A local psychologist is concerned about the invisible wave of youth mental health issues that is brewing in Cambridge.
Dr. Maggie Clarke, founder and clinical director of Children's Psychological & Behavioural Services, shared her worries with CambridgeToday after presenting at a recent Community Wellbeing Advisory Committee meeting.
"This mental health pandemic is not fake news; it's real," she said. "This was a crisis before the pandemic. The ratio of people to psychologist is not where it needs to be."
Richard Morrison, chief executive officer, Ontario Psychological Association, said Clarke's assumption is probably true, however, he couldn't back it up with any numbers.
"We know the pandemic isn't just identifying the stress in people but it's exacerbating it," said Morrison. "It's the next tsunami coming through. There are a lot of people looking for help.
"I can tell you that based on some surveys we've done, some of the wait times are increasing," he added. "Where there was a three or week wait list, it's an extra two weeks on top of that. Psychologists are working more hours to accommodate the clients."
The province, Morrison said, recognizes the importance of this and has allocated funds toward it.
"But they've got a host of funding they need to direct toward COVID measures," he said. "For mental health, while they're trying to provide additional monies toward it, there's going to be a greater need for it. We would always advocate for more. We need to spend some money now to get ready for the toll it's going to take on the healthcare workers and families."
With some funding that the OPA was able to secure, Morrison said, it had set up a disaster response service offering pro-bono services for people that didn't have coverage through their employers.
"We just got approved by the City of Toronto for a service to provide psychological support for city frontline workers for additional mental health support," he said, adding, "Cambridge is on my list to share this model with them and to see if they're interested in it."
While all that is in the making, Emily Gray, program manager at Carizon Family and Community Services, said there are some other resources available through Front Door, which runs joint programs between Carizon and Lutherwood, such as Quick Access and Mobile Crisis Services.
Chris Sellers, director, communications and development, Lutherwood Child and Family Foundation, was able to share some regional numbers for the two programs.
"Quick Access has seen a 350 per cent increase in demand since April last year," Sellers said. "It's gone from about 17 families to 77 families per month. These are the people that actually come to us."
As for the Mobile Crisis Services program, he said, there's been a 240 per cent increase in demand since April last year.
"That's about 21 families to almost 71 per month," Sellers said. "It's been a phenomenal increase and staff have done an incredible job in supporting the families."
Gray explained that the two programs can be a good alternative for those waiting to connect with a psychologist. Quick Access is often the first step for a family that reaches out to for help, she said.
"It's available five days a week," Gray said, adding, "Usually, (the family) can speak to a counsellor the same day or the next day. There have been a few times where there's been a couple days wait. There's no wait list for this (program), though."
The youth and family set the agenda for the conversation with the counsellor, she explained.
"Often they want to talk about overwhelming feelings, feelings of isolations, relationship challenges, and conflicts," Gray said. "We speak to a lot of caregivers who have questions and concerns about the changes in the child's behaviour. They're trying to figure out how to support their kids."
The Mobile Crisis Services program connects people to a focused service that works toward crisis stabilization and intense behaviours, she said.
"We work with youth and families and kids to come up with a safety plan to reduce the harm," Gray added. "We also have a crisis line with our clients; it runs Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. We've seen a real increase to this program from the Impact Team (Canadian Mental Health Association team that goes out with police to calls)."
Clarke also said that youth that end up at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital emergency department are not receiving the help they need in their hometown.
Stephan Beckhoff, manager, public affairs and communications, said the local hospital doesn't have an inpatient program offering psychological help to youth or children, but it does have an outpatient program for which he provided local numbers.
For the pediatric mental health outpatient visits the numbers for the years 2016/17, 2019/20 and 2020/21 are 3,258, 3,708, and 3,433, respectively. Further, numbers shared by Beckhoff show that mental health-related pediatric emergency department visits for 2016/17, 2019/20, and 2020/21 are 234, 319, and 226.
Clarke said there may also be a way for the community to get ahead of the problem through neighbourhood organizations that offer programs helping youth focus on healthy activities.
In Justin West's experience as interim executive director of Preston Heights Community Group, there are times when youth come into community programs facing mental strain.
"Neighbourhood association youth programs give youth a safe space to be a youth and be focused on that aspect," he said. "In many of our neighbourhood communities, a lot of participants are older siblings. It's an opportunity for them to decompress. Those programs, such as recreation and youth community engagement programs, are going to be very important moving forward as we come out of the pandemic."
West said their programs usually see up 25 youth sign up, more so for sports programs. For this summer, he said, they will be offering some programs, depending on restrictions.
"We have a recreation-based program called Active Parks, which will run three times a week. We've partnering Recess Guardian," said West. "Another program focusing on STEM activities twice a week. We have contingency plans for both program in case restrictions are not lifted."
Information around the programs can be found online via the community group's website and social media.
