Mental health support depends on availability
Re Pandemic prompts deluge of mental health
research, Jan. 4
It is not research that needs a deluge, but service.
After all this time, the waiting lists are longer, funding for research is larger and government action for practice is more absent.
Sam Wells at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health ( CAMH) mentions that there is more momentum for policy- makers and policy does not provide service, only more policies, and staff burnout.
The full- page ads for CAMH I see in the Star are for donations for research. The telephone number in huge point size is the number for donations. At the bottom right of the page in a minuscule size, is the number to call if you need service. The waiting list for service is longer and the time for service is shorter, or “time- limited.”
Every year or so, someone publishes yet another PhD dissertation with yet another model of psychotherapy to be researched for “evidence- informed practice” that is shorter and practised in smaller groups.
The evidence, over the years, has been that the relationship between the client and the therapist produces a better outcome.
For this to work, programs need to have more clients, more staff and shorter waiting lists.
Eva Saphir
Registered psychotherapist, Toronto
Mardi Daley, 26, is a youth adviser at CAMH who tells her own story about mental health. Access to care for those who need it is the issue in mental health, not a need for more research, a registered psychotherapist writes.