On January 25, Minister Lionel Carmant announced the new 2022-2026 interdepartmental mental health action plan. The community psychotherapy organizations were once again surprised by the absence of a budget allocated to their specific mission. However, these organizations contribute to a significant portion of the mental health treatments offered in Quebec. They have been working to make psychotherapy accessible to low- and middle-income people for more than 50 years.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, they have been available to offer more services. Their waiting lists are overflowing with people turned away by the public network who cannot afford the high costs of the private sector. Ironically, the specific funding from the MSSS for psychotherapy during the last two years of the pandemic has only been accessible by the public network and psychologists in private offices, all equally overwhelmed. Moreover, the support program for community organizations does not offer any possibility of additional funds in the short or medium term for psychotherapy and remains inaccessible to many organizations because of its requirements, which are in no way adapted to their reality.
However, community psychotherapy organizations offer a formula that is less expensive than in the public sector, more accessible than in the private sector and which allows greater flexibility for the person. They offer him, among other things, the choice of clinical approach and control over the duration of his follow-up. Depending on the organization, individual, couple, family and even group sessions will be offered. To provide this range of services, these organizations rely on the contribution of psychologists and psychotherapists from all backgrounds recognized by the Order of Psychologists of Quebec.
Some community psychotherapy organizations also offer other forms of complementary assistance (development group, psychosocial support, self-care) thus contributing both to the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. They also work in conjunction with other resources in the community and public networks.
The new interdepartmental mental health action plan, launched recently, emphasizes the Quebec Program for Mental Disorders. The latter relies on the full range of services ranging from self-care to psychotherapy and will mobilize the community network in its realization. Community psychotherapy organizations thus remain, and more than ever, a key element in the current offer of mental health services as well as in this reorganization of the system that the MSSS wishes to orchestrate. It therefore remains essential to better recognize their contribution and to help them concretely to consolidate their mission.
* Text co-signed by the members of the RQOCP