St. Clair Child & Youth Services (SCCYS) and Linck Child, Youth & Family Supports (LCYFS) have announced a partnership with the Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) and the St. Clair Catholic District School Board (SCCDSB).
The agreement is the first of its kind and is an effort to implement the province's ‘Right Time, Right Care’ approach for children’s mental health.
Linck Child, Youth & Family Supports is the lead agency for Chatham-Kent, while St. Clair Child & Youth Services is the lead agency for Sarnia-Lambton.
"The ‘Right Time, Right Care’ initiative really provides a framework for community-based child and youth mental health agencies and local school boards to come together to plan collectively for mental health services," said Communications and Fundraising Coordinator for SCCYS Danielle Catton. "What that has looked like for us locally is really digging into our referral processes and creating clear referral processes and clarifying roles and responsibilities."
She said the framework of this approach is to emphasize timely, targeted support, delivered in collaboration with agencies and school boards by educators, mental health professionals, and community partners.
"What this means for children, youth, and families in our community is that by having these clear referral processes in place, this means less need for families and youth to have to retell their story when working across providers, as well as reducing the duplication of services," said Catton. "By having the clear referral process in place and being clear on roles and responsibilities, this means that we sort of remove any gaps or barriers that families may experience, particularly when moving between systems, so that it is easier and faster to connect to the supports that they need when they need it."
The initiative is meant to align with the province's strategy to encourage the early identification and intervention of mental health concerns while reducing stigma and creating a safe, more supportive environment for students.
SCCYS said it continues to work with the French language school boards on ‘Right Time, Right Care’, but geographic boundaries means additional considerations will be required when augmenting those agreements.
