Pilot program aims to help Calgary families navigate youth mental health system

This story is Part 2 of a five-part series looking at the state of youth mental health in Calgary.

Erin Gionet says she had the worst night of her life when she called the ambulance fearing one of her teenage sons might take his own life. 

"It really, really scared me, and I just thought if I don't do everything I can to get help for my child, I will never forgive myself."

Leading up to that moment in November 2020 and then later, the Calgary mother says it would have been a huge help and relief if they had someone guide them through the city's complex youth mental health landscape. 

"Trying to navigate a system when you're in crisis is really, really challenging because you have that immediate need of trying to help your family member," she said. 

• Want to learn more about this project? On Tuesday, Jan. 11, CBC Calgary reporter Lucie Edwardson will answer your questions live about her five-part series Kids in Crisis. You can submit any questions you have here or comment below.

"To also have to make lots of phone calls and get lots of lists of email addresses and websites … it can just be really, really confusing."

Navigation pilot project

Hull Services, a Calgary youth and family mental health agency, is now trying to provide families with the kind of help Gionet says she needed. It launched a six-month navigation pilot project in August.

Working as the first-ever navigator is registered psychologist April MacDougall. 

"It can be a very isolating process for families, and it can be overwhelming to search on your own if you're not knowledgeable of the system," she said.

MacDougall's job is to help families of children and youth navigate mental health and addiction services within the Calgary area. Her free service doesn't mean there won't be wait-lists or frustrations, but it does mean families have someone to talk to throughout the process.

She says families contacting her present with youth experiencing a variety of struggles, including stress, parent-child conflict, impacts of the pandemic, substance abuse, self-harm and suicidal thoughts or ideation. 

In the five months since the program started, MacDougall says she has worked with more than 65 families, and so far the feedback has been positive.

"Families have appreciated having someone to talk to about what's happening, somebody who's knowledgeable, someone who's connected within the system," she said. 

"They appreciate the followup aspect of the service because there's often unanticipated barriers or changes in needs. It can be very dynamic and complex with what families are experiencing."

Confusing system

Gionet says a navigator would have helped her family a lot when their 15-year-old son, whom CBC News has agreed not to name, landed in hospital last year. 

"He wouldn't get out of bed for days at a time. He was skipping school. We were getting calls from the school about behaviour, and that was not like him at all. I felt like I had a stranger living in my house," she said.

"He was engaged in a lot of risky behaviour that was quite concerning to me and expressing some suicidal thoughts. And through my questioning of him, I determined that it was something that we needed to take seriously."

Gionet ended up calling an ambulance, and her son was ultimately admitted.

The situation caused a lot of turbulence in their family. Gionet, who was working as a health-care researcher and doing her master's degree in health sciences at the University of Calgary, decided to take a leave of absence from both. She wanted to focus on helping her son and navigating what she calls a confusing youth mental health system.

This confusion is something Dr. Stephen Freedman, pediatric emergency medicine physician at the Alberta Children's Hospital, sees in his work.

"The mental health system, in particular, is challenging and complex to navigate, which is why I think a lot of children get sent to the emergency department because they can't figure out how to navigate it on their own in the community," he said. 

According to the latest statistics from Alberta Health Services, emergency room visits at the Alberta Children's Hospital for youth with mental health concerns is up almost 40 per cent since 2018. Cases of self-harm — which are counted separately — have more than doubled.

Research inspired by personal experience

Gionet says that while going through her own family crisis, she kept thinking about the barriers they were running into with accessing and finding the right supports.

"If it's this difficult for me, as someone who already works in the health-care system, has connections at the university, has education and training in this area — I can only imagine how challenging it must be for other families," she said.

Now back in school working on her master's degree, Gionet says her own experience inspired her thesis.

"My research is about the role of patient and peer navigation for families and caregivers of children and adolescents who are interacting with the mental health and addiction system," she said.

As a part of her research, she will be working with patient advisors and doing focus groups with community members accessing Calgary's youth mental health services.

"Hopefully, through that work we will have a better idea of the impact that support for caregivers will have in that journey," she said.

Now, more than a year after calling the ambulance, Gionet says things are looking up for her son.

"He does need to manage his ADHD through medication and skill building and other kinds of treatment programs like that, but he's doing much better. He's halfway through Grade 12, and he's doing really, really well," she said.

Pilot funding

Hull Services says the navigator program's concept has been talked about for years in Calgary, but only now is the funding in place to make it happen.

The pilot has an $80,000 budget with more than $56,000 from the city's Change Can't Wait program.

Change Can't Wait is part of the city's mental health and additions investment framework. It aims to support new ideas that can bring change to families in the community.

The pilot's remaining funds come from other Hull revenue sources.

The city says the navigator pilot will submit a report on the program in January, and it could be eligible for a further two years of funding if proven successful.

If you or someone you love is struggling, AHS recommends the following resources:

• Call the Distress Centre at 403-266-HELP (4357).
• Call ConnecTeen at 403-264-TEEN or text 587-333-2724.
• Call the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868.
• Bullying Helpline at 1-888-456-2323.
• Call the Mental Health Helpline at 1-877-303-2642 or the addiction line at 1-866-332-2322.
• Visit the Help in Tough Times website for more resources.
• If in crisis, call 911 or visit the closest emergency department.