A message from our Director of Mental Health
During the fiscal year 2020-2021, we pivoted many of our services virtually to meet the growing needs of people who need them more now than ever before. Our Crisis Response and Streamlined Access services saw record-breaking service volumes. The number of people served in Streamlined Access climbed by 69 percent and by over 25 percent with our Crisis Response services over the previous year.
During Covid, we shifted 310-COPE and Streamlined Access to virtual access so that people continued to be safe and well connected for medication, food and supports. We introduced a new call center phone system to better support and navigate our clients.
Crisis Response expanded their child/adolescent crisis response services to include after-hours support for Durham, Peterborough, City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County.
YSSN is proud to be a participating core member in serving Western York Region Ontario Health Team, South Simcoe Ontario Health Team, and a supporting partner of Southlake Regional Health Centre. Streamlined Access services have expanded with the Eastern York North Durham OHT. This will provide a direct referral pathway for primary care physicians for mental health and addictions.
Our staff demonstrated their adaptability in the transition to virtual support. They also participated and supported several pop-up vaccine clinics in York Region for public vaccination.
We are grateful for having exceptional staff who are dedicated to supporting individuals in ever expanding communities that we serve.
~ Jean West, Director of Mental Health, YSSN
Highlights
We are core partners with East York Region North Durham Ontario Health Team (OHT), Western York Region Ontario Health Team, South Simcoe OHT, and a supporting partner with Southlake OHT. We are working with EYRND-OHT to expand Streamlined Access services to primary care physicians.
Our Crisis Response calls, texts and chats increased by over 25% over previous year. We introduced a call center phone system for Crisis and Streamlined Access to better support virtual care and improve access to individuals requiring support.
We completed a pilot of a Crisis Diversion Unit call centre with York Regional Police. Mental health and addiction calls to front-line officers were diverted to crisis workers for immediate crisis assessment and counselling, as well as navigation and referral to Streamlined Access or other relevant services. The successful launch resulted in 60% of calls being diverted from front-line officers.
We developed and onboarded a Family Caregiver database with Streamlined Access. We’ve also developed a caregiver portal for support groups and navigation with a Caregiver at Streamlined Access. As part of our partnership with Streamlined Access, we expanded to 25 programs and are still growing. The public can book an appointment via online scheduling.
We’ve created a new partnership with Community Living Association for South Simcoe for a safe bed in the community for our partnership with 310-COPE and Nottawasaga OPP.
“Thank you to YSSN and United Way for the funding for my adult daughter.
This funding was unexpected and it was helpful that support was available during the pandemic. When my daughter is happy and gets the support she needs and deserves, everyone else is also happy. My dream is to have lack of funds not interfere with my daughter’s life.”
Our Impact
We’ve helped 7,524 people access services. Out of those people, 2,436 were linked to mental health, addictions, dual diagnosis, and housing supportive services through Streamlined Access, up 69% from last year.
We answered 4,544 inquiries and received 1,614 referrals.
We answered 18,272 inquiries and served 5,088 people through Developmental Services Ontario Central East Region to help families and adults with developmental disabilities access information and resources to help them navigate service systems.
1,200 application packages were completed for adults with developmental disabilities who were eligible for funded services. 846 people called us to start the application process.
Crisis Response Services
Through our crisis response services, we served 16,974 people, up 34% from last year.
We had 29,729 contacts/visits, a 31% increase compared to last year.
“A gentleman in his mid-thirties with a lengthy history of involvement with mental health services. He reports missing support from other service users as COVID has cancelled in person groups, drop-ins, etc. He also feels restricted by roles of workers in his Housing and Case Management programs. He was very pleased to be referred to Peer Support and receive support from a worker with lived experience through Streamlined Access.”
~ YSSN Staff
Passport Program
We served 2,842 adults with a developmental disability through our Passport Program, a 9% increase in program enrollment compared to the previous year.
