Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) in Windsor-Essex is pioneering a new approach to youth mental health care with the launch of the Assertive Community Treatment Team for Children (ACT-C), a rebranding and expansion of its Intensive Outreach Team. This new initiative is designed to address the increasing demand and complexity of mental health cases among children in the region.
The ACT-C model, which has been successfully used in adult mental health care, is now tailored specifically for children as young as six years old. This shift allows the program to provide more personalized and immediate support, offering in-home visits and mobile appointments as part of an assertive engagement strategy. Families can receive support as often as needed, including daily visits, ensuring that children’s mental health needs are met in the most accessible and effective way possible.
“We can see families as often as each day, Monday to Friday, at their home if that’s what their care requires,” said DJ MacNeil, Director of the Regional Children’s Centre (RCC) at HDGH. “It’s a very assertive engagement and home team program.”
The ACT-C team consists of therapists and child youth workers who work together to support children and their families within their homes, providing timely and flexible care. This approach is particularly important as the nature of mental health challenges has evolved, with many children presenting with more complex issues such as histories of trauma or significant school-related difficulties.
MacNeil noted the changing nature of mental health needs, stating that cases are no longer just about mild anxiety or mood swings. “Now, it’s a lot of, ‘I have a significant history of trauma, and I don’t want to go to school,’” he said, reflecting the heightened complexity of cases the team is addressing.
This initiative comes as mental health challenges continue to rise, with nearly one in four youth in Canada diagnosed with a mental illness as of 2022, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. Many mental health disorders begin before the age of 18, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 34, with alarmingly high rates among Indigenous youth.
Since launching just nine months ago, the ACT-C program has already supported over 50 local families. Success stories include cases where children who were previously excluded from school were able to return to the classroom after receiving daily support from the team. “We’ve had families where the child was excluded from school, and over four or five months of seeing them every day, the kid could rejoin the classroom and have success at school,” MacNeil shared.
In addition to ACT-C, HDGH is also involved in the Crisis Response Team, launched with Windsor Police in April 2024. This program pairs officers with mental health professionals to respond to crisis situations, reducing the need for emergency department visits. According to Kevin Matte, Integrated Director for Mental Health Outpatient Services at HDGH, 90% of these interactions did not result in an emergency department visit, underscoring the success of the initiative in addressing mental health crises outside of traditional settings.
As demand for mental health services continues to grow, the RCC hopes to expand the ACT-C program to reach even more children and families in need. The goal remains consistent across both programs: to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and ensure that individuals, particularly youth, receive the right care in the right setting.
“When we can provide a strong support network to a family, they tend to do better,” MacNeil said. With early successes and a continued commitment to meeting the needs of the community, HDGH’s youth mental health initiatives are poised to make a lasting impact in Windsor-Essex.
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