Compendium of Good Practices for Improving Seniors Mental Health in Canada

Using Canadian examples of well-integrated or innovative services across a range of resources and demographic profiles, this compendium is meant to help planners implement the Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada model of mental health services in their communities and jurisdictions. The Advisory Group guiding the project also asked that it include examples across the continuum of care, from mental health promotion to intensive services. Those used in the compendium came from a review of the literature published since the Guidelines and from key informants in seniors mental health. This outreach to informants included annual conference workshop dialogues in the fall of 2018 with the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry (CAGP), the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH), and the Canadian Association on Gerontology. Workshop follow-up surveys, disseminated through these partners and individual participants, identified organizations and key informants that were able to share examples of good practice services and programs for this compendium.

Without seeking to be comprehensive, the examples used in this compendium illustrate some of the ways services in Canada have begun to implement the Guidelines. While many challenges remain with respect to meeting the mental health needs of older Canadians, these findings are encouraging. The hope is that it will inspire and support further developments by building on the experience of the many hard-working health-care providers and planners who had the foresight to establish the model services and programs.