I just happened across a Tweet as I was preparing to write today’s post. Ironically, it was about the very topic I wanted to discuss and that’s children’s mental health.
The CBC News article mentioned that nearly one in five Canadian youth aged twelve and older, reported that they required mental health support and that forty-five percent, felt their needs were either partially met, or unmet completely.
When we first reached out for help for one of our daughters early on in the pandemic, the wait times for psychiatrists were literally scaring me so I hired a private one for her. Thankfully we have benefits because otherwise only psychologists are covered under provincial health plans unless the psychiatrist is part of a government program.
Child and adolescent psychiatrist Tamara Hinz stated that “Even if the entire wait list was magically reasted today, it wouldn’t take long for us to start falling behind again because we can’t even keep up with the ongoing demand.”
Our kids can’t afford to wait. It is also my belief that we shouldn’t need a diagnosis to at least provide the support and accommodations for our children based on an assumption that they may have ADHD, Autism, or any number of conditions.
My daughter was finally accepted to participate in DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy), therapy which requires a parent to join them for 2 hours each week. Many experts believe that all children should be taught these skills, and it’s my hope that those who facilitate these programs, educators, and other health professionals, might come up with a pitch to why this training is critical and how we might fit it into our public educational curriculum.
Time is everything for our kiddos. Let’s give them a better start with these critical communication and coping skills.