Right time, right care: Strengthening Ontario’s mental health and addictions system of care for children and young people
School Mental Health Ontario, partnered with The Lead Agency Consortium, the Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions and Children’s Mental Health Ontario have partnered to develop a collective vision for how schools and community-based child and youth mental health organizations can collaborate to provide a coordinated, responsive system of care.
Why this matters
Reports suggest child and youth mental health problems have been rising over the time of the pandemic, exacerbating already high rates of disorder amongst young people (see Vaillancourt et al., 2021). The right time, right care report provides a vision towards ensuring a cohesive system of care that works for children, young people, and families in Ontario.
Next steps
The Right time, right care implementation working group will develop and disseminate tools and resources to support local planning and operationalization of the system of care vision, while also continuing to work alongside Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education partners to build on the good work represented in this document.
At a local level, board mental health leadership teams are encouraged to consider their own current contributions to the system of care, and how these align with the relative roles and emphasis for school mental health within the aspirational vision (I.e., priority focus on mental health promotion, prevention, early identification, and early intervention).
