Quebecers have faced four waves of COVID-19, and many are struggling to get their heads out of the water. Four in ten young people, aged 18 to 24, display symptoms of anxiety or probable depression, according to a survey conducted in October among 10,000 Quebecers by the DD Mélissa Généreux, professor at the University of Sherbrooke. In this age group, 11% display “serious suicidal thoughts”, against 7% in February. Morale is low too among workers in the restaurant and accommodation sector, where 31% of them show symptoms compatible with anxiety or depression. Faced with this epidemic of troubles mental health, what is the government doing? The duty spoke on this subject with the Minister for Health and Social Services, Dr.r Lionel Carmant. Interview by Marie-Eve Cousineau.
A year ago, you announced an investment of $ 100 million to improve mental health services and care in Quebec. What is your assessment of the measures put in place?
I am satisfied with the results of this investment. The best example I would give you is what the president of the Association des médecins psychiatres du Québec told the To have to, [c’est-à-dire] that it is an achievement, that despite the increase in demand for mental health services due to the pandemic, we have managed to stabilize the waiting lists.
We put money into prevention, with the scouts’ projects, to find people who are suffering in silence. We gave money for suicide prevention, money to community organizations, partners very close to us. […]
Of the 100 million dollars, 25 million were planned to reduce the waiting list, thanks to contracts concluded with psychologists in the private sector. How much has been spent and what will happen to the remaining amount?
So far, we have referred just over 1,400 people [à des psychologues du privé]. It continues to increase. We, ideally, would have liked to have at least 5,000.
We think we will spend about five million of the sum at the end of the day, with the number of patients we have. Unfortunately, what will not be used will go back to the Consolidated Fund [du revenu]. In some regions where it makes a good difference, the money may be rolled over in the next budget.
What do you say to the 19,000 people who are waiting for a psychosocial service or an assessment with a psychologist or psychiatrist? People are suffering.
Most of those waiting in specialized services [avec un psychologue ou psychiatre], they have support from the network. They say it’s people waiting on the waiting list like they’re lonely, but that’s not it. They have support with educators and nurses who call them on a regular basis to ensure that the person is well, the person is not in distress.
What are the main lines of the mental health action plan to be presented this fall?
I don’t want to go too far, but there will be specific measures for young people. In terms of depression and anxiety, we will make universal efforts. Of course, in our action plan, we will consider the important contribution of community organizations.
We must anticipate that not just now, but that for a few more years, we will have requests [d’aide] increased. And that’s why we want to continue investing in mental health.
You are banking on the Quebec Mental Disorders Program: From Self-Care to Psychotherapy (PQPTM) to reduce waiting lists. However, experts fear that psychotherapy will not be offered immediately if required.
I am a doctor. For years, I have operated like this: it is believed that the gateway to mental health is the psychologist or the psychiatrist. What we are saying is that we all have to work together to resolve people’s psychological distress and everyone’s mental health problems. The key to the solution is the interdisciplinary approach. I believe in it deeply.
Of course, if you have a person with chronic depression, you can’t send them to group treatment. We have to send him to the psychotherapist. To do that, there has to be support while waiting, because yes, the waiting lists are significant.
There are many prejudices against the Quebec program: the psychotherapy approach that we offer is not ten sessions. We are talking about thirty sessions that psychotherapists will be able to give.
What encourages me a lot is that in the five regions [où le PQPTM est implanté], we have seen a reduction of more than 50% of waiting lists.
How to attract psychologists to the public network?
Our strategy that we are in the process of setting up is really to reach out to students and doctoral students in psychology. There are several scholarship holders from the Ministry of Higher Education who receive scholarships to do their doctorate and among them, very few are recruited. [par le réseau de santé et services sociaux].
What we realized was that many were doing their internship where there was no additional need for psychologists. What we want now is to ensure that there is an arrangement, a “match” between the scholarship holders and the places where there will be needs.
Shouldn’t the salaries of psychologists who flee to the private sector be increased?
In the negotiations, there is an offer that was put on the table by my colleague at the Treasury which nevertheless improves what already existed for psychologists in terms of bonuses. Me, I think that we can not compete with the salary of the private currently. What is important, what we want to work with them, is interdisciplinarity. We want them to be autonomous, to have a quality of life at work, for their involvement in the public network to be valued. It is on these points that I mainly work. Because it is certain that if we want to catch up with the salary they have in the private sector, it will still be difficult.
This interview has been edited for ease of reading.