Waiting list too long for mentally ill youth: Eastern Health

Eastern Health admits there are gaps in services for Newfoundland and Labrador teens who are depressed, suicidal or feeling lost in the health-care system.

Teenagers and children needing to see a psychologist are waiting six to seven months for help.

"None of us feel comfortable with that," said Colleen Simms, director for mental health and addictions at St. John's-based Eastern Health, which manages hospitals and clinics in eastern Newfoundland.

"It's our top priority this year, to be looking at wait lists for children and youth."

Simms said Eastern Health has asked the Newfoundland and Labrador government for more psychologists and other staff.

Last month, mothers of two severely ill teenagers told CBC News that their daughters would likely have to be treated outside the province because services were not available. As well, they said their children have spent months in the psychiatric unit of the Janeway Child Health Centre in St. John's without the programs they need.

Centralized intake

Simms said Eastern Health has a proposal before the government for funding to address those issues "in the form of occupational therapy, recreational therapy and also increased nursing staff."

Next week, Eastern Health will launch a new service that should solve some problems: a centralized intake for wait lists.

"There'll just be one number that you can call, so that will help us manage and [prioritize] things better," Simms said in an interview.

A centralized intake system would mean that children, for instance, would not find themselves on one wait list for a psychologist and another for a social worker.

The intake system, though, will only apply to Eastern Health's area and not the rest of the province.