Our Mission:


Transforming Lives, Surmounting Limitations.

Advocating for the accessibility and cost-effective provision of life-saving, transformative, physician-delivered psychotherapy. Physician-delivered psychotherapy is a cost-effective tool for patients to reduce the burden of mental illness and medical care costs associated with mental illness. Physicians (family doctors, psychiatrists and physicians practicing exclusively in psychotherapy) are in a unique position to provide care—psychotherapy and appropriate use of medications as needed— that is publicly funded.

 
 
 

Why Psychotherapy?

 

Clare’s Story

Clare lives and works in Ontario, and has received psychotherapy as a treatment for debilitating depression. In this video she describes how psychotherapy saved her life.

Anthony’s Story

Anthony lives and works in Ontario, and has received psychotherapy as a treatment for severe childhood trauma. In this video he describes how psychotherapy saved his life.

Dr Norman Doidge

In this video Dr Norman Doidge explains what psychotherapy is, why it is so useful, and why it needs to remain funded under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

Dr Leora pinhas

Dr. Leora Pinhas is a psychiatrist who works and lives in Ontario, and specializes in the treatment of eating disorders.

Psychotherapy Saves

These videos demonstrate intensive psychotherapy is a medically necessary mental health treatment that saves lives. Featured in this video are psychiatrists who practice psychotherapy in Ontario, who are supported by OHIP.

Article in Psychotherapy: Moving Forward While Standing Still

Insights from Ontario Psychiatric Association President Dr. Renata Villela, Dr. Lazar, and Dr. Plakun on a very topical discussion of physician- delivered psychotherapy.

https://journals.lww.com/practicalpsychiatry/Fulltext/2021/03000/Moving_Forward_While_Standing_Still__A_Case_of.7.aspx

 

Our Impact

Physician delivered psychotherapy is whole person psychotherapy that a patient can get from their medical doctor, and is currently covered by OHIP. Psychotherapy is tailored to each person's specific needs, and is conducted in a way that can include in depth psychotherapy, and medication, when appropriate.

Currently, we are endeavoring to advise provincial policies that will maintain the coverage of physician-delivered psychotherapy and mental health care delivery under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to better and more comprehensively serve the psychological welfare of the public amidst costly, wait-listed alternatives. We aim to educate about the importance of maintaining current OHIP funding for physician- delivered psychotherapy.

Research has shown that investment in medical psychotherapy not only pays for itself but also brings in revenue to the government. Return on investment for physician delivered psychotherapy is between 100% and 1200% - in the higher range for more severely affected patients like those suffering from borderline personality disorder, complex trauma, work-impairing perfectionism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.

Mental illnesses are chronic and often debilitating disorders that require management throughout the lifetime under the supervision of professionals who can safely administer psycho-pharmacological interventions in conjunction with a steady application of psychotherapy. Psychiatric conditions are unlikely to simply dissipate with time and do not permanently respond to short-term, “bandage” solutions.

In that sense, they are more analogous to managing diabetes or a chronic kidney disease than fixing a broken bone. Relapses are likely to occur, and professionals trained to handle the fluctuating and nuanced nature of these incredibly complex disorders are fundamental in preventing escalation of symptoms that can range from self-medicating to suicide. As psychiatric illnesses are chronically relapsing disorders with multifactorial causes, they often require multimodal treatments and psychotherapies across the lifespan. Additionally, long term psychotherapy is an essential care treatment for PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorders. Evidence also shows that therapeutic effects last with long-term psychotherapy in a multitude of other psychiatric conditions, as opposed to other psychotherapy modalities which lead to relapse.

You can click here to read further about the myths and facts about long-term psychotherapy in the article Psychotherapy in Psychiatry: Fighting Alternative Facts by Guest Columnist, Renata M. Villela, M.D., FRCPC, featuring an introduction by Dr. Eric Plakun in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

 

13

Psychiatrists per 100,000 Ontarians

With less than 13 psychiatrists per 100,000 people in Ontario, we argue that it is necessary to optimize existing resources by utilizing primary care physicians —of which there are 100 to 100,000 people — and other physicians, such as those practicing exclusively in psychotherapy. This would substantially increase access for patients to receive psychotherapy and appropriate psycho-pharmaceuticals— which are often life-saving interventions. Research suggests that physician-delivered psychotherapy has a 100-1200% return on investment, and thus represents an opportunity to reduce overall government spending in the long-term.

 

15k

Hours Spent By Police Responding to Mental Health Calls

An article published by the CBC stresses that 70 calls a day are made to Toronto police regarding mental health, which tabulates to a staggering 25,000 such calls a year. And that was published two years ago. A more recent piece from The Star cites that Peel Region police spend over 15,000 hours annually responding to mental health calls, and that figure is swelling as the area continues to be incredibly underfunded. If more mental health care fell under the care of more physicians practicing psychotherapy, the frequency of these calls and associated costs would be vastly reduced. Cutting OHIP funding for these services will only make the problem worse.

7%

Ontario Government health care dollars spent on mental healthcare

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH ) conservatively estimates that the disease burden of mental illness is really 10%.

It is a conservative estimate because the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) estimates that the disease burden of mental illness is really 23%.

According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, more than 6.7 million Canadians are living with mental health considerations—a figure that eclipses the 2.2 million diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. The burden of mental illness and addiction in Ontario is more than 1.5 times that of all cancers combined, and more than 7 times that of all infectious diseases.

 

1 billion+

Dollars spent on Mental health care in Ontario in 2017 Alone

Between considerations of lost productivity, emergency hospitalization, the involvement of law enforcement, and the strain on the federal and provincial judicial systems, mental health has taken a significant financial toll. All of this is even more dire with the very critical acknowledgment that these numbers severely underestimate the incidence rates of individuals suffering from mental health problems. Hospitalization rates and the annual reports released by the regional networks can’t account for the people who fall outside of the services provided by Ontario’s health care system, and the vast majority of sufferers are falling through the cracks. While some psychiatric disorders can, if untreated, manifest with symptoms that require hospitalization, these tend to be rare by comparison.

1

Leading cause of lost financial productivity in Canada

Mental illness is now the leading cause of lost financial output in Canada as well as globally, recently overtaking cardiovascular diseases. That is because it strikes people at an early age and in their productive years. The good news? Money invested in mental healthcare will more than pay for itself because it not only gets people integrated back into society, but it also puts them and their family members— who often have to take leave of absences for their sick loved ones— back to work.

 
OHIP Chair.jpg

Our Mission

The Coalition For Saving OHIP Funded Physician Delivered Psychotherapy is an organization spearheaded by a group of physicians dedicated to mental health and wellness in Ontario. Led by doctors who run medical psychotherapy practices, we advocate on behalf of patients and all individuals impacted by mental health considerations. Our goal is to educate and effect policy change that enables us to maintain these crucial services and to make them more readily accessible. We work toward actively informing legislation that will benefit all persons suffering from mental health conditions in Ontario— including underserved populations.

 

Get Involved

We always appreciate the support of volunteers, partners, and donors who are as impassioned about accessible and effective mental health care as we are. We are looking for passionate and committed individuals to join our team as members, volunteers, and researchers.

 

Pledge your support

If you agree that OHIP funded physician delivered psychotherapy should be protected from potential cuts, sign our petition today.

Volunteer opportunities

If you would like to help our campaign grow and spread the message, please email us directly and we will let you know how to get involved

Email The Minister Of Health

To voice your concerns directly to Ontario’s Minister of Health, just click on the button below and an email will be automatically generated for you.