One of the reasons I originally started to share about mental health and recovery skills was because I was fortunate to get effective help, but when I started to join online mental health communities, I would hear people sharing about the help they were getting, and it wasn’t at all in line with where the research was it.
Patients could be struggling with ineffective care for years while their struggles got worse. They’d get slapped with labels like “treatment resistant” and told they had chronic issues but the simple reality was they weren’t actually receiving any support or making the kinds of changes that would lead to better outcomes.
So there was a clear need for change in the system. There was a gap between where the research was at and the care people were able to access. One of the ways to begin changing that is through improving clinical standards and creating a system that expects recovery and provides the tools to get there. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the committee researching and writing the Ontario healthcare system’s new Quality Treatment Standards for Anxiety Disorders and OCD.
There is a guide for clinicians, along with supports on how to measure outcomes. I am, of course, particularly excited that the Quality Standard for OCD treatment explicitly states that clinicians and patients should be tracking a “reliable recovery”.
There’s a great guide for patients (and family members) to help with understanding what a quality treatment journey should look like and the types of questions you should be asking.
Access all of the resources on Ontario Health’s Quality Standards portal:
Anxiety Disorder Quality Standard
If you’re more the watch and listen type, check out this video explaining more about the new Quality Treatment Standards: