Episode 12: Bridge the gapp (NL)
June 9, 2021 – Learn how Newfoundland and Labrador’s award-winning Bridge the gapp initiative is providing helpful online resources and local connections to those looking for guidance and support related to mental wellness and substance use.
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Resources
- Bridge the Gapp – visit bridgethegapp.ca
Loretta O’Connor: Hello, and welcome to the Promising Practices podcast, an initiative of Canadian Premiers to highlight innovation and share mental health and addiction best practices from each province and territory. My name is Loretta O’Connor. I am Executive Director of the Council of the Federation Secretariat, an organization that supports the work of Canada’s Premiers.
This is the twelfth of a 13-episode series, and today’s podcast brings us to the most easterly point in North America, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, a province known for both its colourful houses and its colourful people and culture. Newfoundland and Labrador is a geographically vast province, spanning over 405,000 square kilometres. It has a population of approximately 525,000, half of which are located in the capital city, St. John’s, and the remainder spread throughout over 600 mostly rural communities.
Newfoundland and Labrador has a long history of leading telecommunication with the very first transatlantic wireless transmission by Guglielmo Marconi received in St. John’s in 1901. For a province so vast in size, telecommunication plays an important role in all areas of life, but particularly, in the delivery of health services.
Our podcast today will feature Bridge the gapp, an innovative e-mental health solution developed by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to help, well, bridge the gap between timely access to mental health services for people within the comfort of their own home. Today, we will hear from a number of experts involved in the development of Bridge the gapp, as well as Dr. Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and Dr. John Haggie, Provincial Minister of Health and Community Services.
First up, we have Paula Corcoran, Chair of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Provincial Recovery Council. Welcome Paula.
Paula Corcoran: Thanks, Loretta. Hi, everyone. I'm Paula Corcoran. I'm a mother. I'm a businessperson. I'm an artist. I'm a mental health advocate. And I identify as someone with a mental illness who lives in recovery. I'm also coming today as chairperson of the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Recovery Council, a council comprised of individuals with diverse backgrounds, diverse knowledge and diverse recovery experiences. All of us with the common goal of supporting others in their recovery journey. I'm very pleased to participate in today's podcast and to showcase our Bridge the gapp, our e-mental health solution that has truly changed the way many mental health and addictions programs are delivered in our province with just the click of a button.
If you wonder what is Bridge the gapp, it's a program that was launched in January of 2015. It’s a trusted resource for information and support for and co-designed by individuals living with mental health and substance use disorders. It's our go-to source for curated content to support mental health and wellness, to be connected to local programs and services, or to connect peers and individuals and clinicians in our community. It also contains a suite of virtual care options, from self-care, self-management services, to online counselling and crisis intervention. It is simple to use, confidential and free. I personally use it regularly and it really works for me. If you're interested in the program, you can access it and see if it works for you too at bridgethegapp.ca. That's “gapp” with a double “p”.
I would like to now take a moment to introduce my friend, Byron. Byron Boyd is a provincial E-mental Health Manager of Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, who is going to take some time to guide us through some of the key features of Bridge the gapp. Welcome, Byron, and thanks for joining us today.
Byron Boyd: Thank you, Paula. I too am pleased to participate in today's podcast and to walk you through Bridge the gapp. Bridge the gapp is available in two streams, one for adult and one for youth. While both sites are alike, in that they have access to the service directory, contain mental health information, a place for individuals to share their recovery journey and experiences, and the listing of online programs available to the public, they do each have a different look and feel. You'll notice that some content on the youth site was written specifically for that age group.
Let's quickly talk about each main section of the site, the headings of which are all displayed across the top of the main page. From left to right, you'll notice that first we have the service directory, which contains information regarding mental health and addiction services available in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is divided by region, so an individual can simply click on the region in which they live and find a listing of services relevant for that area. The directory also contains tags, so individuals can pick a topic and all services pertaining to that topic will display.
Next, we have the Knowledge Center, which provides content on various mental health and wellness topics, as well as information regarding substance use issues. Within each section, you will find general information on a topic, a video or two, and various links and articles related to the topic. Then we have the Get Inspired section, which provides an opportunity for individuals to share a piece of their own recovery journey, where they're sharing a little of their story, suggesting a good book, offering a coping tip, or one of the other options in the section: individuals can share about their struggles, what worked for them, and offer encouragement to others. This is a moderated section of the website. So, posts are not instantly shared to the site. Rather, someone with lived experience reviews them first to ensure that they do not contain personally identifying information and are appropriate for public posting.
