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Few kids receiving mental health care— Zeni
Wednesday July 23 2008 By Stephanie Hounsell, Special to the IFP Eating disorders. Depression. Bipolar disorder. Anxiety.
It’s a laundry list of mental health conditions that nobody should have to deal with, least of all children.
But on a regular basis, Dr. Deborah Zeni, a family physician in Georgetown, sees the lives of kids and teens ravaged by these illnesses, and it often seems they have nowhere to go.
“Mental health illness in children is the most serious and most common serious problem we face in our practices,” she said in a presentation at last week’s regional health and social services committee meeting.
It was an impassioned presentation, with Zeni occasionally fighting back tears as she described the situation that plagues Halton and— more specifically— north Halton.
Only a fraction of the 2,500 kids in Halton who should be receiving mental health services actually are, Zeni said.
In Milton and Halton Hills, according to a Region staff report, there are an estimated 2,700 children and youths between the ages of seven and 19 experiencing mental disorders at any given time.
It’s because of this desperate situation that Zeni said she wants to see the committee endorse having a child and youth psychiatrist offer services in north Halton two days per week— an option that recently presented itself and one that has been outlined in a staff report to committee.
Kids and youths living in north Halton and seeking the care of a psychiatrist regularly have to travel to Toronto, Hamilton, etc., Zeni said.
Although there are several youth psychiatrists currently in Halton, they have wait times ranging up to six months.
Sadly, youths who can’t readily access services often end up using drugs and dropping out of school, Zeni said. In the worst-case scenarios they commit suicide, something each north Halton community has experienced over the past year, she said.
“I urge you to get this psychiatrist in Georgetown, in Milton, in Acton by September,” Zeni pleaded. “We need this.”
The staff report explains there’s a shortage of child psychiatrists across Canada.
It states it was late in 2007 that a youth psychiatrist made contact to say he was interested in moving part of his practice to Halton.
Zeni asked the committee if funding could be allocated to have the psychiatrist bring his services sooner than 2009.
Region CAO Pat Moyle said there are funds available for this.
Halton Hills Councillor Clark Somerville made a motion for the Region to provide interim financing for the last quarter of 2008 to bring the psychiatrist as soon as possible.
“This is such a good news report and any way we can provide this kind of funding (we should do it),” Somerville said.
The committee endorsed his motion, which regional council also approved at its meeting Wednesday.
“This is a giant step for providing the care we need for children in north Halton,” said Halton Hills Mayor Rick Bonnette at the council meeting.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Bob Nosal said although it might be overly ambitious to think they could have everything in place two months from now, the psychiatrist could probably offer services at least one day per week by this fall with some support staff in place.
The cost of doing this would be about $150,000 for the last four months of 2008. The 2009 preliminary costs are estimated at $476,000 in the staff report.
Oakville Councillor Fred Oliver was a strong proponent of the motion.
“If we can spend thousands of dollars to save a tree (at Halton Regional Centre), surely we can spend thousands of dollars to save lives.”

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