Mental Health Support at Home

Care by condition

This is not therapy, and we are careful not to describe it as though it were. Treatment for mental illness comes from psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists and community mental health teams. What we provide is the practical support around it — the part that keeps a household running while someone is unwell.

That part is often what is missing. Someone in a depressive episode is not failing to clean the kitchen because they cannot be bothered; they cannot do it. Somebody quietly doing it, without comment, is genuinely useful.

Where practical support helps most

• Routine collapses first. Sleep, meals, washing and leaving the house go before anything else, and each one lost makes the next harder to keep.
• Medication gets missed, often at exactly the point when missing it matters most.
• Isolation deepens the illness, and appointments start being cancelled because leaving the house has become too much.
• The household falls behind — post unopened, food not in the house, laundry piling up — and the state of it becomes another reason to feel ashamed.
• Families carry a great deal and rarely get any relief.

How we help

• Turning up reliably, which for someone whose world has become small is itself the intervention
• Rebuilding routine gently — a regular time, a meal, a walk, getting washed and dressed
• Medication reminders on schedule, and nursing where administration is part of the plan
• Meals prepared and the household kept going, without commentary about how it got that way
• Company for the appointments people would otherwise cancel, including therapy and psychiatry
• Support to get back out — a shop, a coffee, a walk — at a pace that is not overwhelming
• Support for older adults where depression, anxiety and isolation sit alongside physical illness
• Respite for families, who in mental illness are often exhausted and rarely offered anything

Who provides the care

Personal support workers provide this care. We are not a crisis service, we do not provide therapy, and we do not replace a community mental health team. If someone is in crisis, contact 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, which is available across Canada by call or text, or go to an emergency department. We work alongside treatment, not instead of it.

Common questions

Is this counselling?

No, and we would not want it mistaken for it. This is practical daily support. Counselling and psychiatric treatment come from qualified mental health professionals, and if you do not have that in place we will say so rather than filling the gap with something that is not it.

My son will not let anyone in the house.

That is common and it is not a reason to give up. It usually means starting very small — short visits, one task, the same person each time, no pressure — and letting trust build. It is slow, and it works more often than people expect.

Can you make sure she takes her medication?

A carer can remind, prompt and be present. Nobody can force an adult to take medication, and we would not try. What we can do is notice and tell you when doses are being missed, which is information the prescriber needs.

Do you support young people?

Yes, with the family’s involvement and alongside whatever clinical team is already engaged. Practical support for a young person at home is often about routine, meals, and getting to appointments.

What if someone is in crisis?

Our carers follow the plan you have given us and contact you and the appropriate service. For immediate crisis, 9-8-8 is available across Canada by call or text at any hour, and emergency departments remain the right place for anyone at immediate risk.

Where we provide this care

We provide this support across 146 communities in Ontario, from the Greater Toronto Area to Thunder Bay. If your town is not listed, call us — we will tell you honestly whether we can staff it properly rather than promising and then failing to turn up.

Related

• Autism — children and adults
• Cerebral palsy — children and adults
• Down syndrome — all ages
• Home care — what it covers
• Respite care for family carers
• 24-hour home care
• All 146 communities we serve