Quebec invests $40 million for better access to mental health and youth services

The Quebec government will spend $40 million for better access to mental health and youth services, announced the minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant on Monday.

The new investment for the year 2024-2025, is divided into two components:

• $20 million aimed at reducing the wait for mental health services
• A second investment of $20 million to reduce the wait for services intended for young people aged 0 to 17

“The major investment announced today,” said Carmant in a news release on Monday by the Office of the Minister responsible for Social Services. “Is a good example of importance and relevance of IPAM (l’Institut de la pertinence des actes médicaux).”

Better access to mental health services

According to the news release, the CISSS and CIUSSS of Quebec will have to implement short-term means to carry out a blitz of evaluations and interventions to offer the population faster access to youth and adult mental health services.

This first component aims to improve access to mental health services by reducing waiting times.

The goal, to avoid undue delay, beyond deadlines of 30 days or less. The effort will make it possible to support various measures and initiatives aimed at catching up with waiting lists, including:

• Asking part-time staff to work full time on a voluntary basis for a few weeks
• Ask full-time staff to voluntarily work paid overtime
• Based on identified needs and staff availability, plan for outpatient mental health services to be open until 8 p.m. on weekday evenings, holidays and weekends during the day shift
• Allow professionals to complete their administrative files at the end of the day or in the evening in order to increase the number of services offered during opening hours
• Depending on staff availability, call on other CISSS and CIUSSS in the network to support services in regions where waiting lists are growing and staff is limited

Reduce the wait for services intended for young people with developmental delays

The second part of the investments announced aims to improve access to services for young people aged 0 to 17 with developmental delays.

This includes the services of the Agir tôt program, and those offered to young people living with a physical disability, intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder.

The objective, stated in the news release, is to carry out a catch-up blitz in order to reduce the number of people waiting — improving access to these services.

The effort hopes to support various measures and initiatives aimed at faster treatment of children who have been waiting for several months for a service, such as speech therapy or audiology, including:

• On a voluntary basis, ask part-time professionals to work full time
• Also on a voluntary basis, ask full-time professionals to work paid overtime, particularly in the evenings, weekends and public holidays
• Hire interns and students to support professional teams
• Allow professionals to complete their administrative files at the end of the day or in the evening in order to increase the number of services offered during opening hours
• Depending on staff availability, call on other CISSS and CIUSSS in the network to support services in regions where waiting lists are growing and staff is limited

“This is another gesture that is part of the various cultural changes that our government is making in mental health and youth services,” said Carmant in the news release. “Although in recent years we have offered a record number of these services to Quebecers, we now want to give an electric shock to those who are on these lists and who are waiting.”

“It’s very important for us.”