Thank you very much.
My name is Krystal-Jyl Thomas. I am a social worker focusing on the field of mental health, psychotherapy and family intervention services. Joining me today for the question and answer period is my colleague Michelle Jackson-Brown, also a social worker and peer support worker, focusing on mental health, perinatal and peer support services. Together, we lead the women's mental health program at the Royal Ottawa mental health centre, located in Ottawa.
Before I continue, I think it is important to highlight the current situation in Iran in regard to the rights of women and human rights. The Canadian government, as a world leader, has the responsibility to stand with and support the freedom of choice for the women and girls in Iran.
Since January 2021, almost 500 youth aged 18 to 24 have been referred to the Prompt Care Clinic at the Royal, a clinic designed to meet the rapidly growing mental health concerns since the beginning of the pandemic. Of those referred, 67% were women and 65% were assessed with mental health care for the very first time. Additionally, of those referred, 17% were at high risk and 22% were at moderate risk for suicide.
Women continue to make up the majority of frontline child, family, elderly and home care workers, while simultaneously facing sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and violence. We can do better for those who identify as women in this country.
Our first recommendations include ensuring that each province and territory has protected funding for targeted girls' and women's mental health programs and tailored programs for women belonging to the BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, as well as required services that address language, travel and wait-time barriers. Hand in hand can be national standards for screening tools to assist in early intervention, such as perinatal mental health concerns and gender-based violence.
To expand, sexism and inequalities are amplified with the indigenous population of Canada. To move forward, it's imperative to cease challenging various court rulings in relation to the obligations of the federal government. Continuous delay increases poor mental health and perpetuates a message of undervalue for the communities that indigenous girls and women belong to, and it is an obstacle to creating self-determined grassroots indigenous programs.
Next, our current system continues to be focused on crisis intervention, meaning that many services are not available until the point of crisis or emergency. In most cities, police are used for intervention. Creating mandated programs for mental health training for police or programs that support trained mental health professionals to be deployed independently or with police can yield better outcomes of de-escalation and connection to appropriate services.
Assisting with easing crisis-focused services would include expanding transitional services for youth as they age out of programs—so, violence against women shelters, perinatal mental health programs, abortion and miscarriage supports, as well as mother and baby health outreach teams and psychiatric units.
Public schools can be a primary goal for implementing preventative educational programs that focus on the empowerment of girls, along with how to care for and address mental health. Normalizing these conversations with children and their families about sexism, women's rights and mental health can help equip them to grow into adults that lower stigma and create equitable societies.
Lastly, the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership has deemed peer support as the fastest-growing workforce in the mental health field. Peer support workers can be key in bringing experienced learning through personal and valuable connection. Peer support is an untapped workforce available to assist in various vacant clinical positions. Utilizing peer support skills benefits both clients and families through lived shared experience, resilience and strength. In the U.S., there are federal requirements to state plans to ensure peer support programs. Canada can look to provinces and territories to do the same.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwetch.