CCHOHT recognizes mental health and addictions as one of our key priorities of focus as we support the communities of Milton, Halton Hills, and Oakville. The Mental Health and Addictions work stream is working towards standardizing processes and expectations for communication between primary care and mental health and addictions service providers. The key objectives are to enhance care coordination and improve access across the continuum and system navigation, expand virtual care services and enhance partnerships and collaboration with primary care.
Activities Completed to Date
One-Link: Provides coordinated access to a number of mental health and addictions services through one referral and intake process! Follow this link for the standard referral form
PsychCHAT: Primary care providers practicing in Oakville, Milton, Georgetown, Acton, and Mississauga can connect with Halton Healthcare affiliated psychiatrists for non-urgent adult general psychiatry advice and recommendations! Open this PDF file to review the supports offered by PsychCHAT.
Upcoming Key Activities
Launch of the Unified Care Plan: The model includes the identification of one care coordinator who will be the main contact and will assume accountability to ensure the provision of wraparound services are initiated from other service providers, as required.
Adolescent Transitional Care Pathway: The Adolescent Transitional Care Pathway is about ensuring youth have access to the right care, in the right place, at the right time, and in the right way using an integrated, stepped care model that is patient/client-centred and recovery focused. A committee has been struck in alignment with other work currently being undertaken in the community to create a clear pathway for accessing support and to transition between youth and adult mental health systems.
Unhoused and equity challenges to improve access across the region: Launch of the Housing First Response Team working in tandem with existing service pathways and outreach teams to support connecting with people who are unhoused anywhere in our community including shelters and have a mental health and/or substance use concern and in immediate need of housing stability, crisis support and wrap around services. Open this PDF file for more information.
Standardized communication processes to primary care: Operationalization of templates to provide bi-directional communication between primary care and mental health & addictions service providers by providing primary care with updates about shared clients/patients and allowing for physicians to seek information from services providers about their patients
Work Stream Co-leads
Dr. Briana Howarth
Geriatric and CL Psychiatry, Halton Healthcare
Paul Gregory
Executive Director, Support House