Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott praised the concept and implementation of the province’s only mobile health clinic for young people during a Nov. 7 visit in Stouffville. Philpott toured Mobile York South Simcoe (MOBYSS), a drop-in health care and mental health clinic on wheels for individuals between 12 and 25, which was launched by CMHA York and South Simcoe in May 2015. The Stouffville-Markham MP came away impressed.
“It (MOBYSS) addresses some of the real concerns we have in terms of responding to mental wellness needs for Canadians,” Philpott told yorkregion.com. “One of the challenges is often accessing care. People either don’t know where to get care or they can’t get to places where it’s provided.
“The beauty of the mobile unit is that it goes to where people are,” Philpott added.
Philpott’s visit was covered by yorkregion.com and Radio Canada.
Aside from the successful suicide interventions, clinic staff have seen a total of 4,170 young people since its launch. On average, that’s service for 230 individuals per month.
Services have ranged from mental health assessment, suicide intervention, counselling, sexual health and addictions education, basic primary care and health screening.
More than half of youth served are between 12 and 20 years old. And more than 40 percent of all appointments required mental health counselling. Most of the interest in mental health service comes from high school-aged individuals.