Next, we have the Online Program section, which has as Newfoundland and Labrador’s full suite of evidence-based e-mental health programs and services. This includes a wide array of offerings from specific programs for anxiety or parenting, to general self-help tools. Whether seeking treatment for mental illness or substance use or to simply boost your mental health, there's definitely something here for everyone. These services are funded by provincial government, and have been contracted for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Many of them are available 24/7, and they are all confidential and free. And last but not least, we have the Toolbox. This is where users will find all the extras that they might find useful for themselves, such as app suggestions, games and physical activities among others.
Paula Corcoran: Thank you Byron for that descriptive account of Bridge the gapp. If you think this sounds good, then I would encourage you again to visit bridgethegapp.ca, again “gapp” with the double “p”, to see for yourself how innovative and easy this program is to navigate. As a dedicated mental health advocate and partner in the transformation of our provincial mental health and addictions system, the success of Bridge the gapp has truly been awe inspiring as well as hope inspiring. To speak more a little about the provincial system’s transformation that is currently underway, and to look at some of our overall successes to date, Next up, I am pleased to introduce Dr. Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. Welcome, Premier Furey.
Premier Andrew Furey: Thank you, Paula. It’s a pleasure to join you today. Through Towards Recovery: The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador, our government is committed to transforming our provincial mental health and addictions system to one that is proactive, person-centered and recovery-focused, and Bridge the gapp is a shining example of how we are doing just that.
This work would not be possible without the ongoing engagement and input from people with lived experience, who have been invaluable in the design, implementation, and evaluation of all Towards Recovery initiatives to date. We share with them in our success. While we know there is still much work to be done, some of our achievements to date include:
- A 51% reduction in the number of people waiting for mental health and addictions counselling services in our province since 2017;
- Implementation of a provincial stepped-care model, which offers a range of services, integrated within primary health care, acute and community-based settings, aimed at matching individuals with the right care, at the right time by stepping up or down in service intensity, based on the level of service required;
- Doorways walk-in mental health and addictions counselling services in over 60 locations throughout the province, each offering same or next day appointments;
- Implementation of flexible assertive community treatment teams, mobile crisis response teams, and opioid dependence treatment hubs across the province; and
- Of course, our full suite of e-mental health programs and services that are confidential and free, available to residents of all ages, online at www.bridgethegapp.ca.
I think it would be fair to say the tide is changing on mental health and addictions with less stigma associated with getting help and more services available, and Newfoundland and Labrador is pleased to be a part of that movement.
Paula Corcoran: Thank you Premier. I too am so very proud to be a part of that change. Up next, we have Dr. John Haggie, who is the provincial Minister of Health and Community Services here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Welcome, Minister Haggie.
Minister John Haggie: Thanks, Paula. It's great to have this opportunity to showcase my department's digital approach to mental health services today. Bridge the gapp was developed initially by one of our Regional Health Authorities, for youth, but it was quickly redesigned to be for all ages, and to offer connection to supports and services province-wide.
Bridge the gapp and its full suite of e-mental health programs and services has been really important during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of virtual services has soared. This is understandable, given the uncertainty of the virus and the need to remain at home. During the year, Bridge the gapp had over 103,000 visitors. This is likely as a result of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and a broad public promotion of Bridge the gapp. Referrals for mental health and addiction services have increased by 32% since March of 2017, yet wait times continue to be reduced, with many locations reporting no wait time.
E-mental health services, like those offered through Bridge the gapp, are helping to respond to the increase in need, at the same time as reducing wait times. They help people receive care in the comfort of their own home. We have had regular discussion and a solid partnership, with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and with Health TRx, as well as partners in New Zealand. What started out there, as exploratory discussions, has developed into an internationally recognized e-mental health resource. Their guidance has aided the department and we're really very grateful for their input.
Paula Corcoran: As you can tell, Bridge the gapp is certainly special to us here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and to me personally, as someone who uses that application day after day. However, we're not the only ones who think so. Our province’s e-mental health journey started over a decade ago with forward-thinking change agents locally, nationally and internationally, who set the path for success. Up next we have Niki Legge, provincial Director of Mental Health and Addictions. Welcome, Nikki.
