This week on Where Parents Talk radio on 105.9 The Region, host Lianne Castelino speaks to Tatum Wilson, CEO of Children’s Mental Health Ontario and father of one about the current state of and future vision for mental health care services for young people in the province of Ontario.
TATUM WILSON
CEO
Children’s Mental Health Ontario
Father of one
“…the pandemic really sort of shone a light, unfortunately, on the realities and the experiences of children and youth through the pandemic, who, in many ways we could say from a health perspective, but also from a social perspective, and specifically mental health has borne the brunt of the pandemic, whether it’s school closures, isolation, just confusion and fear, however, you want to call it that children have have faced pretty unique challenges over the last the last couple of years. And so when this opportunity presented itself as to become the CEO of CMHO, it really just felt like for me personally. It was the culmination of a lot of the work that I’ve done.
…if I was to have to pick a priority — access is the biggest priority, I would say right now because kids are waiting far too long. And this is not a condition such that you have a diagnosis, and then you just wait to get service, and when you get it, then you fix it. These things, they get worse, they become more acute, they have impact on families, they have impact on schools, and school success.”
