Key Issues and Backgrounders – Federal Election 2008 [2 - Oct - 08 @ 15:39]
Posted into: CAMIMH News
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In this federal election the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health is seeking the support of all the major parties on key issues that affect the mental health of all Canadians.
As the national alliance of major consumer, family, community and mental health care provider groups in Canada, CAMIMH is alert to the current mental health crisis affecting individuals and families, members of the medical research community, as well as front-line workers. We are also deeply concerned about the financial constraints faced by mental health organizations as they struggle to meet increasing demand for services in the community with fewer dollars available to administer programs.
We are asking all the major parties to support:
1) Increased funding for national non-profit organizations that provide important mental health services;
2) Investment in the mental health literacy of Canadians;
3) Implementation of national standards for mental health service delivery;
4) Increased investment in mental health research that focuses on recovery oriented practices, services and systems.
These commitments are complementary to the current federal government investment in the Mental Health Commission of Canada, which we have welcomed and fully support.
A federal government that is committed to implementing these recommendations will position Canada as a world-leader in mental health services for its citizens.
The federal government, the Mental Health Commission of Canada and all stakeholders in the community must coordinate their efforts to convey the message that good mental health is possible for all Canadians, including those living with mental illness, and that recovery is possible.
1. Funding Support for Canada’s Mental Illness and Mental Health Organizations
The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health is seeking these commitments from all major political parties to increase funding for national non-profit organizations that provide important mental health services:
1) Renewal and expansion of resources for the Social Development Partnership Program (SDPP), to provide critical funding to national mental health and mental illness organizations;
2) Core operational funding as well as project-based funding, with multi-year funding agreements, to ensure the long-term effectiveness of mental health organizations.
These commitments should be based on the recognition that non-profit mental health organizations have become essential partners with government in the provision of services to maintain the mental health of Canadians and prevent and treat mental illness.
Canada’s mental health organizations are chronically under-resourced, with a patch-work of funding arrangements. These organizations cannot support their broad range of important services through charitable contributions alone. Stable, predictable federal funding is needed to ensure they continue to play their vital role.
The Social Development Partnership Program is a grants and contributions program that provides financial support to non-profit organizations working to address the social development and inclusion needs of people with disabilities, children and their families, and other vulnerable or excluded groups. Funding for the disabilities section of the program has been frozen at $11 million for over a decade.
There are strong reasons for all parties to support the expansion of federal funding:
•Funding to non-profit mental health partners is a highly cost-effective alternative to direct government programming.
•The support of these organizations makes it possible for Canadians affected by mental health challenges to help themselves more efficiently and effectively than government programs ever could.
•Non-profit partners ensure a voice and role for consumers and providers of mental health services in the development and implementation of effective programs to prevent mental illness, reduce its stigma and promote long-term recovery.
•The required investments will be more than offset over time by the reduction in the health and economic burden of mental illness, as prevention and treatment improve and more affected Canadians are able to live independent, productive lives.
2. Investing in the mental health literacy of Canadians
The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health is seeking the following commitments from all major political parties for promoting mental health literacy among Canadians:
1) The development and implementation of a multifaceted national program to improve Canadians’ understanding of mental health and our capacity to prevent and manage mental health issues, drawing on recent major national and international initiatives in health and basic literacy.
2) The inclusion of mental health literacy as an integral component of a comprehensive national strategy on mental health/mental illness in Canada.
These commitments would be implemented through the Mental Health Commission of Canada, working in collaboration with CAMIMH and mental health stakeholders across the country.
Mental health literacy is defined as the knowledge and skills that enable people to access, understand and apply information to enhance mental health. It also involves a range of skills and abilities that develop over time, within individuals and communities. This definition places an emphasis on empowerment for health, a key concept in health promotion and health literacy.
Collaborative and sustained strategies and national courses of action are necessary to increase mental health literacy in this country and to formulate public policies and programs which challenge perceptions of mental illness, increase knowledge of mental health issues and provide support to Canadians in need and service providers involved.
A commitment to increasing the mental health literacy of Canadians would achieve the following goals:
•reduce stigma and discrimination for mental health consumers, their families, as well as researchers and service providers working with them;
•improve systems capacity to support mental health;
•increase the mental health literacy of all mental health care providers;
•support the personal and collective empowerment of people living in Canada.
3. National standards for mental health services.
CAMIMH is seeking a commitment from all major political parties to implement national standards for mental health service delivery.
National standards are essential to ensure that Canada achieves high quality mental health care that is effective, responsive to new research and best practices, and recovery oriented. The process for developing national standards must include the perspectives of consumers, family members and service providers, as well as mental health professionals.
Developed standards would:
•help to inform new services for consumers across their lifespan;
•help to inform best practices for service providers and mental health systems in Canada;
•be responsive to advancements in research and changes in the mental health and illness landscape;
•contain a mechanism for continuous quality improvement for mental health service providers;
•allow for the participation of consumers, family members and service providers in the processes of planning, developing and evaluating services;
•and most importantly, be used as a measurement tool for consumers and family members to assess the quality of care being received.
The Government of Australia has implemented national standards for mental health service delivery. For additional information please consult “National Standards for Mental Health Services”, Government of Australia. 1996:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-n-servstds-toc~mental-pubs-n-servstds-for
4. Increase investment in mental health research that focuses on recovery oriented practices, services and systems.
The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health is asking all major political parties to commit to improving funding for mental health research by:
1) Significantly increasing the overall level of federal funding for mental health research to better reflect the level of mental illness in Canada.
2) Establishing and implementing a comprehensive national research agenda for mental health that emphasizes translating research into practical, effective outcomes for Canadians living with mental health issues.
3) Committing to fund research emphasizing recovery oriented practices, services and systems.
Mental health research currently receives less than 5 percent of Canadian health research funding, yet mental illness directly affects 20 percent of our population. And although Canada has some of the best experts in the field of mental health working with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and other institutions, we have come up short in investing in research targeting practices, services and systems that have real impact on the lives Canadians living with mental health issues.
Research funding must be increased to more closely correspond to the impact of mental health conditions on Canadian society and be focused on the translation of knowledge into effective, recovery oriented practices and processes that place the mental health consumer at the centre of the agenda. Every significant advance we make in research on mental health and illness brings the potential for increased quality of life for Canadians living with mental health issues as well as major cost-savings to our economy.
Working collaboratively, the federal government, together with CAMIMH and other stakeholders, must establish and implement a national research agenda that includes targets, benchmarks, and measurement systems to:
•help direct research dollars to priority areas, with a special emphasis on recovery-oriented models;
•foster a climate of interest in mental health research;
•increase the volume and quality of research output that effectively translates knowledge into best practices and service delivery for the consumer;
•improve knowledge transfer from researchers to service providers, consumers and their families;
•develop long-term funding for mental health research.
For more information please contact:
Diana Devlin
Communications Coordinator
ddevlin@camimh.ca |
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