Mental health pilot program aimed at youth with complex needs

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About 30 youth clients with a mental health agency in Sarnia-Lambton have complex mental health needs and too often end up seeking help in hospital, says the agency’s boss.

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“We’re seeing them coming through the emergency department, and even in the acute care services at the hospital as well,” said Craig McKenzie, executive director with St. Clair Child and Youth Services.

That’s because traditional therapy and counselling services haven’t been able to meet demand, he said.

The youth, ages nine to 17, often have multiple diagnoses, potentially substance dependencies, may live far away from service providers or otherwise struggle to make appointments, and the people who care for them might be struggling as well, he said.

“We’ve really seen a need,” he said.

With $900,000 in funding from the Judith and Norman Alix Foundation, the local mental health provider for children and youth is launching a new program to try to help them, he said.

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Called the intensive outreach treatment (IOT) program, modeled on similar assertive community treatment programs for adults, the three-year pilot is bringing in a host of service providers to meet the youngsters where they are for treatment, including at their homes.

Involving various mental health and addiction supports, child welfare providers, schools, and Sarnia-Lambton Rebound, the program, starting in January, offers a “holistic approach,” McKenzie said.

“It’s having access to adult supports as well, psychiatry though Bluewater Health, housing and homelessness, mental health and addictions. It really is going to be based on their needs,” he said.

Hopes are the coordinated, flexible approach fills the system gap more efficiently and effectively than emergency room visits have been, he said.

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The number of children and youth with complex mental health needs has jumped by 25 per cent during the last four years, he said.

And while 30 might not seem like a large number, “it truly is when you think about the impact,” he said.

Hopes are to demonstrate to Ontario’s Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services in three years the program’s cost effectiveness, and benefit to families, to get sustained funding, he said.

St. Clair Child and Youth Services might also re-examine how its other programs are delivered, if this approach proves effective, he said.

Other IOT aspects include teaching youth skills such as self-regulation and communication in a new respite program through Rebound, and supports in the classroom through the Lambton Kent District School Board, McKenzie said.

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“A lot of these youth struggle academically and … I think having a specialized classroom they can access with a therapeutic team that’s wrapped around them, along with an education team” will help with success and transitioning back into the regular school system, he said.

The Alix Foundation called a meeting about a year ago with different service providers “concerned about the state of our kids and our community,” McKenzie said.

“So, they really showed leadership and were very clear they wanted to be part of supporting a local solution.”

It took about a year to develop the program, he said.

“We didn’t want to duplicate what was already happening in the community and recognizing kind of what the strengths are, understanding the needs and really finding a program that would be really intentional and innovative to meet that need,” he said.

The Alix Foundation is focused on enhancing the lives of people in Lambton County, foundation spokesperson Joe Alix said, in a news release.

“We believe this investment will have a significant positive impact on the mental health landscape for youth in our area,” he said.

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