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Ontario Health welcomes expansion of Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program

The Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence at Ontario Health is pleased to share an update on the provincial expansion of the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program.

Following recommendations from the Centre of Excellence, the Ministry of Health has approved six health service providers to serve as new lead organizations of Regional Psychotherapy Networks. They will join the existing four lead organizations who work alongside community-based service providers across their regions to deliver the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program. This expansion is an important milestone for building a connected, comprehensive mental health and addictions system that ensures Ontarians across the province can access the high-quality supports in their community.

The Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program provides access to publicly funded, evidence-based, short-term, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and related approaches to clients with depression, anxiety, and anxiety-related conditions. The program is delivered through a hub and spoke model: the hub provides shared administrative services and clinical quality oversight of the network, and community-based delivery sites such as community mental health agencies and primary care practices deliver the majority of client services. 

The Ontario Structured Psychotherapy program is designed to support and better coordinate community-based service delivery sites in order to deliver care that appropriately meets the mental health and addictions needs of clients, closer to home.

The six new network lead organizations are: 

  • Canadian Mental Health Association - York Region (Ontario Health region – Central)
  • CarePoint Health (Ontario Health region – Central)
  • St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (Ontario Health region – West)
  • St. Joseph’s Health Care London (Ontario Health region – West)
  • Health Sciences North (Ontario Health region – North)
  • St. Joseph’s Care Group, Thunder Bay (Ontario Health region – North)

These six organizations will lead the establishment of new regional networks of local community-based service providers to deliver high-quality psychotherapy to Ontarians across the province. New network lead organizations were selected based on their experience and capacity to provide clinical, fiscal, and administrative oversight of a networked program. The newly designated organizations will work closely within their local communities to develop their regional network, including: 

  • Engaging with their local community health service providers to identify an initial group of service delivery sites within their region;
  • Implementing key network infrastructure, including a data collection system to support consistent high-quality care and a centralized intake and assessment mechanism for easy referral; and
  • Developing governance, fiscal, administrative, and clinical structures to provide oversight of the performance of the network.

The Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence will be overseeing this new provincial program and is pleased to support making this high-quality service available to those who previously did not have access to treatment for depression, anxiety, and anxiety-related conditions.

Key facts: 

  • The expansion of the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program is a key commitment in Ontario’s Roadmap to Wellness, which focuses on improving mental health services for communities across Ontario, and supporting patients and families living with mental health and addictions challenges. 
  • These new organizations join the existing four network lead organizations that participated in a pilot of the program from 2017 to 2020: the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in the Ontario Health Toronto region, the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group in the East region, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in the East region and currently in Central region, and Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in the Central region. 
  • Through the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy program, clients can access services appropriate for them, including individual and group therapy, as well as BounceBack, a free telephone-based skill-building program offered by the Canadian Mental Health Association that is designed to help adults and youth 15+ manage low mood, mild to moderate depression and anxiety, stress or worry.
  • To support Ontarians during COVID-19, the province has also provided additional access to internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) to help people develop skills and strategies to address symptoms of mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 28,500 clients have enrolled in iCBT. 

For more information, go to Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program.

Ontario Health is an agency created by the Government of Ontario with a mandate to connect and coordinate our province’s health care system to help ensure that Ontarians receive the best possible care.

 

For more information, please contact:

Ontario Health

Phone: 1-877-266-6031

Email: mediainquiries@ontariohealth.ca

Last Updated: March 12, 2024