By Diane Walker

For The Chronicle-Journal

It is hard to believe that in this day and age, with most acts of violence, school difficulties, suicide, crime or social struggles being connected to mental health issues, that we don’t invest very much in the mental health treatment of children. It reminds me it took 25 years to accept that x-raying pregnant women was the cause of cancer in children . . . yet the evidence was there, and we didn’t listen.

On Nov. 30 the Ontario Auditor General’s report was released with 11 recommendations about the community-based Child and Youth Mental Health System. The auditor’s report stated that not much has changed since 2003. And publicly, it seemed like most of it fell on deaf ears as people were more interested in highways and carbon-tax than they are in children’s mental health. Our government does not seem to care much either — only one MP asked a question in the House. Sadly true.

So why should you care? Did you know that since 2007 there has been a 54-per-cent increase in emergency department visits and 60-per-cent increase in hospitalizations for children and youth seeking mental health treatment? Yet hospitalizations for other child health issues decreased. By the way, it costs three to four times as much to treat a child in hospital than it does in community.

Did you know that over the past 20 years, costs to provide children’s mental health services have risen 45 per cent while budgets have been essentially frozen, insidiously eroding our capacity to provide quality treatment to children and youth? It is kind of like using a rotary phone in today’s smart phone environment.

Why should you care? Well, 70 per cent of mental health problems have their onset during childhood and adolescence; mental illness is the leading cause of disability in Canada; and 500,000 people in Canada will be off work every week because of mental health problems. Don’t you think we should have treated it earlier?

Finally, did you know that 6,500 children and youth wait for treatment for over a year in one of the wealthiest places to live on the planet? Did you know that four-year-olds (yes, four-year-olds have mental health struggles) who can’t cope in school have their days “modified” — which really says something is wrong with you and we can’t manage it?

Did you know that the average wait time for treatment is 6-12 months? Yet, in Ontario mental illness accounts for 10 per cent of the disease burden and gets 7 per cent of the health care dollars: a whopping $ 1.5 billion dollars in the hole before we even start to treat mental health. And where do these untreated people appear? In jails, in hospital emergency departments, on the streets or in the morgue.

So here is the hopeful side. I believe that both the government and the agencies want things to be better. But three things must happen.

• First, we need to properly fund community-based child and youth mental health services. It is estimated that a $65-million investment in community-based children’s mental health treatment would save the provincial economy $145 million in hospital costs.

• Second, the government needs to invest in a quality strategy to breathe life into the auditor’s recommendations. They have done this for health care, why not children’s mental health. If they don’t invest, resources will need to be allocated away from service and fewer children will receive the mental treatments they need.

• Finally, the government needs to continue to work collaboratively with the treatment providers, and not just impose more rules and oversight; but truly collaborate.

With all the rhetoric and media attention, you would think that mental health would be seen for what it really is — as a precious health resourced directly related to our relational, family, academic and employment successes. The truth is that without mental health, there is no health!

I personally support a stronger, better, accountable and evidence-informed provincial system of mental health care for infants, children and youth. And, I am not as worried about who gets the money as I am about whether real investment occurs.

You see — mental health is a health issue we all struggle with, and chances are you know a child and family, a student or co-worker, a neighbour or friend, who will not get the help they need. And together, we all experience the consequences of untreated mental health and addictions issues. Just saying.

Diane Walker is CEO of Children’s Centre Thunder Bay.

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