As you may have heard, the Office of Addictions and Mental Health (OAMH) has been developing the Mood and Anxiety Insured Services Program: an integration of the public and private mental health and addictions care system intended to increase access to mood and anxiety care for Nova Scotians.
OAMH is now inviting applications for clinicians interested in providing services under this new program, including RSW Clinical Specialists. Practitioners who join this program will be matched with clients via Nova Scotia Health/IWK Provincial Intake, and will have access to practice support that includes community of practice sessions with peers.
Introducing the Mood & Anxiety Insured Services Program
2 thoughts on “Introducing the Mood & Anxiety Insured Services Program”
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There are so many concerns about this ‘program’.
Private practitioners being paid about 3x as much as those working in the public system, to work with clients that likely don’t even meet the tier 3 mandate of moderate to severe mental illness.
How are these clinicians going to be ‘monitored’ to make sure they are offering evidence- based treatment?
The government would have been better off actually investing in the public system that already exists. Fill the empty position instead of diluting us even more by luring clinicians from the public to the private sector. This is a mistake.
Yes, the NSCSW has raised concerns about this model both internally and publicly. If we are to create a truly universal healthcare system—which is a crucial goal—we must first address funding by increasing it to 12% of the Department of Health and Wellness budget.
Additionally, we need to invest in community-based, publicly run, collaborative healthcare where mental health services are fully embedded. Expanding community-based organizations (CBOs) is also essential.
Further privatization will not resolve the issue; instead, it diverts resources that could be better utilized by strengthening and expanding the public healthcare system. We share this recruitment because a public policy decision has been made and government has asked us too. Warm regards, Alec