Current Status

Projects have been created to improve the accessibility and quality of current mental health services, however much more needs to be done to ensure equity for all.

Mental Health Initiatives That Have Been Implemented: 

Status
Figure 4. Mental health protest. Adapted from “Mental Health Reform Calls from a Rights Based Approach to Review of Ireland’s Mental Health Policy,” by Mental Health Refrom, 2017, Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealthreform.ie/news/mental-health-reform-calls-rights-based-approach-review-irelands-mental-health-policy/. Copyright 2017 by Mental Health Reform.
  • E-mental health services, such as telehealth and messaging services (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2018b)
  • Mental Health Practice Support Programs have empowered family physicians to provide more holistic care to patients while awaiting referral to a psychiatrist (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2018b)

Ideas To Improve Mental Health Policies:

  • school-based mental health awareness programs (Salerno, 2016)
  • more public awareness campaigns, such as Bell’s Let’s Talk campaign (Bell Canada, 2018)
  • interventions to address the social determinants of health, such as smoking cessation, nutrition, exercise programs, in addition to counselling (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2018a)
  • psychiatric services available in primary care settings to reduce the stigma of seeking care in mental health facilities (Almazeedi, & Alsuwaidan, 2014)
  • treatment in the community setting, which allows clients to become active participants in their own mental health care (Cook, Morrow, & Battersby, 2017)
  • education within nursing programs to increase students’ awareness of personal stigma associated with mental illness and strategies to reduce its affects on provision of care (Fokuo et al., 2017)
  • nurses can advocate for more standardized education across Canada for treating and diagnosing mental health problems (Smith, & Khanlou, 2013)