Community-based mental heath and addictions service providers must be central in delivery of care within a new provincial health environment as envisioned in Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act, CMHA Ontario CEO Camille Quenneville told Ontario’s social policy committee Monday evening.
In collaboration with Addictions and Mental Health Ontario and Children’s Mental Health Ontario, CMHA Ontario recommended to government that:
- Community-based mental health and addictions providers must play a central role in the delivery of mental health and addictions care through Ontario Health Teams.
- Ontario Health Teams must focus on providing Ontarians with continuity of mental health and addictions care across the lifespan, from children and youth to adults and seniors.
- Ontario Health must identify, adopt and implement a standardized set of core services for addictions and mental health care across the province.
- Ontario Health must focus on the implementation of a strong data strategy for community-based mental health and addictions care, so that the level of care provided through Ontario Health Teams can be measured and maximized.
- Ontario Health must establish a baseline of funding to community mental health and addictions service providers and must commit to both protecting and growing those funding levels to support capacity building within the community mental health and addictions sector.
To learn more about the perspectives Quenneville presented to government, read Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act: An opportunity to strengthen community-based mental health and addictions care.