A Multi-Disciplinary, Patient-Partnered, Pan-Canadian, Comparative Effectiveness Evaluation of an Innovative Acute Pediatric Mental Health and Addiction Care Bundle

For people suffering from an acute mental health or addictions crisis, emergency departments (EDs) serve as a vital settings for assessment, treatment and referral. The number of ED visits for such conditions is increasing rapidly. These crises are stressful and overwhelming, leaving the family vulnerable. In response, acute care must be evidence-based, family-centred, multidisciplinary, and lead to diagnosis and therapy while being integrated with community-based services. Current ED care is fragmented, system-centred and limits access to mental health services. Most families repeat their stories multiple times, and do not receive diagnostic assessments, therapy or clear follow-up instructions. Instead they find the 'door' they seek is closed and are left to navigate on their own. We will evaluate a patient and family-centred model of acute mental health care that is evidence-based. We will enroll 6,800 children and youth (