University of Alberta students, researchers and community members helped shape a cross-Canada initiative that has improved the way youth mental health services are delivered across the country, allowing more patients to be seen, assessed and started on treatment right away.
The ACCESS Open Minds project began in 2016 with efforts to make mental health services more accessible to young people, getting input from groups such as the City of Edmonton Youth Council on everything from clinic locations to ambience and services offered. Changes were based on five principles: early identification, rapid access, appropriate care, no age-based transitions from 11 to 25 years, and youth and family engagement.
In recently published research in JAMA Psychiatry, the study team followed 4,519 young people between the ages of 11 and 25 who received services at 11 sites — including three in Edmonton — between March 2016 to December 2020.
They reported a 10 per cent increase in the number of referrals within the first six months of operation, and that trend continued throughout the study period. The rate of patients who were assessed within 72 hours increased from 48 per cent within the first year to 64 per cent in the third year. And by the end of the study period, nearly 79 per cent of patients with mild to moderate disease had started their treatment plan within a month of first being seen.
"We now have empirical evidence showing that we can improve access to services for young adults," says psychiatrist and associate clinical professor Adam Abba-Aji, who is facility medical director for Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
"If you provide a youth-friendly, reduced-stigma service, you can improve help-seeking behaviour, access and timeliness of evaluation. We now have a template that people can readily use to improve mental health services anywhere in our country."
According to Mental Health Research Canada, 1.25 million youth in Canada need mental health support every year, yet more than half of them aren't receiving it. Mental health issues are the second leading cause of death among young people, and 68 per cent of mental health problems begin at an early age, Abba-Aji notes.
