Synopsis

This session will describe a 10 year initiative to develop a data and evaluation platform for children and youth mental health and service delivery in Ontario, Canada’s largest province.  The session will touch on the advantages and limitations of using routinely collected health system data for surveillance and performance measurement, and challenges in evaluating a large, system wide policy strategy to improve early identification and coordination of care for children and youth with mental health disorders.  Finally, the speaker will reflect on lessons learned, successes and levers for change, and future opportunities including in the context of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaker

Professor Astrid Guttmann is a general paediatrician and Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, Professor of Paediatrics, Health Policy and Public Health and co-Director of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist and Chief Science Officer at ICES, Canada’s largest health services and policy research institute.   She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Child Health Services and Policy. Her research aims to improve child and family health through population-based studies that inform or evaluate health system programs and policies with a focus on health equity. She serves on several scientific and policy advisory committees.