Provincial Mental Health & Substance Use Network

The Network brings together people with diverse perspectives to find creative solutions to address complex problems.

We created the Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use Network to improve services for people living with complex concurrent mental health and substance use disorders. It aims to improve both accessibility and quality of services. The Network does this by bringing together people with diverse perspectives to find creative solutions to address complex problems and improve health system functioning.

This work aligns with and supports the mandate given to the PHSA by the BC Provincial Ministry of Health. This mandate includes improving access, integration and coordination of mental health and substance use care as well as monitoring and evaluation of services.

The Network’s main functions

Promote continuous evaluation, learning and improvement to enhance service planning and the delivery of services and supports.
Support BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services to deliver on the priorities identified in its mandate letter
Facilitate knowledge translation and exchange by identifying knowledge gaps as well as generating and disseminating accessible, evidence-informed resources that build capacity among health care and service providers.
Foster active participation, connection, and collaboration among diverse stakeholders across sectors, disciplines, regions and perspectives.

Network members

people with lived and living experience (and families)
regional health authorities and the First Nations Health Authority
local First Nations
community not-for-profit agencies
academic institutions
provincial government representatives

Network offerings

Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use ECHO  

Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a virtual learning and mentorship program for service providers working with people with complex mental health, substance use and other needs.

Sessions include short presentations, scenario and case-based learning, and discussion opportunities.

Learn About ECHO

Dialogue + Action sessions

Dialogue + Action (D+A) sessions bring together people to co-develop innovative solutions for system improvements that address region-specific issues. The in-person sessions connect people across the mental health and substance use continuum of care. They are held in each of the geographic health regions across B.C.

Participants include people with lived and living experience, service providers, decision makers, leaders, academics, and others.

Learn About Dialogue + Action

Lived Experience Advisors and Partners (LEAP) team

The Network works with a six-member team of lived experience advisors and partners (LEAP) whose wisdom, expertise and passion guide the Network’s activities.

Their leadership is critical to ensuring that the preferences and perspectives of people with lived and living experience are recognized, prioritized and enacted.

For more information, email us.

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We are grateful to all the First Nations who have cared for and nurtured the lands and waters around us for all time, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), and səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) on whose unceded and ancestral territory our head office is located.

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