A longstanding shortage of psychologists in Manitoba has resulted in particularly long wait lists for children and desperate need in rural and northern areas.
“We’re desperate for child and adolescent psychologists in the public system, and there’s so little access in the rural regions,” said Julia Riddell, a registered clinical psychologist and communications director for the Manitoba Psychological Society.
Manitoba still has the lowest per capita number of psychologists compared with other provinces, according to 2021 data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS “We’re desperate for child and adolescent psychologists in the public system, and there’s so little access in the rural regions,” said Julia Riddell, a registered clinical psychologist and communications director for the Manitoba Psychological Society.
There are a total of 280 registered psychologists working in Manitoba, a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 people. The national average rate is about 54 per 100,000, although some provinces didn’t report any data for 2021.
The situation hasn’t changed much in the past couple of years in Manitoba, where many of the 280 psychologists work in the private sector and those working in hospitals and for regional health authorities juggle demanding workloads and struggle with burnout, Riddell said.
Mental health services for youth have been among the hardest hit, with some children waiting up to two years for a psychological assessment within the public health system in Winnipeg, Riddell said.
“Where I see the longest wait lists are for child and adolescent assessment and treatment. There are places where children are waiting up to two years for assessments for things like autism, ADHD, learning disabilities,” Riddell said.
Outside of Winnipeg, the growing need is not reflected on wait lists because of the very limited number of public-sector psychologists taking on new cases, she said.
There are two positions for clinical psychologists each with the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority and Southern health authority, and only one in the Northern Regional Health Authority. The lack of staff effectively means most rural Manitobans don’t have access to a clinical psychologist, Riddell said.
“Most people wouldn’t be able to get on the wait list.”
Access to youth assessments and treatment is particularly limited, she added.
Assessments by a clinical psychologist are used in many kinds of treatments for conditions that have medical and behavioural components, even things such as bed-wetting.
She urged leaders to make psychologist retention a priority, saying many top clinical psychologists are recruited to Manitoba as part of the U of M’s residency program, but some go on to leave the public sector because of high workloads and lower pay.
Last year, the province promised to recruit five additional psychologists to work in Winnipeg hospitals.
A spokesperson for Shared Health stated four of those positions have already been filled and a fifth has been recruited to start work later this year. As well, two psychology positions were added to focus on patients’ pain management, as part of the work of Manitoba’s surgical and diagnostic recovery task force. One of those two has already started work.
Shared Health said retaining clinical psychologists is part of the focus of the government’s health human resources plan.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mental health services for youth have been among the hardest hit, with some children waiting up to two years for a psychological assessment within the public health system in Winnipeg, Julia Riddell said.
Wait times to see a Winnipeg child psychologist via the Health Sciences Centre or a specialized diagnostic program vary from one to two years, Shared Health stated, with urgent cases being seen more quickly.
“Like other jurisdictions in Canada, the clinical psychology workforce in Manitoba faces recruitment and retention challenges, including shortages in the rural and northern regions, and shortages of child psychologists for diagnostic assessment and treatment,” a Shared Health spokesperson stated.
On Tuesday, as part of national Mental Health Week running until May 7, provincial Mental Health and Community Wellness Minister Janice Morley-Lecomte announced $3 million toward improving access to youth mental health and suicide prevention services.
That funding, some of which was previously announced, went to Huddle NorWest, which runs walk-in youth programs, and to the Child and Youth Mental Health Services project at HSC.
The province announced an additional $2 million in annual funding to support mental health treatment for children age five to 17 who show up at HSC’s emergency department.
The funding is expected to reduce wait times for programs, including intensive treatment services for children and youth, outpatient mental health services, the rapid assessment clinic and the children and youth anxiety disorders service, the provincial government stated.
NDP Health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the Tory government hasn’t taken “any meaningful action” to reduce psychology wait times and has “missed some really big opportunities to invest in strengthening mental health care for kids and families.”
“This is just another too-little, too-late announcement that does nothing to support kids getting access to the mental health care they need right now, which is a growing need,” Asagwara said.
