Expert care and research for healthy
YOUNG MINDS
Strategic Plan for 2015-2020
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and The Royal together provide specialized psychiatric and
mental health services for thousands of children and youth in Eastern Ontario, Nunavut and Western Québec.
We call this the Young Minds Partnership.
The demand for mental health treatment has dramatically grown in recent years – including emergency,
inpatient, outpatient and community care – and has stretched our mental health system to the limit. It is essential
that we adapt to the changed environment of child and youth mental health and plan for the future.
The Strategic Plan for CHEO and The Royal’s shared services was developed with input from 800 staff, physicians,
community groups, children, youth and families. Their message was clear – they want us to:
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Help more children and youth, and reduce wait times.
Provide the best treatment – at the right time.
Do more for children under age 12.
Work closely with community partners.
Create a strong system of mental health services for children, youth and families.
This plan is designed to meet the needs of the community while striving to do better with each step forward,
keeping patients and families at the centre of all we do.
Quality Patient Care and Experience
CHEO has seen a 75% increase in mental health Emergency visits since 2010, and has had over 1,000 children and
youth waiting for outpatient treatment. The Royal has also seen growing numbers of inpatients and outpatients
– and a trend of more severe mental illness, including more cases of psychosis.
The Young Minds Partnership will improve access, increase
quality of care, and reduce wait times by:
• S triking a better balance between assessing problems
and treating them.
• Offering more help to kids and youth while they wait
for treatment.
• Helping parents and caregivers find the right services
at the right time.
• Improving emergency care.
• Focusing more resources on children 5 and under with
severe mental health problems.
• Giving effective help to children and youth with
substance use and mental health problems, homeless
youth, youth in juvenile justice, and those who have
experienced trauma.
• Improving our work with Francophone, Inuit, First
Nations, Ethnocultural and LGBTQ children and youth.
The Young Minds Partnership will also work with community
partners in our region to improve the mental health system as
a whole. We will engage children, youth and families in their
own care. And we will explore ways to use technology to
reach out across our region and to improve clinical care.
Community Partnerships
We’re all in this together. In our conversations with mental
health care providers, teachers, youth, parents, community
physicians, First Nations and others, we heard over and
over that we need to work together to create a stronger
community to support our children and youth. The Young
Minds Partnership will build capacity in the community and
create stronger working relationships by:
• S haring care between hospital-based specialists,
mental health professionals and physicians in the
community.
• Sharing skills and expertise.
• Participating in the development of community
mental health plans.
• Improving transitions between our services and other
care providers.
• Improving transitions of older youth with severe
psychiatric illness to adult services.
Next Steps
In 2015/16, CHEO and The Royal
will launch the first new projects
from the strategic plan.
For example, we will:
• P
ilot the Choice and
Partnership Approach (CAPA)
in the CHEO and The Royal
Outpatient Services. CAPA
is a service model that puts
clients at the centre.
• U
se telemedicine to conduct
real time emergency
mental health assessments
in community hospital
emergency departments.
• Re-establish dedicated
children’s mental health
beds at CHEO.
• D
evelop new approaches
to identifying and treating
youth with substance use
disorders and mental health
problems.
Over the next five years, we will
be monitoring and measuring the
impact of the changes we make as
well as sharing an annual report card
with children, youth, families and
the community.
For more information on the
Young Minds Partnership
please visit CHEO or The Royal
online.
www.cheo.on.ca
www.theroyal.ca
Expert care and research for healthyYOUNG MINDS