Niki Legge: Thank you, Paula. As a social worker with a keen interest in technology, e-mental health is very near and dear to me, and I'm thrilled to be here today to share some of the history and successes we've seen to date with Bridge the gapp. Our e-mental health journey first began in 2010, at a time when comfort level in receiving virtual mental health services was quite low, and concerns about privacy and protection of health information were quite high.
But the idea of building an e-mental health platform that we knew would help improve access to mental health and addiction services, as well as improve health outcomes, was also pretty exciting. We understood the challenges people often encountered when trying to navigate the mental health and addiction system, and we didn't want to further complicate the issue or add any confusion by simply creating more online services. Instead, our aim was really to integrate these e-mental health options within the overall health system. And, over time, we were able to address the initial concerns and build a suite of e-mental health tools and services, ranging from self-help, self-management to online counselling and crisis intervention.
That is when Bridge the gapp really came into its own; all of a sudden, it shifted from just a typical website with self-help information, to being the go-to website for all of our e-mental health services. This has not only made it easier to navigate, but also promote as well. Bridge the gapp is now a key component in our step-care model, that Premier Furey referenced previously. This model provides the public with three key access points into the mental health and addiction system: by phone, in person, or online. And as you can probably guess, Bridge the gapp is our online access point.
The importance of this access point was abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, as we continue to see record numbers of visitors to Bridge the gapp, and all of our virtual care options during this incredibly challenging time. Bridge the gapp continues to be an invaluable resource that people have really come to depend on. I'm incredibly proud of the advancements our province has made in the field of e-mental health. We started small, we took risks, showed success, and then scaled this growth. The very foundation of Bridge the gapp is based on strong partnerships, co-design with lived experience, and shared ownership. It's not just a resource for people struggling, it's a resource for us all.
Paula Corcoran: Thank you Niki, your leadership on this project and your pride in the success of Bridge the gapp is so evident here. Next up, we have Newfoundland and Labrador’s own Louise Bradley, former CEO of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and long-standing partner with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Welcome Louise.
Louise Bradley: I'm absolutely delighted to be talking about Bridge the gapp today, I actually have a history with Bridge the gapp that goes way, way back. This was about over 10 years ago, and I was with the Mental Health Commission of Canada at the time, and we were talking to the Newfoundland government about e-mental health. And guess what: they were really interested and decided that they were going to get on board with something in e-mental health, and they worked so hard. And this was done in collaboration with a colleague in New Zealand, because New Zealand then, as it is now, was way ahead of Canada in this area, although we're starting to sneak up gradually, thanks to the work and the expertise of what's happening in Newfoundland and Labrador.
So, in partnership with New Zealand, Newfoundland showed great leadership and success in e-mental health, and hence Bridge the gapp was born. So, what makes Bridge the gapp so special? Well, it serves people right across the board, from youth to adults. It really does help with the accessibility issue, which has been a stubborn problem within mental health right across this country, not just in Newfoundland and Labrador. So, it allows people to get access when and where they need it. It deals with promotion and prevention, which many services that are excellent, do not deal with. And so this does it in spades, and it offers a wide range of services and topics, ranging from anything from anxiety to relationships.
So, Bridge the gapp is now expanding outside of Newfoundland and Labrador. So, not only is this a program that everybody in Newfoundland should be familiar with, it's also something for which you can be very proud, because it's now spreading across this entire country. So, congratulations to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador for great work, and I'm really excited and very proud myself. Thank you very much.
Paula Corcoran: Thank you, Louise for sharing your perspective on Newfoundland and Labrador’s journey in the development of Bridge the gapp and for sharing in our successes. Our story would not be complete without hearing from our mentors and change agents in New Zealand, who have helped us embark on this work at the very beginning, and are a credit to our success. We are very fortunate to have Anil Thapliyal, Executive Director of E-Mental Health International Collaborative with us today. Anil is going to talk with Niki about the early days of e-mental health in Newfoundland and Labrador. Welcome Anil and Niki!
Niki Legge: Welcome, Anil. It's so nice to have you join with us. We were both there when Newfoundland and Labrador’s e-mental health journey first began. Why don't you share with us some insights into those early days?
