6 minute read
WHILE THEY’RE YOUNG
While They’re Young
DR. HEIDI WILKES (CENTRE) WITH FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE STOLLERY PCLP TEAM.
Albertans agree: Children deserve better support for mental health. The Stollery’s pediatric consultation and liaison psychiatry team is up to the task.
BY ROBBIE JEFFREY • PHOTO BY LAUGHING DOG PHOTOGRAPHY
healthy life — and, since mental health when a psychiatric team is involved is as important as physical health, early on. patients should be assessed for psychi“Without the full picture of what the atric illnesses just like they’re assessed child’s experience is — that includes for medical ones. Formerly led by care biological, psychological and social manager Mark Stime, the PCLP team experiences — you’re really limited in comprises five child psychiatrists, two what kinds of treatment suggestions nurses, psychiatric residents, a psycholyou can make,” says Dr. Heidi Wilkes, ogist, an occupational therapist and a a physician and consulting pediatric O n addressing mental illness, society has come a long way. Thanks in part to national campaigns like Mental Health Week and Mental Illness Awareness Week, which encourage outspoken dialogue about the importance of mental health, we’re more aware and less judgmental program secretary, and is run through the Children, Youth and Families - Addiction and Mental Health services portfolio. When a child or youth is admitted to the Stollery’s inpatient unit with symptoms of mental illness, such as overpsychiatrist on the PCLP team. “If we overlook the psychiatric component, we’re missing opportunities to improve long-term outcomes.” Stime, a registered nurse who has worked in children’s mental health for 24 years, agrees, but adds 70% of mental health problems begin in childhood and adolescence. of mental illness than ever before. dosing on medication or that the team does more But that awareness doesn’t always poor adjusting to a medithan just help children translate to investments and changes cal procedure or illness, they on-site at the Stollery — it to the mental health-care system to can be seen by a psychiatric nurse also co-ordinates with a network of improve timely, co-ordinated access and a psychiatrist from the liaison mental health professionals and other to services — and this is particularly team for a consultation. Depending professionals throughout Alberta true for children. Seventy per cent of on the outcome of the consultation, Health Services and other community mental health problems begin in childother members of the team, such as a agencies to make sure children find the hood and adolescence. Yet, according psychologist or occupational therapist, right support for their needs. to a study in The Canadian Journal of may support the patient and family “Our motto has always been that Psychiatry, 75 per cent of children with with their expertise. any door should lead to the right mental health issues don’t access the Assessing psychiatric illnesses in door,” Stime says. “So, once the child medical services they need. tandem with medical illnesses might is medically stabilized, the consultaThe Stollery’s pediatric consultaseem like common sense, but it wasn’t tion team will see whether they need tion and liaison psychiatry (PCLP) always common practice. And, as we support within the Hospital, or to be team is trying to fill that vacuum. It’s learn more and more every day, it’s transferred for an increased level of premised on the simple idea that every crucial. Medical literature shows that psychiatric supports somewhere else, child should get their best chance at a some hospitalizations are shorter like the acute inpatient adolescent and children’s units at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Or, we can do a safety planning and provide the family with resources so they can find community programs to support their needs, WITHOUT THE FULL PICTURE OF WHAT THE CHILD’S EXPERIENCE IS — THAT INCLUDES BIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCES which may include connecting with a therapist.” The PCLP team’s support, he adds, is part of how “we help normalize mental illness for these kids.” — YOU’RE REALLY LIMITED IN WHAT KINDS OF “Normalize.” That word is key. TREATMENT SUGGESTIONS YOU CAN MAKE. Mental illness gets more “normal” by the day. After working in the inpatient DR. HEIDI WILKES mental health units at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Stime joined the
PCLP team 11 years ago, just a year after it was created. This roughly corresponds to a precipitous rise in the need for mental health treatment. According to Alberta Health Services’ Addiction and Mental Health, the past nine years have seen a 200 per cent increase in new children referred for mental health support, totaling about 750 kids every month. In a recent survey from the Stollery, 96 per cent of respondents in northern Alberta identified children’s health, and specifically their mental health, as a top health-care priority for them and their families.
That’s why the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation has been there for the PCLP team since the start. In its early days, the team was fully funded by the Foundation, which has also funded other on-site Hospital initiatives like an addiction counsellor and a joint venture called Managing Your Chronic Illness (teaching life skills to teens with chronic illness).
Katherine Captain, the Foundation’s director of development and mental health campaign, says the investment in the team demonstrates the Stollery’s, and the Foundation’s, commitment to pediatric mental health care.
“It’s amazing to know there’s a consultation team where kids’ health can be addressed on a holistic level to ensure advanced, family-centred care is available,” Captain says. “The Stollery is known for world-class care, and [the liaison team] is just another example of how we’re investing in the right people to deliver the right care so kids get the best chance at a long and healthy life.”
For Mark Stime, the journey was personal, too. “I remained with this team for a long time, and they’ve stuck it out with me,” he says, thinking back on the last 11 years. “I’m very fortunate to have worked with a dedicated, compassionate team of professionals.”
The public conversation around mental health has changed dramatically, but conversation doesn’t mean anything without action. As Stime’s PCLP teammate, Dr. Wilkes, puts it: “I can’t think of anything more important than a child’s developing brain, and working actively as a team to protect those brains seems like common sense.”
MADDI WITH HER PARENTS, JESSICA AND MARCUS, AND YOUNGER SIBLINGS BRYNLEE AND CARTER.
Meet Maddi
ON THE OUTSIDE, Maddi Dewald appears to be a typical nine-year-old. She loves to dance, snowboard, and play with her dog, Zoey. On the inside, however, the little girl from Wetaskiwin, Alberta, has epilepsy, as well as a number of mental and neuro-developmental health concerns.
In 2016, after displaying a particularly high level of anxiety during a medical procedure related to her epilepsy, Maddi (four years old at the time) was referred to a psychiatrist with the Stollery psychiatric consultation and liaison team and was subsequently diagnosed with anxiety, ADHD and sensory processing disorder. She also has a learning disability and struggles with letter recognition.
To help them manage Maddi’s mental and neurodevelopmental health concerns, the Dewalds were then referred to a behaviour modification program at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. The program has taught Maddi’s
parents strategies to prevent a meltdown or redirect an unwanted behaviour. Maddi also takes ADHD medication twice a day.
Though Maddi’s mental health disorders continue to bring challenges to both her and her family, the treatments and strategies provided through the Stollery and Glenrose have helped bring a sense of comfort and support to the Dewalds.
