Accessing timely infant and early childhood mental health care through a regional mental health navigation service

As the field of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) expands, access to timely services remains pivotal to families of young children for positive outcomes to early intervention. In 2019, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) launched an IECMH clinic to provide a specialized service for treating children ages 0 to 6 years with complex emotional and behavioral concerns. Referrals are received through a regional coordinated access and navigation service for mental health, addictions, and substance use health, called 1Call1Click.ca. We aimed to describe the patient characteristics and uptake rates to CHEO’s IECMH clinic from 1Call1Click.ca and to determine whether children with a specialized level of need are referred to the CHEO IECMH clinic compared to community resources.