Return on investment from service transformation for young people experiencing mental health problems: Approach to economic evaluations in ACCESS Open Minds (Esprits ouverts), a multi-site pan-Canadian youth mental health project.

Introduction: Mental health problems are common globally, and typically have their onset in adolescence and early adulthood-making youth (aged 11-25) an optimal target for prevention and early intervention efforts. While increasing numbers of youth mental health (YMH) initiatives are now underway, thus far few have been subject to economic evaluations. Here we describe an approach to determining the return on investment of YMH service transformation the pan-Canadian ACCESS Open Minds (AOM) project, for which a key focus is on improving access to mental health care and reducing unmet need in community settings.

Service providers endorse integrated services model for youth with mental health and substance use challenges: findings from a discrete choice experiment.

Background: Given high rates of mental health and substance challenges among youth and substantial system access barriers, system innovation is required. Integrated youth services (IYS) models aim to transform youth mental health and substance use services by creating integrative, collaborative models of care in youth-friendly settings. This study examines service provider perspectives on the key service components to include in IYS models.

Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization.

Objectives: There is growing policy impetus for including youth voices in health services research and health system reform. This article examines the perspectives of professionals in a mental healthcare organization charged with engaging young people as advisors in service transformation.

Methods: An institutional ethnography of a youth mental health services organization in Ontario, Canada, was conducted.

A minimum evaluation protocol and stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial of ACCESS Open Minds, a large Canadian youth mental health services transformation project.

Background: Many Canadian adolescents and young adults with mental health problems face delayed detection, long waiting lists, poorly accessible services, care of inconsistent quality and abrupt or absent inter-service transitions. To address these issues, ACCESS Open Minds, a multi-stakeholder network, is implementing and systematically evaluating a transformation of mental health services for youth aged 11 to 25 at 14 sites across Canada. The transformation plan has five key foci: early identification, rapid access, appropriate care, the elimination of age-based transitions between services, and the engagement of youth and families.

Transforming youth mental health care in a semi-urban and rural region of Canada: A service description of ACCESS Open Minds Chatham-Kent.

Aim: This study describes how mental health services for youth are being transformed within the context of a semi-urban and rural region of Canada (Chatham-Kent, Ontario), based on the framework of ACCESS Open Minds (ACCESS OM), a pan-Canadian youth mental health research and evaluation network.

Methods: Transformation has focused on the five key objectives of ACCESS OM, namely early identification, rapid access, appropriate care, continuity of care, and youth and family engagement. A community mapping process was conducted at the beginning of the transformation to help develop a comprehensive inventory of services, identify challenges and optimize partnerships to address the five key objectives.

Canadian response to need for transformation of youth mental health services: ACCESS Open Minds (Esprits ouverts).

Aim: Youth mental health is of paramount significance to society globally. Given early onset of mental disorders and the inadequate access to appropriate services, a meaningful service transformation, based on globally recognized principles, is necessary. The aim of this paper is to describe a national Canadian project designed to achieve transformation of mental health services and to evaluate the impact of such transformation on individual and system related outcomes.