Services

Callers will be directed to the Intake Coordinator who will listen to their questions or needs and advise them of the appropriate next steps.

If the Intake Coordinator feels services offered in the children’s services systems are required, they will recommend that an intake appointment be scheduled with a Resource Coordinator. If this is not necessary, the Intake Coordinator will provide the caller with the information they were looking for.

The intake appointment is usually conducted over the phone, at a mutually convenient time. During this appointment, the Resource Coordinator will complete an interview with the youth or guardian to determine what type of services are needed. The Resource Coordinator will then make recommendations and if the youth/guardian are in agreement, the Resource Coordinator can make referrals to the local service agencies. This saves the youth/guardian from having to contact each agency directly. The Resource Coordinator will also discuss other services, information and resources in Hamilton that may not require a referral and that the youth/family can contact directly.

The agency will review the referral information and confirm that it is appropriate for their agency. If there is any problem with the referral, the Resource Coordinator will let the person know, so they can consider other options. The person will be contacted by the agency when they are able to begin to provide service.

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Types of Services

The following is a brief summary of the types of services provided. If you have a question, or wish to speak with someone directly about these services, please call us at 905 570-8888 or email us at info@contacthamilton.ca.

Assessment
An assessment is an evaluation or diagnostic service conducted by a professional. Information on an individual’s or family’s strengths, needs and resources is collected and recommendations are made for treatment and related services.

Individual Counselling/ Therapy
Counselling/ therapy tailored to the child/youth and is provided one-to one. The treatment may be brief or may involve multiple appointments over a period of time.

Family Counselling/ Therapy
Family counselling/therapy is focused on changing the way families interact. It aims to increase the understanding and improve communication among family members and does so without placing blame on any one person.

Group Counselling/ Therapy
Group counselling allows people to work on their problems by interacting with others in a group setting. Participants share their thoughts and feelings and receive feedback, encouragement and support from the other members. This process enables them to learn more about how others respond to them. They can also practice new behaviours/skills in the safety of the group.

Day Treatment
Day treatment programs are usually a formal partnership between a mental health agency and the school board. In our community this term often refers to Section 23 classrooms that provide treatment and support for children and youth who are unable to attend regular classes due to their identified social, emotional, behavioural or psychiatric needs.

Intensive Home-based Interventions
An intensive child/family-centred treatment that is delivered in the home environment. The focus of the intervention is on assisting the family in areas of parenting skills, communication, behavioural supports and strategies and crisis planning.

Residential Treatment
Residential treatment provided to children and/or youth with serious mental health concerns who require constant supervision and care within a treatment milieu. Treatment may include individual, group and family counselling/therapy; behaviour therapy; day treatment; recreation and access to psychiatric consultation services. Treatment is time-limited and the goal is to stabilize and transition the child/youth back to the family home as soon as possible.

Family/ Caregiver Education and Support
A broad range of information, education, resources and support for families and caregivers to improve their ability to understand and support children/youth with mental health or behavioural concerns.

Parenting Supports
A wide variety of skills-based programming related to child rearing and parenting. (eg. COPE)

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List of Agencies

Contact Hamilton works directly with the following agencies that support child and youth mental health. If you click on the link, you will be connected to additional information about the agency and the programs offered. If you have a question, or wish to speak with someone directly about these services, please call us at 905 570-8888 or email us at info@contacthamilton.ca.

Contact Hamilton also works closely with other community programs that support child and youth mental health, for which Contact Hamilton is not the centralized access point. A list of some of these programs is provided. If you click on the link, you will be connected to additional information about the agency and programs offered. If you have a question, or wish to speak with someone directly about these services, please call us at 905 570-8888 or email us at info@contacthamilton.ca

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Services in School

Each of the district school boards offers direct or indirect support services to students who might be struggling in school as a result of some developmental, behavioural and/or mental health-related concern. Many professionals, including classroom teachers, special education teachers, educational assistants, school administrators, special education consultants, special assignment teachers, speech and language consultants, psycho-educational consultants and social workers, provide the support services to students with special needs.

Initial contact with the school principal or the student’s teacher is often a good starting point if you are concerned about a student’s well-being and lack of success in school.

The web-links below provide an overview of the services that the district school boards provide.

Hamilton Wentworth District School Board-Programs and Services
Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board- Programs and Services
Le Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest

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Information about Children’s Mental Health

This section provides links to other sites that provide information about Child and Youth Mental Health.

Centre of Knowledge on Healthy Child Development- Offord Centre for Child Studies
The Centre of Knowledge on Healthy Child Development was designed to focus on certain disorders, behaviour problems, and life circumstances that can have a significant impact on children’s health and well-being. There is information on:

anger, aggression and bullying, conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.
the role that parenting plays in fostering the healthy development of children, and what it means to grow up in a lone parent or low-income family or an environment of abuse or neglect.
how to distinguish mental health problems from normal development.
the impact of problems left untreated, such as poor school performance, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and poor peer relationships in adolescence.

There are also book, DVD, and video listings about these problems shown at the end of each section.

MindyourMind.ca
Mindyourmind.ca is an award winning site for youth and emerging adults. This is a place where you can get info, resources and the tools to help you manage stress, crises and mental health problems. Share what you live and what you know with your friends.

Community Education Services
The Community Education Service helps connect parents to high-quality information and courses about common childhood problems. Through this web-site the reader can access course flyers, search the web database of courses and workshops and review booklists on various childhood problems.

Children’s Mental Health Ontario
Children's Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) works to improve the mental health and well-being of children and youth and their families. The website has a section dedicated to resources for parents.

E-mental health
E-mental Health is a source for local mental health help and events. This site also includes a library of information and some free, anonymous, online mental health screening tools.

Collaborative Mental Health – Child & Youth Mental Health Tool Kits:
This site was developed by the Hamilton Family Health Team in collaboration with CHEO. Patient resources include: Educational handouts; books, website and video resources. Healthcare provider resources include: description of the topic including etiology, identification and treatment; healthcare provider-supported patient education and self-management tools; screening tools and symptom checklists; books and websites.

macanxietykids.com
This site was created for (and by) parents, educators, and clinicians working together to support children and teens with mental health conditions. The information on this web site is focused on anxiety.

The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO
The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO, along with other leaders, is working towards an integrated system that truly meets the mental health care needs of children, youth and their parents and caregivers. This web-site includes a section called Tools and Resources.

CAMH McLaughlin Information Centre
This website provides information about mental health, drugs and addiction, concurrent disorders, and child and youth family resources. Information is also available in other languages: Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, and Urdu.

Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development: Encyclopedia: On Early Childhood Development
This website includes an Encyclopedia. It covers 37 topics related to the psychosocial development of the child, from conception to the age of five, and presents the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.

Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada
This website provides information about tourette syndrome, a neurological or "neurochemical" disorder characterized by tics -- involuntary, rapid, sudden movements or vocalizations that occur repeatedly in the same way.

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