June 13, 2014 – Montreal, Quebec – Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Dr. Alain Beaudet, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Mr. J. Anthony Boeckh, Chair of the Graham Boeckh Foundation, today announced the launch of ACCESS Canada, a research network developed by TRAM – Transformational Research in Adolescent Mental Health – a partnership of CIHR and GBF.
ACCESS Canada's goal is to use research evidence to bring about positive change, within five years, to the way we care for young people with mental illness.
In Canada, one-in-five people experience a mental illness in their lifetime. However, it is young Canadians that suffer the most, with 75% of mental health problems and illnesses beginning prior to the age of 25, and more than 50% beginning between the ages of 11 and 25. Unfortunately, adolescents and youth have the least access to mental health care, as existing services are designed mostly for younger children and older adults.
ACCESS Canada will seek to fix this gap in health care. It will develop strategies to ensure that more young people are connected to the mental health services they need. It will move research evidence to the point of care, to ensure that young people receive the best possible treatments available. Ultimately, ACCESS Canada will improve health outcomes for adolescents and youth by transforming the way mental health care is provided in Canada.
"Funded through a ground-breaking and visionary partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Graham Boekch Foundation, ACCESS Canada unites youth, families, service providers, researchers, policymakers, and community organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate a model of transformation to improve youth mental health services in Canada. This will be achieved through innovation in early identification, rapid and flexible access, and appropriate care that is engaging, compassionate, sensitive and evidence-informed. We will demonstrate the effectiveness, feasibility and scalability of this transformation at multiple urban, rural, and remote aboriginal community sites across Canada. We will also begin to address special needs of youth in aboriginal communities or those with poor access to mental health care in urban centres, such as the homeless and those in contact with the criminal justice system. The work conducted by the ACCESS Canada network over the next five years will serve as a model for youth mental health service transformation across the country."
Dr. Ashok Malla
Principal Investigator, ACCESS Canada
Director of the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses (PEPP-Montréal) at the Douglas Institute, Professor at McGill University, and Canada Research Chair in Early Psychosis
David Coulombe
Media Relations
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
613-941-4563
mediarelations@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Joelle Sholzberg
Manager of Communications
Graham Boeckh Foundation
514-904-0551 ext. 248
joelle@grahamboeckhfoundation.org
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened health care system for Canadians. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 13,200 health researchers and trainees across Canada.
The Graham Boeckh Foundation (GBF) is a private foundation created by J. Anthony Boeckh and his family to fund initiatives in the area of mental health and other related disciplines. Based in Canada and open to the world, GBF aims to be a catalyst in bringing about transformational changes that significantly improve the lives of people with or at risk of mental illness.
