Education & Practice Supports

Help your patients talk about alcohol use with their health care providers

This resource will help your patients to talk about their alcohol use problems with you or other health care professionals. It provides a checklist of items to go through when talking with a health care provider about their problems with alcohol use.

Need to refer your patient to an online recovery support program?

This website offers 24 hour access to patients who need help in recovering from a substance use disorder. The site is completely confidential and provides individuals with positive coping skills and lets them work at their own pace of recovery.

Looking for a low risk alcohol drinking patient handout?

This patient pamphlet offers your patients quick tips on how to limit their alcohol consumption, and describes several alcohol consumption practises that are considered to be lower-risk.

Looking for a brief educational video for your patients on low risk alcohol drinking?

This brief video is intended for patients and summarizes Canada's Low Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines pamphlet. The video describes what a standard drink is, what the guidelines are, and helps patients make more informed decisions around alcohol drinking.

Need to refer your patient to Alcoholics Anonymous to help manage their alcohol use disorder?

Alcoholics Anonymous is a long-standing support resource for people who have problems with their alcohol use. The website offers resources to people who struggle with alcoholism, their family and friends, and even their caregivers.

Need to refer your patient to a SMART recovery program?

SMART Recovery is a global community of people and families working together to resolve addictive problems. The site offers free group discussion meetings, where participants learn from one another using a self-empowering approach based on the most current science of recovery.

Looking for a quality standard on how to identify and manage anxiety disorders?

This quality standard from the National Institue for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) covers identifying and managing anxiety disorders in adults, young people and children in primary, secondary and community care. The standard covers a range of anxiety disorders, and it describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

Looking for guidelines to help you diagnose and treat anxiety in your patients?

These guidelines were developed by Canadian experts in anxiety and related disorders through a consensus process. The guidelines are to assist clinicians with the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety and related disorders by providing practical, evidence-based recommendations.

Need a tool to help you screen for social anxiety disorder in your patients?

The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) is a 17-item questionnaire developed by the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at Duke University. It is effective in screening for, and measuring the severity of social anxiety disorder.

Looking for a tool that assesses General Anxiety Disorder?

The GAD-7 anxiety scale is a brief 7-item questionnaire that rapidly assesses the severity of anxiety based on the frequency of experiencing each item over the past 2 weeks.

Looking for a tool to help you assess if your patient has potential PTSD?

The PCL-5 is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses the 20 DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD. The PCL-5 has a variety of purposes, including: 1) monitoring symptom change during and after treatment, 2) screening individuals for PTSD, 3) making a provisional PTSD diagnosis. This tool can be completed by patients in a waiting room prior to a session or by participants as part of a research study.

Looking for a tool to help you assess if your patient has probable PTSD?

The Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) is a 5-item screen that was designed to identify individuals with probable PTSD in primary care settings. The measure begins with an item which assesses lifetime exposure to traumatic events, and if a respondent indicates that they have had any lifetime exposure to trauma, the respondent is instructed to respond to 5 additional yes/no questions about how that trauma exposure has affected them over the past month.

Looking for guidelines to assist you in assessing and treating patients with eating disorders?

This guideline covers assessment, treatment, monitoring and inpatient care for children, young people and adults with eating disorders. It aims to improve the care people receive by detailing the most effective treatments for anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.

Feeling like the pandemic has you broken?

This brief article provides advice to clinicians on how to approach self-restoration after a sustained pandemic by applying the principles of the Kintsugi Mind: relating, resourcing, repatterning, reprocessing, reflecting, and ritual.

Are your cancer survivor patients feeling worried they will get cancer again?

This questionnaire aims to better understand the experience of worries about cancer recurrence in patients who have been previously diagnosed with cancer. It is a simple 9-question form that asks patients about their thoughts related to cancer recurrence.

Looking for a tool to help you screen your patients for perinatal anxiety?

This tool assesses the degree to which over the previous month, a person has experienced signs of anxiety related to an upcoming or recent birth. The tool contains 31 items, which are rated on frequency of experience over the past month.

Want to provide your patients who have an eating disorder a resource to help them manage?

The National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) provides information, resources, referrals and support to Canadians affected by eating disorders.

Need to refer your patients who have an eating disorder to an online help resource?

Body Brave is an online resource that offers treatment, training and education to people who have eating disorders. The site is available for those aged 17+, is weight inclusive and 2SLGBTQIA+ friendly. Their services are all virtual, and free of charge or are covered by OHIP.

Looking for a resource to support your patients who suffer from anxiety disorders?

Anxiety Canada is a registered charity and non-profit organization that raises awareness about anxiety. The organization provides support to people with anxiety via access to proven resources and treatment. The website offers services and programs such as an app, online courses, and online group therapy.

Need a resource to refer your patients who are experiencing challenges in parenting?

eMental Health has developed this online resource for parents who might benefit from being more mindful in their parenting. The site offers information about mindfulness in parenting, and several resources for help/support.

Looking for information on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

eMental Health has compiled a list of resources for clinicians and their patients in assessing, identifying and managing Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The site contains a primary care guide, screening tools, patient handouts, referal resources, and letters of support among other useful information.

Are you and/or your colleagues struggling with grief?

The Canadian Medical Association posted this article about grief, given that physicians have been losing patients at higher rates than before due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The article discusses this new reality, and offers tips for dealing with your own feelings of grief and for helping colleagues cope with theirs.

Are you and/or your patients struggling with the aftermath of a personal loss?

CAMH has put together a resource for anyone facing grief after a loss, to help them process their feelings. The resource offers a list of support options for individuals, such as counselling, group meetings, bereavement programs, and other types of support.