Tracking Children’s Mental Health in the 21st Century: Lessons from the 2014 OCHS

In July 2018, the only fiscal commitment retained by the newly elected conservative government in Ontario from the previous liberal government was to mental health and addictions.1 This commitment acknowledges Ontario’s concerns about the challenges surrounding mental health in the population—concerns raised by the Auditor General of Ontario in 20162 and Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth in 20123 that draw attention to deficiencies associated with children’s mental health services. At the heart of these deficiencies is the lack of information on: 1) the prevalence of children’s mental health problems in Ontario, and 2) the characteristics and outcomes of children receiving mental health services. In combination, the 1983 and 2014 Ontario Child Health Studies (OCHS) addressed this lack of information by identifying: 1) changes in the prevalence and determinants of child and youth mental disorder over the past 30 years, and 2) the continuing challenges with access and targeting of children’s mental health services.4–1