INTEGRATING MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES WITHIN PRIMARY-CARE - A CANADIAN PROGRAM

The increasingly prominent role of the family physician in delivering mental health care can be enhanced if productive and collaborative rel ationships can be established with local mental health services. This paper describes a Canadian program that has achieved this by bringing mental health counselors and psychiatrists into the offices of 87 fami ly physicians in 35 practices in a community in Southern Ontario. The paper describes the program, the activities of counselors and psychiat rists within the practices, and the administrative structures set up t o coordinate these activities. Data is presented from the evaluation o f the first year of the program's operation (13 practices and 45 famil y physicians) during which time 3085 referrals were received. The prog ram made mental health care more available and accessible, increased c ontinuity of care, provided additional support for the family physicia n, offered new opportunities for continuing education, and led to a re duced and more efficient use of other mental health services. The comp onents of the program can be adapted to most communities. (C) 1997 Els evier Science Inc.