What are concrete, meaningful actions we can take to tackle mental illness and addiction within the next year?
That’s the question that spurred The Royal and Ottawa Public Health to bring together almost 200 people from across our region involved in mental illness and substance use prevention, treatment, and harm reduction, including many with lived experience with addiction. It was a chance to look towards a brighter future.
“I’ve given up all hopes for a better past, and I think the health care system needs to do the same,” said Gord Garner, executive director of Community Addictions Peer Support Association (CAPSA). “The idea needs to be, ‘what can we do today to take some action?’”
This was the first large-scale gathering of people across the spectrum of care to address the opioid epidemic in Ottawa.
“The size and the diversity of this group show the vastness of the crisis we are facing. Opioids, substance use, and mental health affect our entire community, and it’s only by working together that we can find a way out of this crisis,” said The Royal’s President and CEO Joanne Bezzubetz.
The Ottawa Summit on Opioids, Substance Use and Mental Health, hosted by The Royal and Ottawa Public Health on Feb. 7, was a step towards developing an integrated intervention model that will reduce the impacts of the opioid crisis in Ottawa by giving people of all ages better access to coordinated supports.
“The Summit confirmed how essential it is that we work together across different sectors. This includes schools, emergency services, primary care, and in particular, people with lived experience. We need to identify new approaches to set priorities that will drive the work of preventing problematic substance use and promoting mental health in Ottawa,” said Dr. Vera Etches, Medical Officer of Health, Ottawa Public Health.
The interactive event used a consensus building process to inform and prioritize future action, with an emphasis on opioid use in Ottawa. Discussion focused on three themes identified by our community:
- Preventing stigma and problematic substance use
- Emerging harm reduction initiatives associated with opioid use
- Collaborating and integrating across the system to increase uptake of services
"we need to identify new approaches to set priorities that will drive the work of preventing problematic substance use and promoting mental health in Ottawa."For each theme, a panel of experts in mental health and addictions spoke and responded to questions. Table discussions ensued, following which each table provided written feedback to be compiled. The compiled feedback was then discussed by a group of “jurors” who distilled the feedback into fifteen key recommendations, which the larger group then voted on. The resulting key priorities will be the focus of efforts over the next year.
The top priorities identified are:
- Stigma, and the stigmatizing language surrounding addiction and mental health, needs to be addressed through education and advocacy to shift professional and public opinion.
- A collaborative table should be created across the system to advance a mental health and substance use strategy across sectors and the lifespan. This should be designed with people who have lived experience of mental illness and addiction, as well as vulnerable populations.
- Prevention strategies need to be intersectional and include trauma history and adverse childhood event (ACE) scores, social engagement, and housing needs.
- Access and funding should be increased for opioid agonist therapy (treatment to prevent withdrawal and reduce cravings) and managed opioid programs.
- Allied systems should integrate harm reduction practices and philosophy into their services.
- The funding model should encourage comprehensive, collaborative, integrated, client-focused care.
- People with lived experience, including family, should be involved in the design and delivery of all services.
At the end of the Summit, participants could express interest in continuing the collaboration, and many did. Work will continue towards the priorities identified at the Summit as diverse stakeholders come together to tackle on how to best serve people living with mental illness and/or addiction.