CURRENT POLICY PRIORITIES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN CANADA

1. CURRENT POLICY PRIORITIES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN CANADA IS THERE A WINNING STRATEGY?

2. Snakes and Ladders • Using the CAMIMH national action plan as our strategy in mastering the real life challenges of meeting the needs of Canadians with mental illness • Developing policies that work in the complex, tightly coupled system that is health care

3. A Call for Action: Building Consensus for a National Action Plan on Mental Illness and Mental Health • Public Education and Awareness • National Policy Framework • Research • National Data/ Information System

4. Public Education and Awareness • Reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses in Canadian society • Increase public knowledge and awareness about effective practices in the fields of mental illness and mental health

5. National Policy Framework • Legislative /Policy Initiatives – Ensure that the impact on mental illness and mental health is considered in the development and implementation of every federal policy and legislative initiative.

6. National Policy Framework • National Guidelines, Benchmarks and Accountability – Establish and adopt national guidelines or benchmarks for key outcome areas of a desired mental health system and for mental health promotion.

7. National Policy Framework • Integration and collaboration – Develop collaborative and cooperative partnerships that will enhance systems of care and mental health promotion opportunities.

8. National Policy Framework • Consumer and Family Participation - Strengthen consumer and family participation in national policy development affecting mental illness services and supports as well as mental health promotion

9. National Policy Framework • Promotion of Self-Help – The federal government recognizes consumer and family self-help as a significant and vital mental health resource.

10. National Policy Framework • Innovative Models of Service Delivery – Encourage and facilitate the piloting , testing and dissemination of information about new and innovative models of delivering mental illness/health services based on effective practices.

11. National Policy Framework • Human Resource – Develop a national mental illness and mental health human resource plan to the year 2005.

12. Research • Establish and support a national research agenda. • Establish and implement a public education and awareness strategy to support comprehensive and sufficient research funding and value research.

13. Research • Strengthen the voluntary fundraising sector so that it demonstrates a unified commitment and enhanced support for mental illness/health research. • Increase the cadres of new mental illness and mental health researchers.

14. Research • Create a more supportive environment for Canadian researchers in mental illness and mental health research. • Ensure that mental illness and mental health research informs policy development in all areas of health.

15. Research • Increase the involvement of consumers, other stakeholders and their organizations and the voluntary sector in the development, implementation and dissemination of the knowledge acquired through enhanced mental illness and mental health research

16. National Data /Information System • Create a national public health surveillance and reporting program in collaboration with other stakeholders, including the Laboratory Centre fro Disease Control (LCDC) [now called the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control of Health Canada].

17. Early psychosis intervention Supported employment programs Comprehensive drug coverage Affordable housing choices Mental health courts Dual diagnosis programs Active rehabilitation Self Help Family support and educaton Clubhouse Rural outreach Crisis intervention Snakes and Ladders

18. Access to primary care Adequate income Home support Transportation Telemental health Assertive community treatment teams Mobile crisis service Timely access to inpatient services Comprehensive electronic clinical record Recreation and social opportunities Healthy diet Snakes and Ladders

19. Discriminatory housing practices Inadequate social assistance Prejudice Refusal of insurance Homelessness Violence Poor physical health Shame Lack of friends Loss of family connection Criminalization Systems not accomodating for disability More Snakes than Ladders

20. Waiting lists No beds Mental Health Act Competency Guardianship Disability tax credit Adult education Technological advances Direct to consumer advertising Territorial disputes and rivalries Treating healthcare as a commodity Snakes and Ladders

21. Enough Talk, Let’s Play !