You must be patient to access mental health care in Quebec.
• Also read: Mental health waiting lists: Minister Lionel Carmant promises reinforcements
According to Ministry of Health data obtained by the Journal de Montréal, an adult waits an average of 60 days for specific care and 164 days for specialized care.
For minors, these deadlines are even longer.
“During these periods, the person’s condition often worsens, becomes more complex and, in certain cases, even becomes chronic, for example the person becomes unable to work,” explains Dr. Karine Gauthier, psychologist and founder of the Coalition of Psychologists of the Quebec Public Network.
With the pandemic, requests for help have increased significantly and there has been a migration of psychologists to the private sector.
The minister responsible for social services promises reinforcements to reduce waiting lists. In an interview with the Journal, Lionel Carmant proposes in particular to offer walk-in services in CLSCs, to increase the salaries of psychologists in the public network and to delegate actions in particular to social workers and specialist nurses.
“They offer help that is essential. Not everyone needs to see a psychologist anyway, but access to treatment is excessively limited,” comments Dr. Karine Gauthier.
The minister also wants to add a clinical approach to the BAC in psychology, which would allow 500 more frontline professionals to be recruited per year.
“I think there is one measure that they have not seen, and that is labor organization. “In public, I think it will be helpful to pay a reasonable salary and give the psychologist the opportunity to manage his schedule without restrictions,” says psychologist Paul Langevin.
We also need to support young people who are caring for their parents.
“They are not the only ones who experience this, there are resources to support them, they need to be supported to fulfill their role as carers well, very often against their will,” explains the general director of Réseau Avant: René Cloutier.
Experts agree: There are success stories and you shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help.
“Priorities are set, there is a distribution of resources, sometimes we wait, sometimes it is imperfect, but it is better to keep moving, waiting and combining with other resources,” concludes the interim CEO of Quebec Suicide together Prevention Association, Luc Masicotte.
To see the full report, watch the video above.