Concern about the mental health challenges of young Canadians has been growing during the nearly two years of disruptions and repeated isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But experts say we do not have the tools to properly assess the toll that the pandemic has taken on the mental health of Canadian kids. Creating standards for how mental health is measured could help grasp the scale of the problem.
Children’s Healthcare Canada, a national organization representing kids’ health-care providers, said children’s hospitals are reporting higher numbers of kids being admitted for suicide attempts, substance abuse and complex eating disorders.
Young Canadians reached out to Kids Help Phone about 4.6 million times in 2020, up from the 1.9 million connections in 2019, according to a report from the health service for youth.
Keith Dobson, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Calgary, said while certain metrics like hospitalizations and physician contacts are well-recorded, there are no standardized screening tools for mental health assessment in the country.
Dobson, who is also a researcher at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, said different groups and organizations, even within the same health-care system, will use different tools.
“That makes it really difficult to know what the rates are and how to compare them from place to place,” he said.
Paul-Emile Cloutier, president of HealthCareCAN, said standards are important for making sure money invested in the health system will actually result in positive outcomes.
“If you don’t have any standards, you won’t be able to evaluate if you’ve improved the health-care system of those people who are suffering from a mental illness,” said Cloutier.
Currently the provinces and territories are engaged in a “disjointed approach” to mental health care, where each province has a separate way of not only providing those services but collecting data as well, he said.
“And once you have that data, they don’t share that data with other provinces, which I think is a major unfortunate situation, because I think they should,” said Cloutier.
Dr. Tyler Black, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at University of British Columbia, said, “We haven’t done a great job in regularly surveying, or even monitoring national collections of this sort of data.”
Black, who is also a suicidologist, said there is a need for large national data sets to make any determinations about suicides among children, because it is less common, but it can take years to get that data in Canada.
“We’re not great in collating these types of things with modern, responsive, dashboard-style data. We get dumps of data every year, which makes it very hard to know what’s going on in the moment.”
Dobson said an existing tool that could be used as a standard for assessing depression is the depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire, the latter a diagnostic tool for common mental disorders.
He said this measure is being used more internationally and can be used for adults and children alike.
Black said because that screening tool was designed in a very specific way, he would prefer one that is “unequivocal” to interpret, such as asking a patient point-blank how they are doing at this moment.
He said that while he appreciates researchers wanting to create complicated scales, they are simply turning a subjective question into a scale that acts as a proxy for asking the question directly.
“I prefer more easily interpretable data that’s a little bit easier for kids to respond to,” said Black.
He added that he would like to see child patients and their families give input in the types of measures used for kids’ mental health.
“There isn’t really a great one, unfortunately, for anxiety, because anxiety comes in different forms,” said Dobson.
“But if there was a standard tool that was used across the country, that would be fantastic.”
Cloutier said the selection of Carolyn Bennett as minister of mental health is a significant step forward for creating these types of countrywide standards.
Bennett said in an interview with CTV News published on Jan. 18 that the federal government’s proposed mental health transfers to provinces may be tied to showing standards are being met.
The development of mental health standards is one of the first priorities listed in Bennett’s mandate letter.
Bennett’s office said in a statement the government committed $45 million in last year’s budget to develop national standards for mental health services.
The office did not respond to a question about whether the minister would create standardized assessment tools.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – RCMP say the body of a second person has been found inside their vehicle after a road washed away amid pouring rain on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Police say two vehicles went into the Sarita River when Bamfield Road washed out on Saturday as an atmospheric river hammered southern B.C.
The body of the other driver was found Sunday.
More coming.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
The B.C. Greens say Sonia Furstenau will be staying on as party leader, despite losing her seat in the legislature in Saturday’s provincial election.
The party says in a statement that its two newly elected MLAs, Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell, support Furstenau’s leadership as they “navigate the prospect of having the balance of power in the legislature.”
Neither the NDP led by Premier David Eby nor the B.C. Conservatives led by John Rustad secured a majority in the election, with two recounts set to take place from Oct. 26 to 28.
Eby says in a news conference that while the election outcome is uncertain, it’s “very likely” that the NDP would need the support of others to pass legislation.
He says he reached out to Furstenau on election night to congratulate her on the Greens’ showing.
But he says the Green party has told the NDP they are “not ready yet” for a conversation about a minority government deal.
The Conservatives went from taking less than two per cent of the vote in 2020 to being elected or leading in 45 ridings, two short of a majority and only one behind the NDP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Toronto FC captain Jonathan Osorio is making a difference, 4,175 kilometres away from home.
The 32-year-old Canadian international midfielder, whose parents hail from Colombia, has been working with the Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization, a charity whose goal is to help disadvantaged youth in the South American country.
Osorio has worked behind the scenes, with no fanfare.
Until now, with his benevolence resulting in becoming Toronto FC’s nominee for the Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award, which honours an MLS player “who showed outstanding dedication to charitable efforts and serving the community” during the 2024 season.”
Other nominees include Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter and CF Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
The winner will be announced in late November.
The Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization (CCCO) is run entirely by volunteers like Monica Figueredo and Claudia Soler. Founded in 1991, it received charitable status in 2005.
The charity currently has four projects on the go: two in Medellin and one each in Armenia and Barranquilla.
They include a school, a home for young girls whose parents are addicted to drugs, after-school and weekend programs for children in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, and nutrition and education help for underprivileged youth.
The organization heard about Osorio and was put in contact with him via an intermediary, which led to a lunch meeting. Osorio did his due diligence and soon got back to the charity with his decision.
“It was something that I wanted to be a part of right away,” said Osorio, whose lone regret is that he didn’t get involved sooner.
“I’m fortunate now that to help more now that I could have back then,” he added. “The timing actually worked out for everybody. For the last three years I have donated to their cause and we’ve built a couple of (football) fields in different cities over there in the schools.”
His father visited one of the sites in Armenia close to his hometown.
“He said it was amazing, the kids, how grateful they are to be able to play on any pitch, really,” said Osorio. “But to be playing on a new pitch, they’re just so grateful and so humble.
“It really makes it worth it being part of this organization.”
The collaboration has also made Osorio take stock.
“We’re very fortunate here in Canada, I think, for the most part. Kids get to go to school and have a roof over their head and things like that. In Colombia, it’s not really the same case. My father and his family grew up in tough conditions, so giving back is like giving back to my father.”
Osorio’s help has been a godsend to the charity.
“We were so surprised with how willing he was,” said Soler.
The TFC skipper has helped pay for a football field in Armenia as well as an ambitious sports complex under construction in Barranquilla.
“It’s been great for them,” Figueredo said of the pitch in Armenia. “Because when they go to school, now they have a proper place to train.”
Osorio has also sent videos encouraging the kids to stay active — as well as shipping soccer balls and signed jerseys their way.
“They know more about Jonathan than the other players in Colombia,” Figueredo said. “That’s the funny part. Even though he’s far away, they’ve connected with him.”
“They feel that they have a future, that they can do more,” she added. “Seeing that was really, really great.”
The kids also followed Osorio through the 2022 World Cup and this summer’s Copa America.
Back home, Osorio has also attended the charity’s annual golf tournament, helping raise funds.
A Toronto native, he has long donated four tickets for every TFC home game to the Hospital for Sick Children.
Vancouver’s Berhalter was nominated for his involvement in the Whitecaps’ partnership with B.C. Children’s Hospital while Montreal’s Sirois was chosen for his work with the Montreal Impact Foundation.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
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