Project 1
Mental Health Journeying Through Design
Client
OCADU Design for Health
Sector
Design Research, Healthcare, Mental Health
Responsibilities
Lead Researcher and Designer
Project Duration
8 months
Mental illness affects almost everyone in some way. 1 in 5 Canadians experience mental illness in any given year (MHCC). In 2018, about 5.3 million Canadians reported the need for mental health assistance in the previous year. Of those 5.3 million people, 1.2 million (22%) had reported that their needs were partially unmet and 1.1 million (21%) reported that their needs were fully unmet. Although the need for medication was mostly met at 85%, only half (50%) of the needs for counselling and therapy were met (Statistics Canada, 2019).Additionally, access to services is limited due to long wait times for primary care referrals and/or psychiatric care, as well as community care that are often not cohesive with healthcare services (Anderssen, E., 2020). Barriers that were acknowledged in accessing mental health services in Canada include: not knowing existing services and resources offered, long wait times, shortage of accessible mental health professionals, lack of mental health service integration, cultural and language barriers, concerns about stigma, inequities due to geographic or demographic and cost of services that were not covered by private insurance plans (CMHA, 2018).
The study in this project indicated that primary care can be a deterrent in timely mental health access and also have negative impact on the emotional wellbeing because of frustrations in experience. Also, the interconnectedness of social, psychological and emotional wellbeing shows that mental healthcare should look at all three areas to successfully promote positive mental health.
However, currently, the care model for mental health mainly focuses on psychological wellbeing – specifically management of daily life responsibilities. And getting this care for psychological wellbeing comes at a cost of emotional and social wellbeing because of the experience itself and having to remove oneself from all social situations, making health seeking behaviour more challenging.
So how might we envision a future model of community-based environment that has integrated mental health in primary care and promotes and supports positive mental health that fits the multicultural diversity of Toronto, Canada?
Future Model of an Integrated Community-based Mental Health Wellness Centre
A service model of an integrated community based mental health wellness center was proposed from the insights of the study - where mental healthcare is given during primary care. Mental health team will be made up of psychotherapist, counsellors, therapists, clinicians, nurse practitioner, pscyhologists, psychiatrist, clinical social workers and pharmacist. Services to range from assessments to counselling to support groups and outreach programs and crisis response. The objective of this model is to try to meet those unmet needs through offering mental healthcare in primary care so that service can reach to those who needs it. This model would also help reduce stigma around mental illness because this normalizes mental health as a part of the overall health and community-driven to promote mental health knowledge and prevention.
Integrated Community-based Mental Health Wellness Centre
