ACCESS Open Minds has been a landmark initiative in youth mental health care across Canada. Launched in 2014 as the first Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) initiative, this groundbreaking project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Graham Boeckh Foundation. The project was led by researchers Dr. Ashok Malla and YMHC lead Dr. Srividya N. Iyer, alongside a dedicated team including youth, families, community members, researchers and policy-makers. ACCESS Open Minds’ 16 sites served youth in urban, rural, and remote communities, including in 6 Indigenous communities; Anglophone and Francophone youth; and groups with particular vulnerabilities (immigrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, state-protected youth, homeless youth, and first-year university students).

This week, findings from this pan-Canadian project were published in JAMA Psychiatry, revealing that after ACCESS-OM’s implementation in diverse communities, more young people sought help, and the timeliness of the initial appointment and services improved, with the majority of youth being offered an appointment within 3 days of their first contact with services. These results underscore the project’s impact at a time when ensuring timely access to quality youth mental health care is more critical than ever. Given that ACCESS-OM was rolled out in very diverse communities across the country, its findings can inform the way youth mental health services are delivered in Canada and elsewhere.

• Download the article here: An Approach to Providing Timely Mental Health Services_JAMA_accepted
• View the article on the JAMA Psychiatry website: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2830399
• Listen to Dr. Srividya Iyer discuss the findings on a JAMA podcast episode: https://edhub.ama-assn.org/jn-learning/audio-player/18952511