The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), in collaboration with the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychological Association, released a new resource in the Innovation in Primary Care (IPC) series, Integrating Mental Health Services in Primary Care. The series aims to foster collaboration, sharing, and learning among physicians and health care providers in different provinces and territories.
The most recent issue highlights how best to influence patient, provider and system outcomes, with examples of community-based practices that are successfully addressing common challenges and barriers to integrating mental health services. The document presents case examples from Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba – with Foundry featured as an example from BC!
Some key lessons learned in the case examples shared include:
- Providing mental health services (ex. psychological and psychiatric services), in a familiar clinical environment improves the patient experience and reduces barriers to timely care
- Collaboration among organizations can support the implementation of innovative solutions that improve service delivery and are easy for patients to access and navigate
- Engagement of patients and their families is important to encourage and empower patients to take an active role in managing long-standing or recurring mental health issues
- Team-based care—particularly in remote communities serving Indigenous populations—must be led by and respond to the needs of the communities they serve as well as their historical, cultural, socioeconomic and political contexts
Click the image below to read the full report. Also available in French.
