HALDIMAND—It’s been a little over two years since Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo visited the Community Addictions and Mental Health Services (CAMHS) headquarters in Townsend to announce Haldimand’s participation in a new mobile mental health and addictions clinic pilot project aimed at connecting residents in rural or remote areas with those critical services.
At the time, Tibollo said the goal of the project was to “help improve access to high-quality mental health and addictions care and address the increased demand for mental health supports during the pandemic.”
Haldimand-Norfolk and Niagara regions were chosen to participate in the pilot study, as their vast geographical landscape would prove a good test for the clinic’s ability to connect with rural residents who might not normally access the services.
Anna Miller, Senior Communications Lead with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, said that the clinics have so far been successful at “connecting people with the mental health and addiction services they need, in more convenient and accessible locations” across Haldimand, Norfolk, and Niagara.
“Since launch, the teams have been working on expanding the number of days and times services are available in each of the communities and have received very positive feedback from community partners, and the communities they serve, for bringing care to a large proportion of clients who would have otherwise not have sought care due to distance,” said Miller.
The clinic is operated by CAMHS, in partnership with Community Services of Niagara and Haldimand-Norfolk REACH.
“As a long-standing organization in the region, CAMHS has leveraged existing partnerships and forged new ones to provide services that respond to the needs in these communities,” said Miller. “Clients are given the opportunity to provide feedback on the care they receive, which informs improvement efforts. CAMHS continues to work with local organizations to build their MMHAC program and increase access to mental health and addictions services.”
The Press spoke with CAMHS CEO Bill Helmeczi about how the clinic has been received by the community, and whether the pilot project has ultimately provided the access and boost to local communities that it was intended to.
“It’s gone really well. We have a full team of mental health and addictions staff, along with a systems navigator that helps support clients gaining access to other services. We know that a large number of the clients that we’ve been able to see in the different communities hadn’t been seen prior,” said Helmeczi.
He said that currently, the service is accessed by approximately 400 people across its service area, with three clinicians working locally at locations in Cayuga, Hagersville, Waterford, and Port Dover. All locations offer mental health and addictions services for children, youth, and adults.
Currently, the clinic’s official hours are between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the following locations:
Tuesday – 35 Main St. S., Waterford
Wednesday – 39 Ottawa St. N., Cayuga
Thursday – 302 St. George St., Port Dover
Friday – 75 Parkview Rd., Hagersville
Helmeczi noted that as demand for the clinic has increased, the team has worked hard to meet that demand:
“There are two sites where we have to go up to at least three days a week. Because of the demand, we no longer necessarily travel together because we would never see all the different people,” Helmeczi explained. “Now we spread the team out to make sure we’re seeing people at multiple sites.”
He noted that the clinics also offer walk-in service when open: “We did know that during the pandemic and following, we would see an exponential increase in the amount of people needing these services and that’s true. Just minimally, by having more resources available, we’ve been able to better meet the demand.”
He spoke about some of the initial challenges the team faced in establishing the clinic after Tibollo’s announcement: “One of the problems early on for all the partners was recruiting staff. In Haldimand-Norfolk, we had an additional problem of finding space and making sure that space was accessible, but over the last 10 months there has been no real issue with staff, all the spaces are ready and accommodating.”
Helmeczi said the provincial government has actively supported the program through their Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, an organizing body that oversees the delivery of mental health and addictions services across Ontario.
“We meet every two weeks,” he added. “We have all communicated how valuable we see it as. It works differently at all the sites, but from my understanding, they’re all reporting that it’s going really well, and we’re all pitching our hope that it continues.”
He said beyond the direct service patients can receive by attending a clinic, the team’s ability to connect clients with other vital community services, whether through CAMHS or other community partners, is proving “instrumental” in establishing and growing the benefits of an integrated healthcare front in the region.
Miller said, “A key measure of success is understanding who is being reached that would otherwise not have accessed services due to availability or distance and who has received support for their mental health and/or addictions needs directly or by connecting them to the services they need.”
She noted that CAMHS is working with community partners to ensure there is an awareness of available resources and services and helping to “create the pathways for clients to get the help they need.”
She concluded, “Based on client feedback, a significant proportion of clients identified MMHAC-provided services they otherwise may not have accessed due to distance.”
While the website for the clinic is currently offline, those wishing for more information on scheduling, or to make an appointment, can contact CAMHS at 1-877-909-4357.