Anil Thapliyal: Thank you for this opportunity, Niki, first of all. My journey with Newfoundland, I don't talk about it as if it's something in somewhere outside New Zealand and Canada, but it is something which I have a strong affinity for. And part of the reason is, early days, when we were asked to advise as to how innovation could be looked at to reach out to the remote and rural communities living up the coast in Newfoundland and Labrador. And I just thought that was an amazing way to just have an open-ended question, and explore what are the innovative ways and means by which, instead of opening a clinic for each small community, are there any innovative ways, and I thought that was an amazing leadership. And that open-ended question led to a range of consultations and advisory, which delivered in what I regard as Newfoundland leading the e-mental health across Canada.
Niki Legge: Thanks, Anil. We have seen such tremendous growth since those early conversations. As our partners, but also as someone looking outside in, who works with so many other countries in this domain, what do you think has worked really well for Newfoundland and Labrador?
Anil Thapliyal: I think what has worked really well is the initial starting point was not about technology, it was not about innovation, it is about looking at how do we get it right by design, as opposed to just throwing a few bits and pieces all over the province and hope it's gonna stick. So, getting it right by design meant that all the stakeholders, whether be the clinical reference groups, whether it be a university, whether it be the people with the lived experience, the service providers, and including the hospitals across the province, I think everyone was just so involved in that design, understanding what it is, and just pulling together the collective, having some sort of understanding of what a province was about to embark on. So, I think getting that design element was very pivotal in its success, and I do not see that happening that often across the world. People just end up doing bits and pieces, but there is no stickability: they do not stick around those programs long term, and I'm just such a big fan of what Newfoundland and Labrador have been able to accomplish, and just in such a short space of time.
Niki Legge: Anil, Newfoundland and Labrador is a small province and we really rely on partnerships for sharing success. In the early days, we had you and we had your team to rely on for best practices. But now we have a whole collaboration of partners to learn from, and share, through our partnership with e-MHIC. I'm wondering if you could share a little bit what e-MHIC is, and its value.
Anil Thapliyal: So, E-Mental Health International Collaborative is an international collaborative, supported by a number of countries, all the way from Europe, North America, Australasia, and now extending all the way to Asia and also the Middle East. So, there are a lot of countries who have done discrete pieces of work like, for example, if we take Australia, they had developed e-mental health standards. Some countries have taken a really deep dive into what is accreditation of this e-mental health tools looks like, some countries have looked at what does best practice in activation of these tools and services looks like. There are some countries which have taken a lead into looking at what is the ethics and law in e-mental health: the privacy, confidentiality of all those, you know, quite subject matters with huge gravitas, but a lot of deep knowledge.
Now, the question begs is: do we need to reinvent it all over again for our respective countries and provinces? So, this collaborative is about how collectively, as a global community working in this domain, e-MHIC’s role is to support quality and improvement, collaborate internationally, promote self-help, advance the state of the art, foster innovation, raise awareness, but more importantly, build high-trust networking with your peers across other countries, with other countries. So, for example, if you're looking at the Australian e-mental health standards, there is no need for Newfoundland and Labrador to develop their own standards, when we can just collaborate with the Australian government, and adapt them for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Niki Legge: And now Anil is there anything else you'd like to share as we continue to grow, Bridge the gapp and share it with other provinces and territories?
Anil Thapliyal: I'm just a big, big, big fan of where the leadership comes from. And so, when I've been looking at how, and which countries, and which provinces, and which states where e-mental health initiatives that really succeeded. Are the provinces where there was a strong board leadership? A willingness to just do it, against all the odds? And surprisingly, money was not the driver. But when you do the right thing for the right reasons, somehow the appropriation of the right resources were made available at the right time. So, I think it was more to do with the leadership. So, I commend the leadership. And for that, the international community awarded the Newfoundland Department of Health and Community Services for the Implementation Award in 2020. So, that speaks for itself.
In terms of its success, why it has worked in Newfoundland, my opinion is, and this I'm speaking from very informed knowledge, because this has never been about technology. This is not about innovation, that let's throw some cheap gadgets and some evidence-based solutions, and let the people traverse through the journey on their own. I think what you have got right, is a central go-to place, we are talking about Bridge the gap. So, because otherwise, there's so much innovation happening on a monthly basis across the province, for any citizen to keep tabs on what is happening, what is relevant for them, it's nearly impossible.
