New report: Developing caseload/workload guidelines for Ontario’s child and youth mental health sector

In 2016, the Auditor General of Ontario recommended the development of caseload guidelines to better assess the efficiency, effectiveness and value-for-money of services offered by publicly funded child and youth mental health (CYMH) agencies. The Centre, in partnership with Children’s Mental Health Ontario, established a working group to provide recommendations to the Ministry for developing and implementing such guidelines. 

This cross-sectoral  working group included representatives from relevant provincial ministries, CYMH agencies, subject matter experts, service providers, as well as youth and family members with lived experience. Participants from 66 agencies across Ontario responded to a survey, and 13 key informants from these organizations provided more in-depth information about the processes used to assess caseload and workload. 

In its final report, the working group puts forward four recommendations, the first of which being to focus on workloads, instead of caseloads, to accurately reflect the value-for-money of the services provided by agencies in Ontario. The report also highlights the need to improve consistency in definitions and processes for data collection and analysis; to adopt a developmental approach to establishing targets; and to situate workloads within a quality framework.

To find out more, read the full report on Developing caseload/workload guidelines for Ontario’s child and youth mental health sector.