Teens cut off from longtime therapists amid changes at Hamilton mental health clinic: ex-staff

This is Part 1 of an in-depth look at changes to a leading child and youth mental health clinic in Hamilton, and the impact they've had on families and mental health practitioners. 

Warning: This story mentions suicidal ideation.

A Hamilton woman says her daughter's therapist at a free mental health clinic run by the city suddenly "fell off the face of the Earth" after helping pull the teen from the brink of crisis. 

Lesley had worried for years about her daughter, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and general anxiety and was having suicidal thoughts. She began receiving therapy at Child and Adolescent Services, which serves people under 18 in Hamilton. 

CBC Hamilton has agreed to withhold Lesley's full name to protect the privacy of her daughter, who fears stigma may impact employment opportunities.

Lesley said her daughter, now 19, built a "really unique and close connection" with her therapist over several years attending the clinic, run by Hamilton Public Health, and her mental health improved significantly. 

Without warning, the therapist was suddenly inaccessible, Lesley said. The family said they kept calling and emailing the clinic to try to get contact information for their former therapist, but were told only that "she was no longer there. We weren't given any reason," Lesley said.

As part of a CBC Hamilton investigation, Lesley, along with a former patient of the clinic and nine former Child and Adolescent Services staffers shared concerns over changes to care offered by the clinic that they say impacted patients. 

Their concerns come at a time when young people across Canada are struggling with their mental health. 

Lesley said her daughter opted to stop therapy rather than rehash her traumatic memories — including those from a sexual assault, bullying and witnessing a murder of another teen — with a new person. Her mental health deteriorated significantly as a result of the lack of care, her mother said.

Former staff members at the clinic said changes came after a management reorganization in 2018. Several of them told CBC Hamilton they felt management's focus shifted from patient outcomes to the number of patients seen, and they felt pressured to offer care in the least number of sessions possible — an approach that was often not in clients' best interests.

"It would be viewed [by management] as a great thing if you had a single session," said Louise Oke, a registered psychotherapist who worked there from 2001 to 2020. 

Former staffers told CBC they're speaking out now because they're worried about the state of care the clinic is offering and they want to share the toll the changes took on them personally.  

One said she believes the clinic had been serving "the bulk of kids" in Hamilton experiencing mental health crises, so losing so many specialized therapists is bound to have affected the quality of care available for free in the city.