So, you have made a platform available for the citizens of your province, that is one trusted place for all of them to go to and rely on the information that is there and access it. Because when we look at it in terms of communication, the communication has changed forever. We know that. Even the recent survey, which talks about the communication, how we are using our smartphones—this is all OECD countries we are talking about—so, making a phone from our smartphone is number 11 activity, it did not even make it to top 10 activities. So, what we're talking about – texting is number one. So, if you're talking about e-mental health solutions, if they are not delivered in that order of how people are communicating, we're not going to engage with those people in need.
So, I think that part, you have got it really well. And what has worked so well on the ground, to be honest, I think it is something which I'm not aware of any other country or any other province in the world has implemented that, and that is your regional e-mental health managers. So, we often throw in innovation, but we do not create any workforce development mechanisms for people to understand where these initiatives: how do they fit into the patient journey and the patient pathways. So, what you have is four regional e-mental health managers. What is it they do? What is in the KPIs and JD? And I think you've done it by design, this is what I say. But what is it these people do? They're talking to the variety of not just primary care clinics, not community sort of outposts – we're talking about the hospitals – but also the NGOs and all people who are likely to service the community, who can benefit from this e-mental health solution. So, I commend what the Department of Health and Community Services has done, and e-MHIC is proud to have been associated, and we regard you as exemplifying the best practice in the mental health domain.
Paula Corcoran: Thank you Anil and Niki. Our province has been very fortunate to work with our partners in New Zealand, and the evolution of Bridge the gapp is due in large part to that collective knowledge and experience in developing e-mental health solutions. Next up, I would like to welcome back Byron, who is joined by Agnes Ballantyne, Senior Director of Canada Health Infoway, to speak with us today about the Access Atlantic Project and the expansion of Bridge the gapp to other Canadian provinces and territories. Welcome to you both.
Byron Boyd: Thank you, Paula. And thank you Agnes for joining us today as well.
Agnes Ballantyne: Thank you, Byron. It's really great to be here.
Byron Boyd: Agnes, perhaps you can begin by providing a brief overview of how the Access Atlantic project came about.
Agnes Ballantyne: Sure. Thank you, Byron. At Canada Health Infoway, we work to increase citizens’ access to quality health care. There's also a really great history of collaboration in Atlantic Canada. We worked with the provinces and identified some priority areas we should be collaborating on, and mental health was right at the top of the list. Then, we saw all the great work going on in Newfoundland and Labrador with Bridge the gapp, and we wanted to see if there was a way we could extend that to the other provinces and territories. Canada Health Infoway was very pleased to fund the Atlantic provinces to help to extend the Bridge the gapp access.
Byron Boyd: Thank you, Agnes. It has been great working with Canada Health Infoway and the other Atlantic provinces over the last year or so to make this happen. For those listening, if you go to Bridge the gapp—that’s Bridge the gapp with two “p’s”—.ca, you will find a bilingual national landing page, that allows you to enter a website for either of the Atlantic provinces, including New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, as well as access to Nova Scotia’s mental health site, which we helped support the development of.
Agnes Ballantyne: It's really exciting to have this resource available to all individuals in the Atlantic. It's really a place where people can go to find mental health and addiction resources in their community with just the click of a button. It goes a long way to making it easier for people to navigate and access mental health care when needed.
Byron Boyd: Absolutely. As New Brunswick has a large French-speaking population, we were also pleased to work with our partners there to create a bilingual version of the site to allow their residents access to services that they need in their first language.
Agnes Ballantyne: And it's really also great to be able to expand access to an evidence-based resource like Bridge the gapp and allow others to reap its benefits, as we've seen happen in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Byron Boyd: Agreed Agnes. We look forward to the potential of working with other provinces and territories to further expand Bridge the gapp in the future. Thank you again for joining us today and for the incredible support Canada Health Infoway has provided the Atlantic provinces in the delivery of e-mental health services for our residents.
Agnes Ballantyne: Thank you for the invitation to participate Byron. It was great to be here, and we really look forward to our continued partnership.
