May 18, 2022
A mistake often made during and after health crises sparked by social issues is to focus on creating more or better services - which doesn’t help deal with the increased demand for services as well as the supply of services. During the pandemic, specialist mental health services weren't able to meet the needs of the general population and Indigenous, LGBTQ, Black and other racialized people had the worst access to care and outcomes from care. Dr. Kwame McKenzie, Director of Health Equity at the CAMH, believes three things should be done to decrease the demand for specialist mental-health services:
- Decrease the number of people getting ill: Improving social policy and harnessing mental health promotion initiatives can decrease the number of people who are stressed. Housing policy, worker protections, poverty and income inequity, a proper social-safety net and racism and community-building have huge impacts on mental health;
- Increase community-based supports and community resilience: He calls for better support for those who build community and offer social supports, including staff of municipal services, charities, religious institutions, schools and employee-assistance programs; and
- Build the capacity of primary care to treat mental health problems to decrease the need for specialist services: The best mental health services, he explains, ensure quality mental healthcare is delivered by doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists in primary care. Increasing their capacity to treat mental illness means giving them access to a wider selection of treatment options, better training and extra resources or staff. This would decrease pressure on - and improve upon - specialist services.