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Mental Health and Substance Use
Overview|Resources
What is the issue?
People living with mental illness are twice as likely as other Canadians to experience problematic substance use. These individuals also account for nearly one-third of inpatient mental health admissions.
Currently, service providers supporting people living with mental illness and problematic substance use work across multiple programs and sectors, many of which operate under different funding streams and reporting mechanisms and do not share information.
As a result, people living with mental illness and problematic substance use have difficulty getting the care they need.
Additionally, the MHCC has received funding to examine the risks and benefits related to cannabis use and mental health.
What are we doing?
To address this issue we are filling key knowledge gaps in
- the relationship between cannabis use and mental health
- opioid training for health-care providers
Cannabis
- Mental Health and Cannabis Research
The MHCC was allocated $10 million over five years in the 2018 federal budget to investigate the risks and benefits of cannabis as well as the varying needs of diverse subpopulations of people living in Canada.
- Community-Based Research Projects: Cannabis and Mental Health
The MHCC is funding 14 projects that will be community led, culturally safe, focused on equity, and centred on lived and living experience. These innovative projects from across the country will address knowledge gaps in the relationship between cannabis and mental health for priority populations.
Opioids
- Stigma and the Opioid Crisis: Final Report
A qualitative study that reveals key findings on opioid-related stigma, including insights on its character (in direct care), impacts, and sources and the promising approaches to tackling it
- Stigma and the Opioid Crisis: Summary
A two-page summary of the major points from the stigma and the opioid crisis final report
- The Opening Minds Provider Attitudes Toward Opioid Use Scale (OM-PATOS)
The OM-PATOS scale is designed for those in the helping professions that may respond to or care for people living with opioid use or at risk of overdose or poisoning. Among its many applications are to evaluate the impact of stigma-reduction initiatives, measure an organization’s level of stigma (as part of a needs assessment), raise awareness, and track performance. - Opioid Training for Health-Care Providers Course Catalogue
Programs to help health-care providers support people with lived and living experience of opioid use, which is mainly focused on starting and maintaining treatment for opioid use disorder
Using the OM-PATOS, we evaluated four stigma reduction programs for their effectiveness at reducing opioid and substance use-related stigma among health-care and other direct service providers. The findings are useful for helping health-care provider, first responder, and other organizations create or improve stigma reduction programs and services. Read our evaluation reports
As we grow to better understand the co-occurring nature of mental health problems and substance use, there is a call to work more closely on providing integrated care. This work is new to the MHCC, and we are building networks and collaborating with partners working across the field. We are currently focusing on the ongoing opioid crisis, which is taking a devastating toll on individuals, families, front-line workers and communities across the country.