CMHA BC Research and Public Policy Projects

 

 

 

Budget Consultation Papers

Since 2004, CMHA BC has been presenting a submission to the provincial government's Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services for its annual budget consultation process. We are pleased to have the opportunity to recommend funding priorities for building a system of support for those living with mental illness and/or addiction and their families.

On the national front, we periodically send letters. Here is a letter to Federal Finance Minister on investing in housing during the consultation process for the Budget Fiscal Stimulus 2009.

 

Project to Enhance Quality
in Primary Care Mental Health Services

Throughout 2005, CMHA BC was involved in a national project that is trying to bring more attention to this area by developing an effective, feasible way to measure the quality of primary care mental health services. Led by Dr. Paul Waraich of the what was then known as the Mental Health Evaluation and Community Consultation Unit (Mheccu) at UBC, the project also involves a range of stakeholders from across the country, including decision makers at provincial and regional levels, researchers from several universities, representatives of consumer-oriented organizations, and physicians who work at the ground level delivering care to people with mental illness.

 

Strengthening Family and Youth Voices peer support project

Our Strengthening Youth and Family Voices project, a two-year initiative that ended in 2007, demonstrated how strengthening family and youth involvement, and networks of peer support and collaboration with service providers improves outcomes for children and youth who use the mental health system -- and their families. See the legacy reports and best practice guides.

 

CMHA BC Submission to Kirby Commission

CMHA BC Division presented the following report (255KB PDF) to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on June 6, 2005 in regards to their hearings into the state of mental health and addictions services in Canada. The committee visited Vancouver as part of their national consultation process.

The May 2006 release of the final Senate Committee report on mental health, mental illness and addictions in Canada was a landmark effort to bringing an all-too-often-forgotten part of our community and health care system "out of the shadows at last." Visit the Letters to the Editor page to read CMHA BC's response and view CMHA National's response. The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology -- chaired by Senator Kirby -- has been investigating the state of mental health and addictions services for the past several years through a wide consultation process. Read the full final report, Out of the Shadows At Last, the brief summary (press release), or the initial three reports from 2004.

 

Navigating Workplace Disability Insurance

Navigating Workplace Disability Insurance is a 2004 project that details the workplace disability insurance system in British Columbia from the perspective of those who have experienced the system. The goal of the report is to make a complex system easier to understand for employees with mental illness and their employers. A video documentary was a second outcome of this project.

 

Citizens for Mental Health Project

As a national initiative of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Citizens for Mental Health was a two-year project – ending May 2004 – designed to engage citizens from diverse groups in building a vision for mental health policy framework and to strengthen the involvement of the voluntary (non-profit) sector in that area. As part of the national project, group forums were held across Canada, three of which were held in BC in 2003. The top three policy issues identified in the regional forums across the country were housing, income supports and criminalization. CMHA BC produced a set of helpful BC links on these topics, and CMHA National developed a web-based discussion forum, a participatory guide, three topic backgrounders, and a final report. Visit the national Citizens project site for these resources.

 

Report on Discrimination

A CMHA-researched and authored report on discrimination against people with mental illnesses and their families was released and presented to the Minister of State for Mental Health on April 5th, 2002. The summary document (221KB PDF), prepared for the Minister's Advisory Council on Mental Health and funded by the Ministry of Health Services, outlines the challenges of combatting stigma and discrimination, major areas of concern and recommendations for change. A detailed report has been completed but is, as yet, unpublished.

 

BC Early Intervention Study

The BC Early Intervention Study (1998) sought to understand the perspective of people with mental illness and their family members on their first experiences with the mental health system. You can download the executive summary (85KB PDF), backgrounders (132KB PDF), or the entire report (903KB PDF) of this groundbreaking research.

 

Regional System Evaluations

The goal of these system evaluations or "progress reports" is to collect information from a wide range of people including users of mental health services, their family members, service providers and external groups about the adult mental health system throughout the region and then to use the information collected to begin to make system improvements. The three Progress Reports CMHA BC has led include Coast Garibaldi, North Okanagan, and Salmon Arm.

 

Mental Health Act and Community Committal

In the lead-up to the 1999 changes to the Mental Health Act in BC, a policy paper was prepared by CMHA called Community Committal: Another View, (1.2M PDF) and complements the work of CMHA National in its policy statement on community committal (also known as 'extended leave'). For a guide to the Mental Health Act, after the 2005 amendments, see the BC Ministry of Health's Mental Health Act page which includes the guide and forms.