LET’S TALK ABOUT FUNDING FOR MENTAL HEALTHCARE

It is good that the stigma surrounding mental illness is falling away. But hospitals and other care facilities are still struggling to offer proper care, as shown by the gut-wrenching case of a local teen who was bounced around a hospital for several days without ever making it to the mental health ward.

Intervention at a young age is critical for those suffering mental health problems. Michael Kirby, former chair of the Canadian Mental Health Commission, has noted that 70 per cent of mental health patients show symptoms before they’re 20. Only one-quarter of these young people get proper care.

Teenage patients also face a rocky transition into the adult health system. There are hurdles in finding counsellors and ensuring diagnoses are followed up, which the province must fix (and says it will). The mental health commission, which has called for a two-per-cent funding increase for mental health spending nationally, says more than half of young patients drop out of the system during the transitional phase.

Meanwhile, access to beds and doctors is difficult. Patients sometimes languish in the wrong places, such as geriatric wards and emergency rooms. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, which treats mental health issues in children up to age 16, has a 25-bed ward. At the Queensway Carleton Hospital, ER visits for mental health issues have jumped by 28 per cent over four years, and its 24-bed mental health ward is strained. And there are programs such as outpatient services and Telehealth to be kept afloat.

Young people often wait months for the public system to cover psychiatrists. Wealthier families, or those with robust private insurance, have it easier.

What can be done? The cash-strapped province tightly controls health-care spending. This leaves the private sector. There are precedents for more private business investment: The Bell Let’s Talk initiative, to its tremendous credit, raises millions, and the money is doled out to programs around the country, including ongoing funding for the Bridges program in Ottawa that helps those in crisis get intensive treatment.

Private capital has financed equipment purchases, research and construction costs throughout our health system.

Here’s something else business can do: boost employee assistance programs and work on comprehensive insurance.

Let’s not wait for the government to close the gap between intention and action. Where business can make a long-term investment not just on the publicity side, but in real mental health care, it should. Let’s talk about that.