Turning 18-years-old can come with some new and exciting experiences like voting, opening your own bank account, or getting a tattoo. It can be starting a new chapter of your life by graduating high school and starting university or college. However, the biggest thing about turning 18 is becoming an adult, at least on paper (I’m 21 and I definitely don’t think of myself as an actual adult), and that can mean changes to the mental health services that you have access to.
In high school, I started in a therapy program at my community’s youth mental health agency, Skylark. I also started receiving services at Sick Kids Hospital with a care team of doctors and therapists. On my 18th birthday, I found myself at my very last appointment and thought, “Well, what am I going to do now?”. The program at Skylark had a two-year maximum and Sick Kids only treats kids, so I knew from the beginning that my time at both place was limited, but when the time came I still didn’t know what to do next. Through a series of tips I learned on my journey, I want to share some of my experiences with starting over in the adult mental health system to hopefully provide some guidance and hope to anyone going through the same thing.
So there I was, 18-year-old brand new adult Dana. I no longer had a psychiatrist or therapist, and I was moving away to a new city to start my undergraduate degree. I was completely unsupported arriving to residence in September of my 1st year, so I started looking in the first place I could think of: campus.
If you’re a university or college student, check out the services offered by your school.
I go to Western University and one of its affiliates, Brescia University College, in London (Ontario not England, but how cool would that be?), and a great thing about it is the student health clinic. The clinic offers support not only for physical health, but for mental health, including access to crisis counselling and psychiatrists. My smaller school, Brescia, has a social worker on staff that offers case management to students experiencing moderate to severe mental health struggles. I’ve worked with this social worker since my 2nd year of university and continue to meet with them regularly well into my 4th year. They helped connect me to a psychiatrist on campus without waiting months to be seen, find a therapist in the city, and support me with any academic accommodations I need. Do some digging to see what kind of mental health and wellness services your school offers on its campus! Services on campus can be convenient and helpful if they’re a good match for you. I personally found that the mental health services at my school have been a paramount support throughout my education.
You might have to look at private practices if you’re looking to work with a therapist long-term.
There are so many amazing community agencies/organizations across Ontario that provide mental health services for adults, however, many of these places don’t offer long-term individual therapy. This was something I was looking for coming out of the youth system and quickly found out that if I wanted to work on my mental health challenges and personal goals one-on-one with a therapist over an extended period of time, then I needed to find someone in the private practice sector and pay them (this is where my school’s social worker helped me out, as mentioned above). This was very different, and a bit stressful, for me because up until that point I never had to pay money to work with a therapist and rates for one session could be upwards of $150. I was lucky enough to find someone who offered subsidized rates for broke students like me. If you’re worried about finances, but want to work with a therapist long-term there are options for those in financial need through government grants, OSAP, and your school’s health insurance plan.
You still have access to lots of community mental health services, support lines, and hospital services that don’t cost anything.
The word “youth” has a pretty wide age range, typically ages 13-25 (sometimes even going up to 27), so many youth mental health agencies continue to provide services to young people over 18. If you’re able to continue accessing services at your current youth organization or can start at another one, that’s awesome! It adds a few years to your time before you need to cross the line into the adult system. This wasn’t the case for me, but the adult mental health system still have great community services. In London, CMHA Middlesex is one of the biggest community mental health service providers in the city. They offer a wide range of supports free of charge, everything from crisis intervention and stabilization services, to an eating disorder program, to supportive housing. There are also helpful support lines such as Reach Out, Crisis Text Line, and Good2Talk which is post-secondary student-specific, and I’ve used each of these lines myself. Hospitals also offer different inpatient and outpatient programs for adults, depending on the severity of the mental health challenges one is struggling with. If you’re looking to get support from a hospital program, connect with your family doctor for a referral.
Thanks for giving this a read and I hope there was something you could take away. See you next time!
Thank you so much Dana! If you have any questions please contact email info@thenewmentality.ca
