April 22, 2024 Meeting by Victor Fornasier and Tim Sulisz
Responding to New Advances in Mental Health Care
Lee Fairclough, was first speaker. She is the Senior Vice President, Clinical Care at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, and adjunct Professor at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at University of Toronto.
Lee started the presentation with some startling facts: 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness. By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness. 20 Canadians die a day from overdose.
With a quarter century of experience in health care management, planning and development, Lee emphasized the importance of team work to not only successfully provide currently available medical service to patients, but also support the need for continuing evolution and growth of accessible care. CAMH is the largest centre of mental health treatment in Ontario. The traditional “walls” outlined the original Queen Street Psychiatric medical institution are gone. The centre is divided into multiple units each dedicated to specific areas of diagnosis, treatment and research.
Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingham was the second speaker. He is Professor at University of Toronto and Vice President, Education and a Clinical Scientist at CAMH.
Dr. Sockalingham commented on the need for continuing progress in the investigation and treatment of mental illness. He discussed four advances in Mental Health Care over the last 25 years:
1. Increased mental health awareness and reduced stigma
2. Advances in biological treatments
3. Spread of evidence-based psychological therapies
4. Virtual mental health care
He outlined the need to extend the development of recognition and treatment throughout all of Ontario. This is a project in which he is the co-lead called Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Ontario Mental Health at CAMH and the University of Toronto. As a medical practitioner, he recognised and emphasised the need for education and training for managing complexity, alignment of quality improvement and continuing professional development, and understanding the factors essential to continuing learning beyond current practice. He pointed out the changes from past to the current available more effective treatments based on better diagnosis and resources. He was enthusiastic about the current research for new improvements in specific categories of mental illness. Dr. Sockalingham believes that there will be continuing progress in a number of areas such as:
• Early intervention and prevention of mental illness
• Evolution of effective integrated mental health care
• Novel treatment approaches resulting from research
• The promise of artificial intelligence in mental health care
The final topic discussed was 988: the Suicide Crisis Helpline. This is Canada’s new three-digit suicide prevention helpline, launched November 30th, 2023. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto is leading and coordinating the delivery of 988 nationwide.
The speakers then dedicated time for questions from the audience.
To learn more and see the slides from their presentation:
More About Lee Fairclough, Senior Vice President, Clinical Care
Lee currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Clinical Care at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. Lee has more than 25 years of experience working in health care in a variety roles related to the delivery of care in hospitals, research, leadership and policy. Prior to joining CAMH, she was the President of St. Mary’s General Hospital starting in January 2020 leading a large community hospital motivated by a mission for excellent and compassionate care.
Throughout the COVID19 pandemic, she also served as the Waterloo Wellington Hospital Triad Lead for COVID response, collaborating closely with public health and the community to support a coordinated effort. In the years prior, she championed a focus on quality in Ontario, as the VP of Quality Improvement at Health Quality Ontario (2014-2020), and also served briefly as the first executive lead for the newly announced Mental Health Centre of Excellence at Ontario Health.
Her first exposures to the health system providing cancer care as a Radiation Therapist at Princess Margaret Hospital were the most influential, particularly for what matters most to patients and families. Since completing a Masters in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto in 2002, she has held a variety of leadership roles at Princess Margaret Hospital/University Health Network, Cancer Care Ontario and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and has served on several provincial committees and not for profit boards.
She is a proud mom to two boys, Justin and Oliver. As an alumni of the Canadian Women’s Rugby Team and an active master’s competitive swimmer, she is also a strong supporter and promoter of sport.
More About Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam
Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam is the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President, Education at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Sockalingam is also the co-chair of the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Ontario Mental Health at CAMH and the University of Toronto.
Areas of Research
Dr. Sockalingam has over 230 peer-reviewed publications and has been a principal investigator on several peer-reviewed research grants focused on the following areas of research:
1. Education and knowledge translation research in mental health: This research focuses on the implementation of mental health capacity-building programs using technology, novel education methods, and understanding data-informed lifelong learning. The outcome of this research involves the development and delivery of education programs that drive practice and system improvement in mental health.
2. Clinical research on the impact of mental health on obesity care: This research focuses on examining mental health predictors of outcomes related to obesity care, evaluating obesity treatment outcomes related to mental health, and evaluating psychological treatments for obesity, including virtual treatment modalities through clinical trials.
3. Mental health integrated care and consultation-liaison psychiatry models of care: This area of research focuses on improving our understanding of the impact of psychiatric comorbidity on physical health outcomes. This research also examines the impact of integrated care approaches within hospital and community-based settings to achieve improved quality and clinical care outcomes.
Dr. Sockalingam has been the recipient of several national and international awards related to innovation, education and research including the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) Alan Stoudemire Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education (2018), the University of Toronto Faculty President’s Teaching Award (2022), the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education David Davis Research Award (2021), and the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry of Canada Award for Excellence in Education (2017).
Publications
View Dr. Sockalingam’s publications on Pubmed.
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