Dutch Association of Mental Health and Addiction Care

• OTTAWA, UNCEDED ALGONQUIN TERRITORY, ON, Oct. 26, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, Indigenous leaders concluded the 2023 National Summit on Indigenous Mental Wellness which heard directly from community leaders and service providers about new approaches to tackling longstanding challenges in mental health and wellness.
• The 2023 National Summit on Indigenous Mental Wellness is the second annual summit bringing together First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, tribal councils, organizations, and front-line service providers, to share best practices and build new collaborations to improve mental wellness services for Indigenous people.
• The Summit focused on two priorities:  support for communities in crisis and Indigenous youth and children, with key themes including gender-based initiatives, supports for the mental wellness workforce, land-based approaches, and youth mental wellness.
• Since 2015, Indigenous Services Canada has doubled spending to support Indigenous mental wellness from approximately $325 million in 2015-16 to approximately $650 million in 2023-24.

• That's why we are leveraging all the tools at our disposal to work towards an end to this national public health crisis—including prevention, harm reduction, treatment and enforcement.
• Today, the Honourable Ya'ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, announced the launch of the 2023 national call for proposals for Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP).
• Since 2017, over $500 million has been committed through Health Canada's Substance Use and Addiction Program for more than 380 projects.
• This includes $144 million to the Substance Use and Addictions Program to fund community-based supports, and other evidence-based health interventions.

• OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is a complex and deeply personal issue for many Canadians.
• It will be delivered through a combination of online and in-person learning sessions for interested health practitioners, regardless of their level of experience.
• "Supporting our health care professionals as they prepare for the next phase of MAiD eligibility is essential.
• "The Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers is the leader for the community of professionals that provide MAiD.

• While mothers with postpartum depression have always faced barriers accessing the care they need, things have been particularly bad since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• However, the pandemic also coincided with a period of significant innovation in treatment that may increase access to and effectiveness of care.

Medications specifically for PPD

• It represented the first of an entirely new class of medicines for postpardum depression (PPD), which target the steep decrease in hormones after delivery.
• Brexanolone is a synthetic version of allopregnanolone, a naturally occurring substance made from progesterone, that helps the brain regulate stress.
• Its approval in the U.S. was especially notable for two reasons: it was the first medicine approved specifically for the treatment of PPD, and it takes effect especially quickly — within 60 hours.
• Early studies of zuranolone suggest PPD symptom improvement can be observed as early as three days after starting the treatment.

Behind the hype

• If approved in Canada, it would also add to the array of effective treatments that already exist.
• These include evidence-based talking therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy, which are first-line treatments for mild to moderate PPD.
• Antidepressant medications like the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIS, such as sertraline and escitalopram) are also widely available and usually recommended as second-line therapies for most individuals with PPD.
• Only individuals with more severe depression that emerged between the third trimester of pregnancy and four weeks post-delivery could be enrolled.

PPD is still underdiagnosed

• However, it is important in this case that we not lose sight of the fact that PPD is a vastly underdetected and undertreated problem for which safe and effective treatments already exist.
• Research into treatments for PPD and the federal government’s actions in appointing a Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and prioritizing perinatal parents are also cause for genuine optimism.
• While zuranolone is raising awareness about PPD, it’s important to highlight the need to develop national quality standards and Canadian-specific stepped-care models and care pathways.