The state of child and youth mental health in Canada: past problems and future fantasies

Abstract

Berezin (1978), a geriatric psychiatrist from Harvard, says that as we get older, our personality does not change, it just gets more so! How can it be then, that in 2010, despite the best efforts of many, the state of child and youth mental health in Canada is unknown to countless people? How can it be that despite the fact that nothing has changed for years, except to get more so, few know about the plight of Canadian child and youth mental health services? How can it be that in Ontario, politicians, regardless of political party (all parties have been in power at some time during the past 20 years), have known the facts about child and youth mental health and have effectively turned a blind eye?