0-3 Etobicoke Service Collaborative

What is the system challenge?

There is a lack of a common understanding of infant mental health across services and sectors. There is also a lack of service pathways and referral processes for infants and their families experiencing mental health issues.

Service providers in Etobicoke, representing diverse sectors and agencies, have identified the following gaps:

  1. There is a lack of a common understanding of infant mental health across services and sectors. 
  2. There is also a lack of service pathways and referral processes for infants and their families experiencing mental health issues.

What are we doing about it?

The Etobicoke 0-3 Service Collaborative, with support from the CAMH Provincial System Support Program, is now exploring existing evidence-informed interventions that might address the system-level gap. As part of our exploration process, a series of interviews and focus groups were conducted with a wide range of service providers across different sectors who work with young children and their families in Etobicoke and Toronto, as well as with parents and families of young children connected to services.

To learn more about the services available to families and how they are navigating the infant mental health system, consultations involved diverse stakeholders including:

  • adult mental health and addictions;
  • primary care practitioners/providers;
  • infant mental health specialized services;
  • Children’s Aid/child welfare;
  • Children’s mental health;
  • Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition; and
  • family members

Through these consultations, infant mental health system challenges and needs have been better identified and the 0-3 Service Collaborative has been able to define an area of focus for their work. 

?What's this?

Full Implementation

The project has not yet reached this implementation stage.

Who is involved?

  • Atwell Employment and Social Services
  • Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto
  • The Jean Tweed Centre
  • City of Toronto
  • Delta Family Resource Centre
  • Enaahtig Healing Lodge and Learning Centre
  • Ernestine's Women's Shelter
  • Etobicoke Children's Centre
  • George Hull Centre for Children and Families
  • Holland Bloorview
  • Infant Mental Health Promotion, Sick Kids Hospital
  • LAMP Community Health Centre
  • Macaulay Child Development Centre
  • McMaster University
  • Public Health Agency of Canada
  • Rexdale Women’s Centre
  • Silver Creek Centre for Early Learning and Development
  • TDSB - Parent and Family Literacy
  • Terry Tan Childcare Centre
  • The Etobicoke Children’s Centre
  • The Jean Tweed Centre
  • Toronto Child & Family Aboriginal Advisory Planning Committee
  • Toronto Employment and Social Services
  • Toronto Public Health
  • TP Library, Albion Branch

Next Steps

Having articulated the gap to address, the Service Collaborative is now exploring existing evidence-informed interventions that might address it, while also keeping in mind the values, principles, and needs the group identified as important to their intervention. 

For more information, please contact:

Nitali Tagger, Implementation Specialist

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