Island Health child and youth telemental health and substance use collaborative care project

Aim: To provide Telehealth services on Vancouver Island to connect children/youth to psychiatrists to provide access to Mental Health and Substance Use screening, assessment, diagnosis and intervention.

Summary: With the serious shortage of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists in BC, and the majority of those on Vancouver Island being located in the Victoria area, access to Psychiatric consults for patients living in Central and North Island communities can be difficult, and in many cases, impossible. Long wait lists to see a Psychiatrist travelling to these communities, or long wait lists and arduous travel to see a Psychiatrist outside their home community was common. This project developed a service that delivers Child and Youth Psychiatric consults to rural or remote patients in their home communities via the use of existing telehealth technology within Island Health. The result of this project ultimately has been the increased access to service and improved care for patients in rural and underserved communities on Vancouver Island and the surrounding Gulf Islands. An important aspect of the project was to ensure the referral process was as easy and useful as possible for referring GPs and Pediatricians as well as for the Psychiatrists delivering the consults (the “Providers”).