CAP Santé Mentale is a confederation of groups, including AMI, that supports families caring for people living with mental illness. AMI-Quebec joins CAP Santé Mentale in calling for the next government to make these three issues a priority:

 

CALL TO ACTION: Put a Minister of Mental Health at the Quebec cabinet table.

Quebec spends just 5.6% of its mammoth health budget on mental health services. Yet 1 in 5 Quebecers seeks care for anxiety, depression or another mental illness each year.

CALL TO ACTION: Improve access to psychiatric care in Quebec by strengthening the public system and expanding the Hospital at Home program

More than half a million Quebecers suffer from anxiety or depression, according to Quebec’s association of psychiatrists. Yet care can be hard to find. Wait times are long. The trend in Quebec toward more private mental health care has made it even harder to access free care in the public system, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association.

CALL TO ACTION: Deploy frontline mental health care everywhere Quebecers go to seek help

Every day across Quebec, families are living with stress, instability and violence due to a loved one’s mental health crisis. But access to care is hard to find. Many families don’t know where to turn. CAP Santé Mentale is calling on the next government to expand community services – in CLSCs, at youth drop-in centres, and wherever people go to connect.

AMI also calls on the next government to:

CALL TO ACTION: Make psychotherapy accessible and free

Psychotherapy works. As far back as 2015, Quebec’s National Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Science (INESSS) concluded therapy is cheaper and longer-lasting than drugs for treating depression and anxiety and just as effective. But access through the health care system is limited. Waiting lists are long. And private therapy is a luxury for most.

And also important:

CALL TO ACTION: Ask for electoral info in English, it’s your right and it’s important that you understand when and where to vote!

Here’s where to find information in English: electionsquebec.qc.ca/en/homepage

Voter information cards should now be in both French and English: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/elections-quebec-voter-information-cards-french-english-9.7346089

For information about services for the English speaking population (like healthcare, where you want information in the language in which you’re most comfortable), click here.

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