Spring 2016
Dear Doctor:
As you may know, CHEO and The Royal have partnered together to provide specialized psychiatric and
mental health services for children and youth in our region. In the fall of 2015, we jointly launched this
Young Minds Partnership, and developed a new strategic plan to guide our services over the next five
years. One of the biggest concerns we heard from youth, families and providers across the region is that
we need to reduce wait time and improve access to our services. This is identified as one of the top
priorities within our new plan, and we are launching a new initiative to help us achieve this goal.
CHEO’s Mental Health Program and The Royal’s Youth Mental Health Program are changing the way we
operate for our outpatient mental health services. Our new approach is called the Choice and
Partnership Approach - CAPA.
Patients who are referred to our Centralized Intake and who meet the criteria for specialized mental
health services will be contacted and offered the opportunity to make a Choice Appointment.
The Choice Appointment will be a single appointment (sometimes two) with a mental health clinician.
The goal of this appointment will be to identify the current problems that the patient is experiencing,
their strengths and supports, the patient goals, as well as identifying what kind of help they hope to
receive. This is often done in consultation with the family as well.
This Choice Appointment will be offered as soon as possible – when the transition to CAPA is complete,
we hope those appointments will be available within six weeks of the referral being received.
At the end of the Choice Appointment, the patient will be offered choices for next steps that best match
their needs. This may include further assessment, referral to community resources, referral for specific
individual or group treatments, or other suggestions. As a referring physician, you will receive a
summary letter detailing the Choice Appointment findings for your patient, as well as recommended
next steps.
If the patient is being referred for further assessment or treatment at CHEO or The Royal, they will be
given an appointment. There may be a wait for certain treatment services, depending on what is offered
and what the patient or family chooses. This next step is called Partnership – a partnership between the
patient and the clinician, often with the involvement of the family as well. Treatment goals will be set
and usually a time frame will be suggested.
When treatment goals are reached, the patient will be discharged. If these goals are not reached within
the expected time frame, the clinician will collaborate with the patient and family to review progress
and identify next steps, which could include continued treatment or other options. The CAPA system is
designed to be responsive and flexible for patients and their families – should a child or youth need to
access services again after they have been discharged, they can return for a Choice Appointment to
determine how needs have changed, and what options are available.
Whether or not the patient is returning, they will be given suggestions for things they can do on their
own that will be helpful.
It will take a while to achieve system transformation, as we need to deal with our accumulated waitlist
and improve system capacity. However, we are hopeful that by late 2016, this new approach will help us
to greatly reduce the wait for mental health services and so be able to help more kids and families in a
timely and effective way.
We have enclosed an information pamphlet about CAPA, which summarizes the key components of this
new approach to care. These pamphlets and other CAPA materials will soon be available on both the
CHEO and The Royal websites.
We will also be offering a webinar later this year to our family physician and community pediatrician
colleagues to provide an overview of the CAPA system. We will share more details about this event in
the coming months.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kathleen Pajer
Karen Tataryn
Dr. Smita Thatte
Christine Slepanki
Chief, Department of
Psychiatry, CHEO
Director,
CHEO Mental Health
Clinical Director, Youth
Psychiatry Program
The Royal
Director of Patient Care
Services, Youth Psychiatry
Program
The Royal
Chair, Young Minds
Partnership Executive
Committee