Abstract

Shared mental healthcare, defined as a process of collaboration between psychiatrist and primary care physician, has recently been pushed into the forefront through a position statement by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Canadian Psychiatric Association. However, the question of how to foster and implement such a process has not been addressed. We set out to answer this question.

In an examination of an innovative service delivery program at North York General Hospital (NYGH), in North York Ontario, between psychiatry and primary care, we compared and contrasted our experiences with traditional consultation models. We also performed a review of the literature, broadening our scope to include the areas of anthropology/sociology, relational theory, education and business management.