Sharing expertise

Primary care professionals receive free pediatric mental health training through AHS program

Many family doctors and other health professionals across the province are now better equipped to provide care for children and teens with mental health concerns, thanks to an Alberta Health Services program that’s the first of its kind in Canada.
 
The Healthy Minds/Healthy Children Continuing Professional Development Program allows primary care providers free access to web-based, pediatric mental health courses at any time. Last year, more than 300 health professionals paid $50 each to participate in at least one online course.

“By making the service free for all Alberta health care providers, it demonstrates AHS’s commitment to community capacity building in the children’s mental health arena,” says program staff member Dr. Sally Perry-Maclean.

This supplementary training has the potential to impact the lives of tens of thousands of Alberta children, adds program manager Harold Lipton.

“If we recognize mental health issues in kids and intervene successfully, not only are we helping kids, we may be heading off problems in adulthood,” Lipton says.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, about 20 per cent of Canadians under the age of 18 have some sort of mental health issue. Differentiating between potentially concerning symptoms and normal, age-appropriate child development can be challenging, according to Dr. Perry-MacLean.

“Early assessment and intervention is crucial when identifying and treating any concern that may evolve into a more serious or long-term mental illness,” Perry-MacLean says.

Lipton says many family doctors aren’t trained to identify or treat mental health issues, yet they are often the primary or only contact families have with the health care system.

“This means children with mental health issues could slip through the system and not receive any specialized care,” he says. “This is worrisome because we know that 50 per cent of adult-based mental health issues have their start in childhood.”

Sundre psychologist and registered social worker Cindy Shyback says the program is especially valuable to rural health professionals.

“Rural practice can be isolating at times,” she says. “We don’t have the opportunity for lunch-and-learn sessions they have in the city. This program allows us to access the same learnings and interact with other professionals right where we live.”

The service offers approximately 16 courses annually on a wide range of topics, including pharmacology, emotional regulation and grief. The courses focus on identification, assessment and intervention tools and strategies, and they all meet the accreditation criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Counselling Association, and the Alberta College of Social Workers.

The courses are delivered using adult education software that allows presenters to prepare and narrate over Powerpoint slides. Learners access the modules on their own schedules and modules are available 24/7 for one month.

Similar programs launched this year in British Columbia and Quebec; however, they focus on adult mental health.

The Healthy Minds/Healthy Children Outreach Service is provided by AHS in partnership with the Faculties of Social Work and Medicine at the University of Calgary.

Interested primary care providers can contact the Healthy Minds/Healthy Children Continuing Professional Development Program at hmhc@albertahealthservices.ca.