One of elements the Rural FASD Support Network
has focused on is breaking down the silos that exist in our society. It has been through this desire that we have
seen the benefits of different organizations working together including our
families, our service providers, our FASD workers and the ridings across this
province. Because our voting membership
consists solely of those with FASD and their family members, we currently have
the pleasure of serving in an advisory capacity in our local and national Mental
Health, Policing, Education, Research, Housing, Employment, Support Services
and Health sectors. Through this
advocacy, we would like to bring to your attention a link between the Ministry
of Health/Mental Health and the Solicitor General which may not be well-known.
When mental health supports are lacking for
those with FASD, adverse outcomes such as trouble with the law and
incarceration become much more likely as our youth and families have
discovered. This is part of why we reached
out to our policy leads at Citizen Advocacy and CanFASD to develop legislative
suggestions for these particular ministries focusing on education and capacity
building.
The first thing we learned was there is not
currently an OHIP code for diagnosing people with FASD which makes determining
just how much impact FASD has on our province challenging. However, we do know from specific studies
that 3-5% of our population is a very realistic estimate. The other challenge that comes from not
having an OHIP code is it limits interest from our medical community in
building diagnostic capacity. In
Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba, there is a diagnosing clinic for every
1.5 million adults. In Ontario, that
would require about 9 clinics to meet the population need. There is progress being made in educating our
medical personnel and correctional officers but it is limited to particular
areas within the province. Citizen
Advocacy has developed a training model for these sectors and has delivered it
to over 4,000 people within the province.
We have also heard from our mental health partners that there is a
difference between childhood trauma and adult trauma. Our current mental health models do well with
short term support but children with FASD and/or have been adopted tend to
require much longer support. We also
learned that mental health challenges is now considered to be a primary
characteristic of FASD and not a secondary characteristic due to the very high
prevalence among youth and adults with FASD.
While there is more emphasis being put on FASD
training within our medical personnel in school, more education is needed with
our current medical personnel. This is
why CanFASD created the series of videos with Dr. Hanlon-Dearman and Citizen
Advocacy. Our obstetricians and nurses
serve as our frontline workers for FASD prevention and have a huge impact on
future outcomes for these children. At
the same time, studies have shown our incarcerated
population has a high prevalence for FASD. When you consider that correction tends to
use behaviour modification techniques which someone with FASD can’t understand,
it is not surprising the prevalence is so high and further education on FASD is
needed.
In Lanark County policing, there has been an
understanding for a while that mental health can impact behaviour. Traditionally, the local police would take
someone to the emergency ward if they were having a mental health crisis. However, the follow-up that was needed was
missing. The Smith Falls Police made the
decision to partner with Lanark County Mental Health for two purposes. Their nurses provide mental health training
to officers on when to call them and the officer will bring in the nurse to do
an immediate intake on site. The nurse
will then provide the follow-up.
However, this partnership is based on a one year grant and needs further
financial support. When multiple
partners collaborate, it is fabulous to see what can be achieved. To learn more about this model and our
partners, please speak to us on Feb 24 in Room 230 starting at 10am and we will
be happy to introduce you to these service providers. We will also have a special presentation
starting at 1pm on this subject as well.
To request a private audience, please contact Rob at ruralfasd@gmail.com.
