The "So, why?" Podcast with Stepped Care Solutions Stepped Care Solutions

Student mental health in a postsecondary context is an important topic. There has been a lot of work done to explore how to support diverse students to be well including the Post Secondary Standard and the Okanagan Charter. It can be a challenging time for people with a variety of stressors affecting them in different ways across diverse student populations.
Today we are joined by Jeff Agate, the Associate Director of Student Support Services at Algonquin College in Ottawa for a conversation about the evolution of supporting Student wellbeing at Algonquin College. Increasingly holistic in their approach, the priority is on students having access to a range of supports to help them take care of their own wellbeing and get help when they need it.

Check out Algonquin College's student mental health and wellness webpage.

Learn more about our work and the SC2.0 model: steppedcaresolutions.com

The OAAT Series:

Single-session therapy (SST), sometimes called one-at-a-Time therapy, has been around for a while. It has been steadily gaining attention among providers and service delivery systems. SST can have tremendous impacts in different contexts, with proven waitlist reductions and positive outcomes for many people. It is based on the assumption that something helpful can happen in one interaction. 

The thing is, SST is an important approach because many people can only attend or want to attend one session. In fact, research shows the most common number of therapy sessions attended is one session. If a person will only engage once and may never come back for another session, it becomes really important that the one session they have is helpful. One-at-a-Time Therapy provides an effective option for people seeking support to address their concerns in the moment. Borrowing from this approach, One-at-a-Time Thinking has been identified as a core component of SC2.0; this thinking considers that every encounter across the mental health system is an opportunity for a person to have a helpful experience and address their immediate concerns. 

As a part of our “So, Why” Podcast, we will embark on a mini-series to explore different perspectives on implementing One-at-a-Time Therapy. We will learn from various practitioners how this method can be used in different contexts. OAAT may not fit every situation, but it is a fantastic option that can be helpful in many ways. 

About this episode:

Going beyond a methodology, Single Session Therapy is a mindset that counsellors can learn and embrace. This mindset puts a focus on supporting people in the moment and recognizing and building on their strengths. In Italy, the Italian Center for Single Session Therapy is working toward shifting the mindsets of counsellors across the country to be able to offer a person-centric approach that recognizes professionals do not have all the wisdom, but people often know what is best for them. 

Today, we are joined by Dr. Flavio Cannistrà, a psychologist based in Rome, Italy. He is the founder and co-director of the Italian Center for Single Session Therapy and the ICNOS Institute, an international postgraduate training institute specializing in strategic and systemic brief psychotherapies. His publications include Single Session Therapy: Principles and Practices and Brief Therapy Conversations. 

For more information about the upcoming conference: https://www.singlesessiontherapies.com/single-session-therapy-symposium/

For more information about Stepped Care Solutions: steppecaresolutions.com 

For access to virtual mental health resources: wellnesstogether.ca

As a part of a CIHR grant, the province of New Brunswick embarked on the implementation of SC2.0 in 2019. The provincial implementation began with implementing OAAT across the province. The impacts were evident. With decreased waitlists and both positive client and provider feedback, the province of New Brunswick is well on their way to creating a person-centric open-access mental health, addictions and substance use health system.

Today we are joined by Bernie Goguen, the Director of Adult Services at New Brunswick’s Department of Health where he is working on various projects focused on improving the continuum of care in Addiction and Mental Health Services.  Bernie is a psychologist with over 30 years of experience helping individuals with substance use and mental health issues. He is a graduate of Saint Thomas and Carleton Universities and worked for several years in Provincial and Federal correctional services. He has held various management positions with Horizon Health Network’s Addiction and Mental Health Services, including a Detoxification Treatment Unit, an Opioid Replacement Treatment Program and Community Mental Health Services. 

