Member, Adult Mental Health Working Group – Providence Health Care

Increasing opportunities for improving access to psychiatric care, through safe, secure and meaningful means is of vital importance to the team at Providence Health Care. We are seeking three people with lived experience to join our Adult Mental Health Working Group as we discuss the potential for a virtual psychiatry model.

Open to: Patient partners in Vancouver

Lead Organization or Department

Providence Health Care, supported with funding from the Shared Care Committee (a partnership of Doctors of BC and the BC government)

Aim

• To increase patient and family physician access to adult outpatient psychiatry through the development of a virtual psychiatry prototype for patients with mental health concerns such as bipolar disorder, severe depression, severe anxiety or stable schizophrenia
• Patient partners will provide input, based on their lived experience, into the characteristics of this prototype, such as the training provided to psychiatrists who participate in the prototype, the software selected for virtual visits, the wording for patient consent documents, and the referral and scheduling processes

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.

Eligibility

• Are between the ages of 24 and 64 years old • Have been diagnosed with a mental health condition such as bipolar disorder, severe depression, severe anxiety or stable schizophrenia • Little or no prior experience receiving care from a psychiatrist • Have a regular family doctor • Feel comfortable sharing their lived experience with the team We recognize that a virtual psychiatry model is not the best way to provide care for some people with lived experience. As such, there will be some extra screening involved with this working group to make sure that this is an appropriate fit for you and the working group. If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact Jami Brown directly.

Logistics

• Number: 3
• Date/Time: Date and time to be determined in consultation with Patient Partners
• Location: In person (1190 Hornby Street, Vancouver) and teleconference
• Commitment: 2-hour meetings, every 1-2 months, on weekdays, 7 months to a year. If meetings are held in the evening, in-person, dinner will be provided

Due to COVID-19 Public Health measures, timelines and in-person meetings may be altered. Information will be shared regularly with the Patient Partner.

Reimbursement

Preapproved expenses related to travel to in-person meetings will be reimbursed according to the Providence Health Care travel policy (including mileage, parking and/or public transit). Details of this process and the length of time for reimbursement will be shared directly with the patient partner.

Background

In the Vancouver City Centre area, mood disorders are the most common chronic diseases among patients aged 18 to 49 and the second most common among patients aged 50 to 64. However, access to adult psychiatry is limited for non-hospital mental health concerns. The Adult Mental Health Working Group hopes to improve access to outpatient psychiatry. The Working Group includes psychiatrists, family physicians and members of Providence Health Care’s Shared Care & Virtual Health team. The provincial Shared Care Committee is funding this project as part of the Adult Mental Health and Substance Use Spread Network. Formed in 2006 through the Physician Master Agreement, the Shared Care Committee is one of four Joint Collaborative Committees (JCCs) representing a partnership of the BC government and Doctors of BC. The mandate of the Shared Care Committee is “to support family and specialist physicians to improve the coordination of care from primary to specialist services.”

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jami Brown
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Fraser-Vancouver Coastal
604.510.0449
jbrown@bcpsqc.ca