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Mental Health: Facilitating Links and Access to Mental Health Resources and Services

Categories:

  • Mental health,
  • Social environment,
  • Community,
  • Facilities & organizations,
  • Schools,
  • Workplace,
  • Healthcare facilities,

Facilitating links and access to mental health resources and services

Mental health is a state of wellbeing that allows us to realize our own potential, cope with normal stresses of life, work productively and contribute to our community.1 Mental health exists on a spectrum. Some Albertans will experience mental illness during their lifetime while others will have mental health concerns that may or may not become a mental illness. In 2012, 77 per cent of Canadians were classified as having flourishing mental health, 22 percent had moderate mental health and two per cent had declining mental health.2

Rural Mental Health Project strives to strengthen community capacity for better mental health in rural and remote communities across Alberta.

Ways to get started

  • Build a local asset map identifying mental health resources and services.
  • Partner with individuals who are interested in this topic to identify and share existing local resources.1-2
  • Work with relevant stakeholders to increase the number of affordable resources and services, such as the formation of support groups, links to activities that contribute to positive mental health, halfway housing, etc.3
  • Be culturally sensitive and inclusive.

For further action to promote/improve mental health in your community, see

Multi-component community-wide interventions that increase awareness about and provide opportunities for positive mental health in your community will have greater impact than implementing single, one-off strategies.

Evaluation measures the impact of all the hard work that went into developing a community initiative. Evaluating impact examines:

  1. What you expect to learn or change
  2. What you measure and report
  3. How to measure impact

What you expect to learn about facilitating links and access to mental health resources and services may include:

  • Increased number of sites displaying resources for mental health support and services
  • Increased access to mental health services/resources
  • Increased interest in resources or services

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External Resources

Mental Health Screening Tools

A comprehensive overview of mental health screening tools, from depression to alcohol and substance use tests.

View Resource

National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) – Publications on Mental Health

Knowledge, Resources and Publications

View Resource

Network for Aboriginal Mental Health Research (NAMHR)

Building capacity for mental health research in Indigenous communities.

View Resource

Canadian Mental Health Association

Advocacy, programs and resources to prevent mental health problems, support recovery and resilience

View Resource

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Resources on an array of mental health topics

View Resource

Teen Mental Health

How to build a shared understanding of how schools, community partners and the Alberta government can support student mental health.

View Resource

References: Facilitating links and access to mental health resources and services

  1. World Health Organization (WHO). Mental health: a state of well-being. Geneva (SW): World Health Organization; 2014. Available from: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/.
  2. Statistics Canada. Positive mental health and mental illness. Ottawa (ON): Statistics Canada; 2015. Available from: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2014009/article/14086-eng.htm.
  3. Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Advisory Group. Respect, recovery, resilience: Recommendations for Ontario's mental health and addictions strategy. Toronto (ON): Minister's Advisory Group; 2010. Available from: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/common/ministry/publications/reports/mental_health/mentalhealth_rep.pdf.
  4. Mantoura P. Population mental health in Canada: Summary of emerging needs and orientations to support the public health workforce. Montréal (QC): National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy; 2017. Available from: http://www.ncchpp.ca/553/publications.ccnpps?id_article=1654.
  5. Bullock HL, Guta A, Hughsam M, Wilson MG. Rapid synthesis: Examining the impact of and approaches to addressing the needs of people living with mental health issues. Hamilton (ON): McMaster Health Forum; 2016.