WELCOME

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

MINUTES

BYLAWS

DUES LETTER

BARGAINING UPDATES

BACKGROUNDER: Children’s Mental Health Centres

• Children’s Mental Health Centres are community-based agencies, serving children and youth between the ages of birth and 18 years of age.  A multi-disciplinary model to treatment is used.
• Children’s Mental Health Centres are primarily funded by the Ontario Provincial Government (through the Child and Family Service Act).

• Core funding for children’s mental health has been frozen since 1993 (an 8 per cent funding reduction).[1]
• The responsibility for this service has been transferred from the Ministry of Community and Social Services to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
• The previous Tory government did not honour the Pay Equity Act on funding Proxy Pay Equity plans between 1999 and 2002, forcing employers into deficit to be compliant with the act. 
• The “Making Services Work for People” policy document created and enforced under the Tory government required many Agencies (under the guise of local children’s restructuring committees looking for “efficiencies”) to amalgamate, increasing operating costs.
• The MSWP policy framework created a shift in Ministry practice on funding, with a move towards ‘project/targeted funding’, the increased use of Trillium Grants, downloading some provincial responsibilities to the municipalities (which led to an increase in RFP’s), all leading to increased funding instability for services to children and families. 
• The introduction of a “competitive” funding model for the limited funding dollars available is a short sighted and poor community planning practice. The loss of ability to effectively collaborate with other children’s service agencies (CAS, Education, YOA) to address common clients, and the creation of a Children’s Services system that is competitive rather than collaborative, in addressing the needs of its vulnerable children and youth, is a recipe for disaster.
• Changes to CFSA (risk model focused on protection), new YCJA (more emphasis on early intervention and identification of mental health/child protection issues) and Education Act (Safe Schools Act) has compounded the demand for Children’s Mental Health services due to the emphasis on early identification and treatment of mental health issues.  
• The ‘social deficits’ and program losses to the community over the last 10 years have been hidden from the public, as CMH Agencies are required to submit a balanced budget.  As a result, attrition, delays in the hiring of new employees, increased use of contract workers and temporary or permanent layoffs have become a fact of life.
• Average wait for treatment: 21.6 weeks/5 months[2]
• Recruitment and retention problems as a result of salaries being 24 –35 per cent less than counterparts in Education, Health and Children’s Aid Societies.

 What happens April 1?

• Program Cuts: St. Clair Child and Youth Services (Sarnia-Lambton) will close for 5.5 days over the next year. It will also cut its crisis response program -- any child or adolescent previously assessed and treated in this program (those viewed at risk for self harm) will be directed to the Emergency department for assessment. The 55 staff, members of Local 145 (who provide assessment and treatment, early intervention, day nursery integration services, prevention and residential services) received layoff notices effective April 1, 2004.  This will mean a loss of 303 service days for all programs, (at least 2100 service hours lost to the community’s children).
• Ten out of 81 FTE positions at Pathways for Children and Youth (Kingston) will be lost to the community.  Pathways’ 2003-2004 deficit is 5.3 per cent of the annual budget (3/4 of the deficit is attributable to lack of pay equity funding).[3] As a result, local 460 will lose four staff positions through attrition. Pathways will cut part time and specialist services and is ‘closing the books’ on previously vacant positions left unfilled due to cumulative deficit. 
• Five staff positions (Local 441) will be cut[4] at Child and Youth Wellness Centre of Leeds Grenville, which has 42 employees.  The day treatment program at Gananoque Secondary School will be cut and other counseling services will be scaled back. 

Impact on Community:

• Increased waiting lists.
• Reduced availability of specialty services such as Psychology, Speech and Language and Psychiatry due to retention/recruitment issues because of low wages compared to health, education and CAS.
• The potential creation of a ‘2 tier’ system to treatment: parents who can access EAP plans through employer ‘benefits’ for limited service and those who have no such plan. (EAP plans are usually limited to Registered Psychologists/Masters level social work with no guarantee of being a specialist in Children’s Mental Health). 
• Long term costs to society:  suicide is the second leading cause of death (after accidents) among 10-19 year olds, average cost per suicide death (direct health care costs and indirect lost productivity) = $850,000.[5]  
• Mental Health disorders are the third highest source of direct health care costs in Canada.[6]
• 533,000 (18 per cent) of Ontario’s Children under 19 have a diagnosable mental health disorder.[7]
• Children’s Mental Health Centres have capacity to serve 140,000 clients (1 in 3.8).[8]
• Up to 10 percent of the cost of crime in Ontario (approx. $300 million) can be attributed to inadequate mental health care for children and youth.[9]
• Cost to federal and Ontario governments of youth who dropout due to lack of mental health treatment = 1.9 billion per year.10

What to do:

OPSEU’s Child Treatment Sector executive calls for:

• The new Ministry of Children and Youth Services should conduct a comprehensive review of all legislation related to servicing children and youth to develop an integrated and collaborative system, which includes Children’s Mental Health as an equal and integral player, not an afterthought.
• The Ministry must stop “project/targeted funding” and the RFP process, and provide stable funding to Children’s mental health centers so there can be flexibility to address community needs.
• Ontario Liberals’ Commitment: “…we have also committed to increased support for agencies that serve families struggling with issues of mental health.  Specifically, we will increase the operating budgets for community mental health agencies that provide important services like counselling, early intervention and self-help for both adults and children.”11
• “If the targeting is based on categories or symptoms, then difficult issues of inclusion and exclusion occur.  For example, Ontario has established a comprehensive system of program supports for autistic children.  While these supports are vital for these particular children, those with other mental health challenges are unlikely to receive the same treatment”12
• “…a total shift to this direction undermines the sustainability of these organizations, as they are unable to finance internal systems and organizational development.  It seems clear that the funding mix has become too concentrated on short term, unstable targeted funding.”13 
• The Ministry must honour and fully fund Proxy Pay Equity Plans.
• The Ministry must immediately flow monies to address recruitment and retention issues to enable agencies to restore services to their communities.
• “Failure to pay adequately can lead to an erosion in the organizations capacity to deliver results over the mid to long term.  Given their precarious financial situations, non-profit employers, especially the smaller organizations, have limited capacity to address this gap.”14