Government funding of mental health services in Nova Scotia

From a June 1st, 2010, PowerPoint presentation made by the Nova Scotia Department of Health:


Please click on the image to magnify it.

A New Kind of First Aid

Monday, September 27th & Tuesday, September 28th!

From the Nova Scotia Department of Health website:

Research shows that at some point in their lives, mental health problems affect one in three Canadians. So the chances are good that each of us knows someone with a mental health problem such as a substance-related disorder, depression, anxiety, or a psychotic disorder.

While thousands of people across the country know how to provide first aid to someone with a physical injury, a lot fewer people are able to recognize the signs of and support someone needing mental health first aid. But that’s changing thanks to a new mental health first aid training program for the general public, being offered coast-to-coast by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Canada.

“Mental health first aid is help for a person experiencing a mental health problem or a mental health crisis. Just like physical first aid, the goal is to offer a person immediate assistance until they can receive appropriate professional treatment or until the crisis is over,” says Tony Prime, Instructor MHFA .

MHFA Canada is an interactive course for anyone and no previous mental health experience is necessary. It can benefit teachers, health care professionals, emergency service workers, human resource professionals, employers, managers and supervisors, community groups, and the public.

The 12-hour course provides general information about what is meant by mental health problems and illnesses, how to identify signs of mental health problems in yourself and others, effective interventions and treatments, and how to support an individual and help them find out about and access the professional help they may need.

It also dispels common myths surrounding mental health problems and reduces the stigma around mental illness, since estimates suggest that more than half of people with a mental health problem will never seek treatment.

“The course doesn’t train people to diagnose mental illness or be a therapist or counselor,” says Prime. “It provides the first aider with actions to guide a person in need to appropriate professional help when a problem first arises. We know the sooner a person with a mental health problem gets help, the better their chances of recovery.”

More information about mental health first aid can be found at www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca.

For more information, contact:

Tony Prime, Instructor
Phone: (902) 424-7235
Email: primets@gov.ns.ca


Schedule

MHFA Canada (12 hours)
Monday & Tuesday, September 27 & 28, 2010
Boardroom 11
Joseph Howe Building
1690 Hollis St., Halifax, Nova Scotia

Adults Interacting With Youth (14 hours)
Monday & Tuesday, October 4 & 5, 2010
Same location as above.

MHFA Canada (12 hours)
Monday & Tuesday, October 25 & 26, 2010
Same location as above.

MHFA Canada (12 hours)
Monday & Tuesday, November 1 & 2, 2010
Same location as above.

MHFA Canada (12 hours)
Tuesday & Wednesday, November 23 & 24, 2010
Same location as above.

Adults Interacting With Youth (14 hours)
Monday & Tuesday, December 6 & 7, 2010
Same location as above.


Registration

Registration Fee:

Mental Health First Aid Canada
Registration fee: $120.00; Nova Scotia Government Employees: $50

Adults Interacting With Youth
Registration Fee: $50

For workshops in your community or workplace:

If room rental and catering for breaks is required and/or travel for instructor the registration will be determined and negotiated with the party requesting the workshop.


Register by phone or email:

Instructor: Tony Prime
Phone: (902) 424-7235
Email: primets@gov.ns.ca


MHFA Canada Instructor Training Course

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Canada is an evidence-based training program designed to enable people to recognize the symptoms of a person in mental health crisis and to provide support as a first aider until professional help available.

The next MHFA Canada Instructor Training - Basic (5 Days) in Nova Scotia will be held Monday, April 26, to Friday, April 30, 2010, location TBD.

• Five-Day Course - Application to Train as a Mental Health First Aid Canada Basic Instructor (PDF)

Youth Instructor Training Course

The next MHFA Canada Instructor Training - Adults Who Interact with Youth in Nova Scotia - will be held Sunday, September 12, to Friday, September 17, 2010, location TBD.

• Three-Day Course - Application to Train as a Mental Health First Aid Canada Youth Instructor (PDF)

• Five-and-One-Half-Day Course - Application to Train as a Mental Health First Aid Canada Youth Instructor (PDF)

Auditor General's Report - Mental Health Services in Nova Scotia

An excerpt for the Auditor General’s Statement to the Media today:

A second audit covered in this report was hampered to a lesser extent by the same restrictions on information. The Department of Health, under instruction from the Executive Council Office, refused to provide us information on budget requests related to mental health services.

Treatment of mental illness is a significant part of the health care system. Mental illness accounts for over 15 per cent of the disease burden in developed countries, and for 3.4 per cent of the Nova Scotia health budget.

In 2003, Nova Scotia became the first province to implement mental health service standards. The Department was aware at the time that funding levels were inadequate to achieve these standards.

When the standards were introduced, the Department acknowledged it would take five to ten years to fully achieve compliance with them. Seven years later, our audit found that the mental health service standards were met in only 14 per cent of the cases we tested; and there is no evidence of a plan or funding to close the gap.

The Department of Health has failed to meet its legislated requirement to monitor and evaluate the quality of mental health services. The lack of departmental oversight and monitoring significantly increases the risk that the mental health care system will fail the people who need it most.

The Department of Health has accepted our report and agrees with all 19 recommendations. However, the government has a poor record of implementing our recommendations. I would draw your attention to the next chapter of this report - a follow-up on the 82 recommendations we made in June 2007. To date, the government has implemented just 27 per cent of those recommendations. This is the worst performance since we began tracking government response to our recommendations in 2002.

The Department of Health was the subject of 48 of those recommendations, and accepted all but one. Two years later, 34 recommendations - 71 per cent - were still not implemented.

This is a concern given the nature of the 2007 recommendations, dealing with issues like financial and quality controls in nursing homes and equitable placement of seniors in need of care.

To access the entire Auditor General’s Report, please click here (PDF).


Also see:

Lax oversight of mental health standards, N.S. auditor says