PRIVATE PRACTICE

EXPANDING PROVIDER CHOICE

Final report from the Private Practice Committee

In 2020 the Private Practice Committee launched its campaign to ensure private health insurance plans are covering social workers. After much research and consultation, the committee discovered that most insurance companies are willing to cover social workers as part of their packages, and the most effective way to make sure they do is for members of those plans to contact their union, human resources department, board, or manager to ask if this can be changed. Based on this, the committee built a campaign that aimed to empower benefit plan members to advocate for this change.

The content of the campaign continues to focus on the narrative that coverage for social work services and counselling makes good business sense as it ensures a healthier workforce. Including social work services in benefit plans increases an organization’s capacity to meet the needs of employees and their families; the effort or cost required is usually very low, and the potential rewards are high.

Along with a downloadable form letter, social media messages and digital posters the campaign provides a case for expanding access to social work and states that the impact of mental health on Canadian society is staggering, affecting an estimated one in five Canadians and costing the economy at least $50 billion a year. The amount of time spent in hospital in 2018 for mental health disorders was the equivalent of taking 340 people out of Nova Scotia society, for a full year.

Timely access to needed mental health services is a critical issue facing Nova Scotians.

Numerous barriers to service access include: stigma; poverty; lack of integration between mental health and health services; shortage of mental health professionals; and regional disparities. This affects people’s ability to get support.

Although one in five Nova Scotians will experience a mental health issue, only about 30 per cent seek help. Some people may not know how their mental health is affecting them, and may not know that help is available. Some may not be able to access mental health support because of barriers like cost, language and transportation.

Others don’t seek help because of the stigma attached to mental health. They feel embarrassed or ashamed. They worry that they will be judged and misunderstood. They worry about being discriminated against.

It is important to know that no one is alone, and there are services that can help. And the earlier someone gets help, the less chance there is that the problem will come back or get worse.

More must be done to ensure universal, timely access to mental health services. However, expanding coverage through private insurance plans also contributes to this goal. Service providers, employees, unions, and employers can all work together to ensure that access to mental health services is improved in the short-term, while we continue to advocate for universal coverage.

Including social work in benefit plans increases the number of eligible mental health providers that plan members can access. There are more than 300 Registered Social Workers in private practice in Nova Scotia, and about half of them base their practice outside Halifax. Many of these private practitioners offer skilled professional counselling for personal, family, and work-related issues. These services are GST/HST exempt, and can be claimed as a medical expense.

Expanding provider choice can be especially vital in rural areas where other mental health professionals might not be unavailable, or when seeking a service provider with a specific specialization (e.g. culturallysensitive, 2SLGBTQ-informed, language fluency).

Getting the right care to people where they are and when they need it contributes to the collective wellbeing of entire communities.

As part of this campaign, the NSCSW has been sending core letters of engagement to our labour partners and encouraging them to make this change. At a national level, the Public Service Commission of Canada (the organization that administers benefits for federal employees) has finally added social work to their list of mental health practitioners.

Join in the campaign by visiting: bit.ly/coverNS

The benefit plan campaign is the final project of this committee, at least for now. We look forward to seeing how the work of NSCSW’s new Clinical Committee shapes the future of our College, and our profession.

2020 COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Nelda Armour, Tonya Grant, Jeff Karabanow, Jen Morris (chair), April Munro-Wood, Pam Roberts, Jennifer van Kessell, Annemieke Vink, Alec Stratford (staff), Beth Toomey.