I'm Phil Upshall and I'm very happy to be here with you today.
Thank you, Chair, particularly for your intervention in allowing Mike to join me at the table.
Thank you very much to the clerk and all the members here who have been so generous in their time for us. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today, and with Mike. Both of us have a deeply personal relationship with today's topic, which is, of course, mental health.
Louise Bradley, the CEO of the Mental Health Commission of Canada has joined us as well, should there be any technical questions to address to her. She's here to help.
I'll be addressing the issue of the APEC digital mental health hub at UBC, and the PTSD issues that confront Canadian health care providers. Mike will be discussing suicide prevention.
As far as our topic in general is concerned, it meets the terms of several of the mandate letters that have gone from the Prime Minister's office. We'll also be dealing with issues regarding innovation, the knowledge economy, and Canada's position internationally, particularly with regard to TPP and APEC.
I'm going to skip some of my stuff, because I'm told I'm long-winded, and our brief has a pretty good analysis of what Mood Disorders Society of Canada does, and how we show leadership with regard to patient-centred care and patient-engaged care.
The APEC digital hub for mental health innovation is an opportunity presented to Canada by virtue of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation having determined that without mental health, there was no health for 2.8 billion people, and furthermore, that the economies within the APEC region were significantly suffering from the fact that a lack of mental health was preventing people's full engagement with the workforce along with a number of other obvious issues.
The APEC competition was rather significant. The three of us—Mood Disorders of Canada, UBC and U of A—put together a letter of intent that was approved by APEC, and we now have a memorandum of understanding with them. Our competition was Peking University, University of Melbourne, Manila, Tokyo, Peru, and Mexico City. This opportunity to develop a digital hub at UBC is incredible. Our hub is poised to become a global centre for collaboration, research, and best practices in early intervention, care, and recovery. We are in the process of securing a number of additional partners, but as I mentioned, we already have twelve.
The hub is going to be formally recognized by APEC leaders in November. It was recognized when Prime Minister Trudeau was in Manila this past fall, and it was recognized as a major achievement by no less an authority than President Obama. Everyone recognizes that it's an opportunity to show ongoing Canadian leadership globally and here at home.
I'll leave that issue for now. I'm happy to answer any questions with regard to it.
I'm going to move to PTSD. Mood Disorders Society of Canada has been a leader in PTSD issues for the last several years. As you probably all know, 85% of first responders and veterans dealing with mental illnesses seek help from their primary health care providers, but more than half of them leave their doctor's office without effective solutions. Many of them don't even bother to seek help because they don't think there's any help available.
PTSD affects people involved in serious accidents, those who suffer serious sports injuries, and those who are victims of abuse. We need to ensure that front-line health care providers are equipped to make an accurate and early diagnosis with the best and latest treatments. Together, Mood Disorders Society of Canada and the Mental Health Commission are seeking $5.5 million over five years for a far-reaching training program for Canada's health care providers to help in the early diagnosis and treatment of PTSD. There are well over 600,000 primary health care providers.
As you will see in our brief, we will engage people with lived experience in our planning, and case studies and interventions will be customized for particular patient groups, including those living in Canada's rural, remote, and indigenous communities. We will collaborate to maximize uptake of our efforts, and we'll measure how we are doing. This is a low-cost highly effective solution to addressing the critical gap that currently impacts the uptake of existing complementary programs.
Over to you, Mike.