In this episode, Dr. David Gratzer speaks with Dr. David Goldbloom, Senior Medical Advisor at CAMH and a professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Goldbloom (a returning guest) has just written We Can Do Better: Urgent Innovations to Improve Mental Health Access and Care. They speak about the book – and Dr. Goldbloom’s optimism.

Dr. Goldbloom discusses real-world examples of innovation: a publicly-funded psychotherapy program in the UK that treats 600,000 people a year; a Nova Scotia program that helps families of children with ADHD and has inspired similar work in Vietnam and Finland; and a major Canadian study that has changed the way we think about homelessness. We also discuss the implications for policy makers – and for clinicians. And, yes, we do talk about The Simpsons.

With Dr. Goldbloom’s book We Can Do Better: Urgent Innovations to Improve Mental Health Access and Care as the basis of the conversation we learn:

• Clients, families, and physicians alike all agree that the current system in Canada just isn’t good enough.
• Programs exist in places such as the UK and Australia that are already doing things better.
• Canada has created its own internationally successful programs but has had difficulties expanding across our own country.
• Traditionally the number of years it takes for clinical and innovation to be translated into clinical practice has been exceedingly slow.
• The pandemic has sparked rapid change they hope will continue.

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