Vanier Children’s Mental Wellness is pleased to announce that we have been selected by the Ministry of Health to host Ontario’s Tele-Mental Health Services – Western Hub! The Western Hub transitioned to Vanier on January 24, 2022. Vanier was selected for this program due to its clinical expertise, planning capacity, and affiliation with the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University and the London Clinical Psychology Consortium.
What are Tele-Mental Health Services?
Tele-Mental Health is a creative solution for increasing access to child psychiatry and reducing wait times for children and youth in rural, remote, and underserved communities.
Tele-Mental Health Service (TMHS) provides children and youth in rural, remote, and underserved communities with access to specialized mental health consultations through videoconferencing as close to home as possible.
TMHS also strives to provide culturally appropriate services to First Nations, Métis, Inuit, urban Indigenous, and francophone children, youth, and their families.
Tele-Mental Health:
- Uses secure videoconferencing technology,
- Provides consultations with child psychiatrists to children/youth and their families without having to leave their community,
- Provides direct consultation that allows for diagnosis and treatment recommendations, and
- Provides agency staff with vital education and training to build their professional expertise so they can provide better service to children and youth in their community.
Tele-Mental Health is a consultation model with access to specialized mental health consults provided by three Hubs: The Hospital for Sick Children, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and Vanier Children’s Mental Wellness.
Consultations
Consultations may be in the form of:
Clinical Consultations:
TMH consultant (Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and/or a Licensed Allied Mental Health Professional) will see a child or youth with their family/guardians and Community Case Manager, for Mental Health Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment recommendations.
Professional-to-Professional Consultations: TMH consultant (Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and/or a Licensed Allied Mental Health Professional) will meet with Community Case Manager to provide consultation regarding management and/or treatment for child and youth clients.
Program Consultations:
TMH consultant (Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and/or a Licensed Allied Mental Health Professional) provides team consultation and /or education to Community Care Providers regarding assessments, management, and treatment.
Who can make a referral?
All publicly funded Child and Youth community service providers working in rural, remote, and underserved areas will be able to refer to the Tele-Mental Health Service.
This includes professionals working in:
- Child and youth mental health agencies
- School boards
- Hospital out-patient programs
- Family health teams
- Aboriginal Health Access Centres
- Friendship Centres
- Youth justice settings
- Child welfare agencies
- Other community-based agencies that provide child and youth mental health services
How can you refer?
The TMHS has partnerships with coordinating agencies across Ontario that help to support youth and their families to access resources within their own communities. These coordinating agencies also help families connect with specialist services like ours when needed. Referrals should be directed to the coordinating agency dedicated to each service area.
Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services is the Service Coordination Agency for service ‘Area 2’ that includes Wellington, Niagara, Haldimand, Norfolk, Brant, Perth, Oxford, Elgin, Chatham-Kent, Lambton, Huron, Bruce, and Grey.
- Link to referral package https://www.sickkids.ca/contentassets/197d61b088734386a193184fcf89bcc1/tmhs-referral-package-nov2021.pdf
- Link to Woodview website/contact info https://woodview.ca/tele-mental-health/
For More Information:
To find out more information on the Tele-Mental Health Services Western Hub
519.433.3101 ext.229