The Canadian Psychological Association wants to help address acute mental health service gaps at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and in other services across the province.
The national body has joined with the Psychological Association of P.E.I. in offering assistance to the Department of Health and Wellness in P.E.I. to do just that.
Both associations have long been concerned about the challenges people face in getting the mental health help they need.
“Our publicly funded health systems mainly cover the services of physicians and nurse practitioners, yet the bulk of mental health help in Canada is provided by other regulated and specialized mental health practitioners like psychologists,’’ said Karen Cohen, CEO of the Canadian association.
“Unless psychologists are salaried by publicly funded institutions, like hospitals and schools, their services are not covered by provincial health insurance plans.’’
In publicly-funded institutions, there are often long wait lists and too few psychologists.
There are about four times as many psychologists as psychiatrists in Canada and about twice the number of psychologists as psychiatrists in P.E.I.
“While psychologists value and respect the work of their psychiatry colleagues, the mental health gaps that exist in health-care facilities, like the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, need not rely on psychiatry alone,” Cohen said.
Susan Hartley with the P.E.I. association said while the Island has been successful recently in creating some additional psychology positions and recruiting to several of them, more are needed.
“For example, a psychologist’s training and scope permits them to assess, diagnose and treat mental illness, which means that mental health workloads at hospitals, like the Queen Elizabeth, would benefit from having additional psychologists on staff,’’ Hartley said.
“They are an important part of a multi-disciplinary team and would improve services for patients and working conditions for other professionals, like psychiatrists. The workloads and clinical responsibility for psychiatrists could be assisted significantly by additional psychology positions, both within hospitals and in the community-based mental health services outside of hospitals.”
“For example, a psychologist’s training and scope permits them to assess, diagnose and treat mental illness, which means that mental health workloads at hospitals, like the Queen Elizabeth, would benefit from having additional psychologists on staff."
- Susan Hartley
One of the factors that must be considered in addressing the backlog of people waiting to see a psychiatrist in P.E.I. is funding. The services of a psychiatrist will be funded by the health-care system, but a psychologist’s often will not. Many of the patients on psychiatry waitlists can benefit from psychological assessment and evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatment, frequently completed in partnership with the medical treatment provided by psychiatric colleagues.
However, the doctors say unless the P.E.I. health-care system supports psychologists to do the jobs they are trained to do, and funds their services when they do, patients will go without needed psychological service.
“P.E.I. has an opportunity to make real mental health change happen,” said Hartley.
“Psychologists in our province, joined in time by the graduates of the University of P.E.I.’s recently established doctor of psychology program, can assist the province and our psychiatry colleagues in assessing and treating people on the Island in need of mental health help. It’s time for the Department of Health and Wellness to add necessary psychology positions, continue to improve recruitment and retention and support all regulated mental health providers to do what they are trained to do.”
