental health care teams.
- Standardize the follow-up care process for all people who present to the emergency room with addiction and mental health problems. A “warm” approach is the key to success.
- Standardize the transfer of information between care team members for each person presenting to the emergency department with mental health and addiction problems.
Community addiction and mental health services area.
- Provide funding to support staffing needs for the two identified critical areas of need.
- Engage partner departments for a joint funding agreement needed to implement a team to support and deliver services for children and young people.
- Funding for a project manager to develop a detailed business case and project proposal that includes Walk-in/Single Session Therapy clinics and how these two projects intersect in the Interdepartmental Plan.
- Establish a mechanism to help ensure that organizations applying for funding are aligned with the overall model and also ensure that services are evidence-based.
Conclusions
From what emerged from the article, the current crisis situation has highlighted some important gaps in the systems for providing mental health care services . This pushes us to rethink the organizational models underlying these services in order to make them more accessible and able to provide timely responses, especially in the context of emergencies. As an example to reflect on the topic, we referred to the suggestions proposed by the Plan of the Ministry of Health of New Brunswick in Canada which contains a clear request for the implementation of Walk-in/Single Session Therapy services as an effective response to the needs of redefinition and strengthening of emergency services.
Angelica Giannetti
Psychologist, Psychotherapist
Team of the Italian Center
for Single Session Therapy
Bibliography
Cannistrà, F., & Piccirilli, F. (2018). Single Session Therapy: Principles and Practices . Giunti Editore.
Allan Dearing, A., (2021). N.B. Unveils Plans To Boost Mental Health System, Canada /91.9 The Bend from https://www.919thebend.ca/2021/05/12/n-b-unveils-plans-to-boost-mental-health-system/
Urquhart, M. (2021). Health minister announces 21 changes to fix broken mental-health-care system. Part of the plan focuses on improvements to ER response, CBC News from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/heath-minister-holds-briefing-1.6023478