BC directs doctors to notify parents if child struggles with mental health, drug use issues
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When it comes to treating youth with overlapping mental health and substance use challenges, the BC government is releasing new guidelines for practitioners, clarifying the use of involuntary care in the process.
In a guidance document released Friday, the province directs physicians to inform parents, and potentially involuntarily detain youth If they are unable or unwilling to care for themselves.
This follows the updated guidance of involuntary care for adults issued earlier this year by Dr. Daniel Vigo, the province’s chief consultant for psychiatry, toxic drugs and co-occurring disorders, along with severe cases of mental health and substance use disorders.
At a news conference on Friday, Vigo, Premier David Abiy and other officials were joined by parents who have lost children to drug overdose.
The province is moving to improve care for people struggling with mental health and substance use challenges. For some, this may include involuntary care. The health minister and a special adviser are offering new guidance for health care workers, Chad Pawson reports.
“To be clear, we should only do this (involuntary care) if the child’s brain or life is in serious danger,” Viggo said.
“But if that is the case, we should not hesitate and we should always involve parents or guardians in planning the next steps.”
Under previous instructions, Viggo explained that a 15-year-old who uses drugs could be assessed as a “mature minor”. A mature minor is a person under the age of 19 make their own health care decisions Independent of the wishes of your parents or guardians.
But that is no longer the case, he said.
BC Health Minister Josie Osborne says the new ‘home-like’ involuntary care space at Alouette Homes in Maple Ridge is designed for individuals who are certified for long-term involuntary care under BC’s Mental Health Act. Johnny Morris, CEO of the BC Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, tells BC Today host Michelle Elliott that the province needs to be precise about who is eligible for this kind of care — whether it’s people who have been removed from the streets or people who are already in the system but need a more appropriate option.
Viggo says that many of his physician colleagues interpreted this as Mental Health Act – which allows involuntary care – differently when it comes to whether parents can access a child against their will if they say so.
“Many of my colleagues … honestly thought they couldn’t use it at the request of parents,” the consultant said.
“And now I’m making clear that yes, we can and yes, we should do that when there is a medical indication for it — which is a child who has developed opioid dependence and is at risk of, you know, death, brain damage.”
While drug deaths are down this year across B.C. latest number The BC Coroners Service shows that 21 youth under the age of 19 died from illicit drugs from January to October this year.
This is more than the 17 youth who died in the same period last year.
Since 2016 – the year BC declared a public health emergency due to toxic drugs – 222 people under the age of 19 have died from illicit drugs.
Parents spoke after son’s death in 2018
Parents who spoke at Friday’s event included Brock Yurchuk and Dr. Rachel Staples, whose 16-year-old son Elliot Yurchuk died of an opioid overdose in April 2018.
A coroner’s jury An investigation into Elliot’s death found it to be accidental, and recommended better identification, treatment, and transition plans for youth struggling with mental health and substance abuse in schools.
“Elliot was in hospice care for over a month, and the caregivers were completely different from Elliot — and Rachel and I — in terms of advising us and helping us,” Yurchuk said.
“And I think it was because of the fear that they were in a legal environment that they might get in trouble if they shared medical information about Elliot with Rachel and me – at ages 15 and 16, Elliot said, ‘I don’t want my parents to get this information.'”
lawyer worried
A previous attempt to expand the scope of involuntary care for young drug users was scrapped. Province in 2022over concerns that youth would be at greater risk of overdose after leaving treatment.
Dr Ryan Herriot, co-founder of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and a family and addictions therapist in Victoria, said that in his experience, parents who have involuntarily admitted their child to drug use are often disappointed by the results.
The new guidance, he said, “is, frankly, a bold and dark experiment on young people and will have potentially devastating consequences that could be felt for years to come.”
Leslie McBain, who founded the Moms Stop the Harm advocacy group after her 25-year-old son Jordan died of an opioid overdose in 2016, said there needs to be careful consideration when it comes to how involuntary care is used for youth.
He said the government should focus on increasing voluntary treatment, counseling and care services instead of focusing on involuntary care.
“The evidence shows that Involuntary care doesn’t work Because of distrust in the system, broken relationships with family,” she said.
“I know from my son, who died of an accidental drug overdose, if he had been caught unawares, it would have been a disaster for me.”
