An Evolving Blueprint
A reimagined, person-centered model designed to develop a new System for Community Mental Health that prioritizes community-based support of individual needs that works in tandem with existing mental health services and health care systems.
To start developing the Evolving Blueprint for the Future of Community Mental Health, we asked people to imagine the future they desired and what the future system would need to look like to meet their needs. Our innovative Blueprint reimagines Edmonton's mental health system by centering it on the practical knowledge of people with lived experience and empowering the community as the primary source of support. The Blueprint outlines evolving actions for increasing community mental health. It clearly presents three primary experience loops and four primary influencers integral to the community mental health ecosystem. It’s full publication includes those ongoing and developing works and previously identified barriers and needs brought together from prior community initiatives, representing a new home for over a decade of community work.
This person-centered approach promotes a more inclusive, responsive, and effective system that addresses the diverse needs of our community while also ensuring the seamless integration of services and coordinated policy and funding.
Primary Influencers
The Blueprint asks us to consider four primary influencers:
The Individual
At the center, the blueprint recognizes how an individual experiences their mental health, and what they want their experiences to be like. The individual is at the center of the system, and the system responds to the individual.
The Community
Surrounding the individual, the community includes family, friends, workplaces, schools, and other natural supports that contribute to a person’s well-being. A person’s community helps them to thrive.
The people in an individual’s community respond with kindness, empathy, and love, helping to connect people with supports when needed. These interactions are characterized by respect, reciprocity, trust, and consent.
Services
An individual might need to access services that are outside of community and the health care system. These include mental health services—like counselling—not provided in clinical settings, as well as services to address factors that contribute to mental health, like housing.
Service providers collaborate to identify needs, understand connections, and find solutions. They work closely with the community, ensuring that community-based and healthcare services are equally valued. Transitions between these services are well planned and seamless.
Policy and Funding
The outermost layer involves governments and funders working to create policies and allocate resources that support the mental health system’s overall effectiveness and sustainability.
Primary Experiences
In addition to the four primary influencers, the Blueprint recognizes three primary experience loops.
The experience loops represent an individual’s path through different parts of the mental health journey. These loops are organic, non-linear, and happen concurrently. For example, a person might seek support from the community at times and from services at other times.
Loop 1: Prevention and Long-Term Support
This loop represents good mental health and the recovery journey, when individuals are not in crisis. In this phase, people have the support they need from their community and the necessary services to meet their basic needs. Those with chronic mental illness have a consistent care plan and feel supported in their recovery. They also have the resilience and independence to manage their daily lives and seek help when needed.
“My family is able to talk to me about how I’m feeling.”
“I am able to ask for help without fear or shame.”
“There are opportunities in my community for wellness and connection.”
Loop 2: Challenge or Help-Seeking
This journey involves experiencing symptoms of a mental illness or declining mental health and taking action to address short-term concerns and prevent symptoms from worsening. Communities are well-informed about recognizing mental health challenges and are equipped with the tools, knowledge, and empathy to offer effective and respectful support or connect individuals to appropriate resources. Service providers and crisis intervention are available, accessible, and safe. Often, service providers are not mental health specialists but facilitate warm and seamless handoffs to the appropriate supports. As people find the services they need, they move into the treatment loop.
“I feel respected and understood.”
“Every door is the right door.”
“I am able to find the spaces to express myself and process through my thoughts.”
Loop 3: Treatment
This loop represents an individual accessing mental health services. In this phase, they are actively receiving support for mental health concerns, mental illness, or addiction. Treatment providers are invited to collaborate with individuals’ communities and natural support systems whenever possible, preparing for the transition back to the recovery journey (loop 1) throughout the treatment process. This includes ensuring individuals and their supporters have the necessary information to guide their own course of treatment in culturally appropriate ways.
“I am able to share my data with natural supports and involve them in my journey.”
“I am able to make choices about how I receive care.”
“I am able to find care that feels culturally relevant.”
How to Use the Evolving Blueprint for the Future of Community Mental Health
Working together, grounded in user experience for better design, we will realize innovative solutions for improved community mental health that make the most of our strengths.
The Blueprint can be utilized by various interested parties to enhance community mental health:
People with Lived Experience (PWLE): PWLE are central to setting direction and priorities for proposed changes to services and systems, and are actively involved in evaluating the progress and impact of the SCMH. PWLE can help shift focus from problems to possibilities, setting a new vision for a system through curiosity and generative conversations for decision-making.
Service Providers: The Evolving Blueprint empowers service providers to identify opportunities for innovation and service delivery transformation, revealing gaps in current approaches and models. It helps determine which elements of the desired future are already being implemented and can be reinforced and leveraged.
Systems Leaders & Decision-Makers:
The Evolving Blueprint empowers systems leaders and decision-makers to gain a deep understanding of the needs and desires of those most impacted by the systems they work in. It reveals opportunities to create space for experimentation and innovative approaches, challenging conventional thinking and practices that may limit progress.
