Atlantic Canada Children’s Effective Service Strategies (ACCESS-MH)
Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) has awarded a team of researchers from Atlantic Canada funding for a five year grant to study barriers and facilitators in access to child/youth mental health services.
Children and Adolescents with mental health conditions represent one of society’s most vulnerable populations. These conditions are often not easily identified and a number of different agencies and organizations may provide services and treatments.
Health care providers, educators, social workers, and personnel in the juvenile justice system, to name a few, often play a role in identifying, treating, and supporting children with complex mental health conditions. Furthermore, a lack of publicly funded services, and often long wait times to access available services results in families seeking treatment from private providers.
ACCESS Mental Health (ACCESS-MH) is a CIHR funded project that is examing how youth with any of the following 5 mental health conditions access services in Atlantic Canada:
A preliminary review suggests that the pathways for treatment for these conditions differ significantly across provinces.
Members of the ACCESS-MH team are multi-disciplinary and inter-provincial.