As a mental health researcher and frontline care provider with Children’s Hospital, LHSC’s Emergency Department, I believe the Substance iNtervention for Adolescents Program (SNAP) is needed immediately. Our mental health care system was strained before the COVID-19 pandemic and now it is even more overwhelmed. During this difficult period, hospital admissions for self-poisoning, self-harm and suicidal ideation increased among Canadian adolescents, particularly among girls between 10 and 14 years old and aged 15 to 18. Locally, our Children’s Hospital Emergency Department continues to experience an increase in mental health cases in frequency and severity. We must bolster mental health spending and implement novel strategies for early intervention, such as SNAP.  

Alcohol consumption and smoking or vaping have been shown to be risk factors for suicide attempts. SNAP will save lives. Wait times for mental health and substance use services are significant. SNAP will be a lifeboat for families by providing interim care that will support them in maintaining or improving their health and preparing them to have more success with longer-term treatment. SNAP will meet youth where they’re at and make it simple and straightforward to get care. The mental health crisis is serious, and we must be innovative and visionary, and SNAP is both of those. 

– Dr. Naveen Poonai

Dr. Naveen Poonai is a practicing physician within Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre’s Paediatric Emergency Department. He is also a Full Professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, a Scientist at the Child Health Research Institute and serves as the Research Director of the Division of Paediatric Emergency Medicine. He is lead author of a recent Canada-wide study titled, Emergency department visits and hospital admissions for suicidal ideation, self-poisoning and self-harm among adolescents in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.