Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative

ABOUT THIS INITIATIVE

Mental Health in the Context of Primary Care

Mental health is an integral element of primary health care and patients regularly turn to primary care providers for support, treatment and access to specialized mental health resources. Due to lack of awareness and co-ordination, however, they may not gain access to the broader range of specialized services available in their community. And yet there is good evidence that providers who work in collaborative care arrangements are in a better position to provide appropriate and effective care.

Collaborative arrangements include shared office space, or formal networking among specialists and primary care providers from a number of disciplines and sectors. In addition to providing treatment and rehabilitation services to Canadians with mental illness, care providers working together tend to encourage the concept of mental "wellness", through education and prevention programs.

By engaging the key players in mental health and primary health care, this Initiative has strived to develop strategies that promote and advance collaborative mental health involving primary care practitioners, mental health care providers, consumers, families and communities.

The CCMHI Initiative, along with others supported by Health Canada's Primary Health Care Transition Fund, has contributed to a broader action plan to encourage primary health care reform and innovation in Canada. It has reflected commitments made by Canada's First Ministers in 2001 to make adjustments to primary health care delivery to maximize access and service to Canadians, while strengthening the preventative and health promotion aspects of the health care system.