Sarnia-Lambton's lead agency responsible for child and youth mental health is anticipating a wave of demand for its services because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
St. Clair Child & Youth Services Director of System Operations Craig McKenzie said they have not been overwhelmed with calls for assistance yet, which is surprising.
He told Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Thursday that they're concerned about having the necessary resources to meet the expected surge in demand, following an initial "period of adjustment."
"There's been funding announcements at the federal and provincial level, unfortunately, none of that has gone towards children's mental health and we were already kind of under-resourced going into this so it's something on our radar," said McKenzie. "We're advocating at the provincial and national levels to ensure that we have the resources when that wave comes."
McKenzie said youth and especially teenagers face challenges adjusting to a "whole new world."
When the pandemic started, he said the agency made several adjustments and, along with their telephone counselling, they now have an e-mental health platform that is a game-changer.
"It's a safe and secure platform where our clients can go and our clinicians can meet-up virtually online. So you can still have that face-to-face contact, similar to Zoom, although there's a lot more encryption and security behind it," he said.
McKenzie said great resources are available for kids and their parents to deal with the pandemic including an online guide for parents, tips for different age groups and videos.
"We've had some recent funding come in through the United Way so we will be offering more workshops in the community and mental health education online. There will be some live sessions available to help people readily access coping strategies, ask us some questions live around what they're experiencing and we can give you some tips to kind of get through this together."
St. Clair Child & Youth closed its facilities shortly after Ontario schools were closed but is offering its full range of services.
Visit the agency's website for further information.
-With files from Sue Storr
