Availability of services for parents living with mental disorders: a province-wide survey.

OBJECTIVE

There is evidence that parents living with mental disorders have limited access to parenting support. We conducted a survey of mental health agencies in Ontario, Canada, to establish a benchmark from which progress in service availability can be evaluated, and to identify any barriers to availability in terms of program location and parent gender.

METHOD

We surveyed 119 directors of community and inpatient mental health service agencies (54% response rate) and directors of 80 different agencies to which they referred clients for parenting support services (56% response rate). Respondents indicated the types of parenting support services they provided and the clientele they served.

RESULTS

The most common parenting support service in mental health agencies was referral to another agency. Individuals with mental disorders were eligible for services at the referral agencies on a case-by-case basis, and few agencies had programs for children. Parenting services were associated with the number of staff in the agency and with offering programs in urban or both urban and rural locations, which perhaps also indicates larger size of the organization. Agencies served fathers and mothers approximately equally, but child care was uncommon.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrated clinical services for parents living with mental disorders are lacking. Such services should be designed to treat mental health as well as provide parenting skills intervention and practical support for parents, consistent with a recovery model.