I think it goes back to the whole holistic society thing—well-being, social supports, the connectedness or disconnectedness of a society. From a treatment perspective, when we have a lack of access to care, a lot of times it's social things, but there are kids who become depressed, who become psychotic.
It's abysmal. In my city, Ottawa, it's a year-and-a-half wait for a psychiatrist for a teenager. I have kids that age. A year and a half is a lifetime at that age.
I just think that, again, it's that need-care gap. They'll go to the emergency room time and time again, and eventually they'll complete suicide. I think it's the whole thing, from societal things.... We talked about bullying. We talked about these things—a safe place where there is help and care by paraprofessionals—but that acute suicidality needs urgent psychiatric care sometimes, and we really don't have that.
We can talk all about universal health care if we want, but the reality is that it's abysmal how long kids have to wait. That's why my colleagues are phoning and asking me for help all the time.