Ministry Reports
Open Minds, Healthy Minds
Ontario's Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy
June 2011
The time to act is now. Open Minds, Healthy Minds offers a comprehensive approach to transforming the mental health system through a clear mission, forward-thinking vision and long-term strategies for change.
We will only be able to achieve our goals with strong commitment, leadership and accountability from both inside and outside government. We need to work together.
By acting together, we can transform services so that all Ontarians have timely access to an integrated system of coordinated and effective promotion, prevention, early intervention, and community support and treatment programs.
Our long-term, comprehensive strategy reinforces our efforts on The Poverty Reduction Strategy, Early Learning Strategy and the Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy with four guiding goals:
- Improve mental health and well-being for all Ontarians;
- Create healthy, resilient, inclusive communities;
- Identify mental health and addictions problems early and intervene;
- Provide timely, high quality, integrated, person-directed health and other human services.
Open Minds, Healthy Minds takes a long-term view to this transformation. Our first three years will start with children and youth.
We will focus on early intervention and support to protect our children from the many associated costs of mental illness and addictions and help steer them on the road to safe, healthy, and happy futures. We will:
- Provide children, youth and families with fast access to high quality services;
- Identify and intervene in child and youth mental health and addictions issues early;
- Close critical service gaps for vulnerable children and youth, children and youth at key transition points, and those in remote communities.
We will create an Ontario where all people have the opportunity to thrive, enjoying good mental health and well-being throughout their lifetime - an Ontario where people with mental illness or addictions can recover and participate in welcoming, supportive communities.
We will give more children, youth, adults and their families the services they need, more quickly, and more effectively to prevent and reduce the personal, social and economic costs of mental health and addictions problems. It's the right thing to do, and the right time to do it.
Let's get started!
The full report may be downloaded from the link below.
Programs and Services