Like many other provinces and territories, the Northwest Territories had one pathway for people seeking support for their mental health.  Recognizing that people have diverse needs and their journeys are not always linear, the territory explored a new way of doing things to help more people get the support they need when needed. Drawn to its intuitive approach, in 2020, NWT made the decision to start implementing Stepped Care 2.0. The transformation began, and the system started to shift. There are now multiple ways of accessing different types of care with minimal barriers, allowing for quick access. 

The newly released report Partnering Together for Person- and Family-Centric Care in partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Mental Health Commission of Canada and Stepped Care Solutions, highlights the impact of these changes. The outcomes match the excitement of those who have been a part of it, including a 79% reduction in wait times for mental wellness counselling.

Today we are joined by Carly Straker, Manager of Systems Quality and Integration in Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery with the Government of the NWT. Carly was born and raised on the traditional territory of the Yellowknives Dene in Yellowknife,

NWT. She is a mama to a little one who is total sunlight.  Carly has a master’s degree in clinical social work and has spent two decades working, advocating, learning, and leading in various front-line, operational, and system-level capacities within mental wellness and substance use health, trauma, crisis and emergency response, and more - with children, youth, adults and families in both urban and rural settings across Canada. With a passion for whole health, she also coaches weightlifting, children’s sports and spends as much time as she can in nature with her daughter, friends, and family, recognizing the invaluable impacts of these connections. While working in her current role with the Government of the NWT, Carly has led system change through the championing of recovery-oriented, person- and family-centric care and the recent implementation of the Stepped Care 2.0 model, which includes various eMental health initiatives, key training and orientation programs, an Advisory Group of individuals from across the territory with lived and living expertise, communications, continuous monitoring, and more.

For more information about Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery in Northwest Territories, visit their site: https://www.hss.gov.nt.ca/en/services/mental-wellness-and-addictions-recovery

Peer Support is an integral part of effective, person-centric, recovery-oriented mental health, substance use and addictions systems. With a unique ability to empathize with people seeking support for their mental health, substance use health or addictions concerns, peer support offers incredible value across the system to enhance the well-being of people and communities. Peer supporters play a major role in proactive approaches, meaningful workshops and groups, and can support navigation throughout the system as well as provide crucial support to people accessing acute services and programs.

Learn more about Stepped Care Solutions: steppedcaresolutions.com

Learn more about Lifewise NL (formerly CHANNAL): https://lifewisenl.ca/

Want to talk to a peer supporter?  

Lifewise Warmline (available 10:00am - 12:00am (NST) daily): (EN) 1-855-753-2560 (FR) 1-833-753-5460

Wellness Together Canada Warmline (available 3:00pm - 7:00pm (EST) 7 days a week): 1-888-768-2488

Achieving a vision of wellbeing everywhere may seem lofty, but there are so many amazing people and organizations that work throughout systems that are making it happen.  The complexities of life often create situations, feelings and responses that are difficult for us to truly understand.  Substance use has traditionally held a lot of stigma within systems and also on individual and personal levels.  Putting people first is an important part of moving toward wellness, and acknowledging and including substance use health in supporting people’s wellbeing through access to diverse options to care includes treating people in a respectful and helpful manner.

Today we are joined by  Gord Garner, the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships of the Community Addictions Peer Support Association (CAPSA). He is a national public speaker and educator on Systems Stigma and trainer on Person First Language. At the time of this Podcast, he is living well with his own substance use disorder. He is dedicated to removing stigma barriers and enabling policy writers, academics, researchers and people with personal experience with Substance Use Health issues to make systems-level changes to improve the health outcomes of people living in Canada who use(d) substances. He advocates that all policies and regulations need to be reviewed through the lens of increased life security and Substance Use Health outcomes by using an All People, All Pathways TM model. All of his work is informed by his 38 years of active addiction and by those who helped him. He believes compassion is a practice and he is practicing.

You can access All People, All Pathways Programming through Wellness Together Canada

For more information on Stepped Care 2.0 please visit us at https://steppedcaresolutions.com