Two of the communities top health services are teaming up to tackle mental illness in Lambton County.
The Central Lambton Family Health Team and the St. Clair Child and Youth Services are aiming to increase supports to address the mental health needs of children, youth, and families in the surrounding area.
Teri Thomas-Vanos, the director of clinical services at St. Clair, says there is a growing and continuous need for mental health services in the rural community.
"The issue of children and youth mental health is certainly a good cause for concern and we want our young people to be well," she says. "We work really closely with our other partners to be able to monitor that and to provide resources is a response to [mental health issues]."
The partnership will offer timely supports that will provide a range of therapeutic services from urgent response to short-term mental health workshops.
No new funding will be allocated for the partnership but instead, the Family Health Team has relocated some money to essentially purchase five months of service from St. Clair.
Both organizations have worked together over the past three years to offer child and youth mental health clinics at the health team's offices in Petrolia.