Paula Corcoran: Thank you Byron and Agnes. It's great to hear about the successful partnership between Atlantic provinces and Canada Health Infoway, and is yet another shining example of how shared goals and ownership has formed the very basis of Bridge the gapp. Next, we have an individual with lived experience who wishes to maintain her anonymity. We're looking forward to hearing her perspectives.
Lived Voice: Hi there, I'm an Indigenous person from Labrador. I certainly appreciate the Bridge the gapp online mental health services for helping me with some of my mental health struggles. I have learned that creating and reaching small goals may not seem like a big difference in the short term, but in the long term creates positive future changes. I've been practicing mindfulness and living in the present moment, practicing gratefulness and appreciation for life and the life of my family and friends. When I get up in the morning, I'm grateful for my eyes that see, and the water that I use to shower.
I've been working through some of the exercises on the site that I know in the long term will help me manage some of my issues, and help me cope. I've also used meditation, to restore some of my confidence and self-worth. I still have moments where I don't do so good, but I don't dwell on those and focus on a better day tomorrow. My hope for the future is that, although the stigma is changing around mental illness, there's still more to be done: let's keep doing. Just want to help people, I don't want people to feel like I did, hopeless and alone. Please reach out to family and friends and health care providers. Reaching out is probably the best thing I ever did.
Paula Corcoran: For the next segment, I'm happy and honoured to share my own personal experience with Bridge the gapp. My experience is two-fold with this; I have both a professional and personal relationship with Bridge the gapp.
Personally, I was quite excited when I was introduced to Bridge the gapp in 2015. I had been diagnosed for about 15 or so years when I met Bridge the gapp, and had been really struggling with accessing services. Growing up in small-town Newfoundland and Labrador, certainly access to mental health and addiction services was not common; what was common was stigma. We certainly could not talk about mental health, we could certainly not acknowledge we struggled with mental health, and we certainly did not have ways to manage our mental health. Bridge the gapp changed that; it changed it for me and many of the people that I interacted with.
All of a sudden, just with the click of a button, I could access services, I could access programs, I could read information that came from the lens of somebody who really understood where I was coming from. I also had the option to share my stories, to share my artwork, to share my resources, to tell somebody across the province how I was managing my mental health, and help them manage their mental health.
Personally, I use Bridge the gapp, usually three times a week. It sometimes varies. I can be struggling really hard and really, absolutely need some of those emergency services. Other days, I'm having a good day, I just need a little bit of reinforcement. One of my favorite functions of Bridge the gapp is the mood meter: simply popping onto the mood meter, identifying the emotion that I'm experiencing in the moment, will give me a list of tools that I know work. I've used them before; others like me have used them before. And it's just a friendly reminder to remind me that I have the tools that I need.
Professionally, Bridge the gapp also has impacted my life. In 2015, our government approached our lived experience organization seeking support on their work on this new mental health initiative. Our government at that time knew the importance of engagement, and not just tokenism, but true engagement. Our organization and myself personally have been involved with the creation, the design, the content curation, as well as the moderation and delivery of this program.
Before we clue up today, we are pleased to be joined by the Stella’s Circle Inclusion Choir, who will share with us their heartwarming and inspiring song: Be the Change. This song is a poignant reminder of the significant impact that inclusion can have on members of our communities. The Stella’s Circle Inclusion Choir includes participants of the organization Stella's Circle, based in St. John's, Newfoundland, as well as its staff and volunteers. Participants of the program face many barriers from fully participating in their community, including mental health issues, addictions, criminal justice involvement, homelessness and poverty. Funding for this project was received from the Government of Canada, the Canada 150 Fund.
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Paula Corcoran: Thank you to each of our participants for joining us today, for your various perspectives and experiences, and for sharing in the success of Bridge the gapp. It is through these collaborative initiatives that we have been able to achieve our end goal: that is, to provide people with easy access to quality, evidence-based e-mental health and addictions programs and services, when and where needed. It's exciting to see how far we have come, but also how far we will go, and I for one am looking forward to seeing future expansions of Bridge the gapp to our provinces and territories. I now turn it back over to you, Loretta.
Loretta O’Connor: Thank you, Paula, and I too would like to thank all participants in today’s podcast. With the commitment and dedication that I have heard today around this virtual table, the success of Bridge the gapp certainly comes as no surprise.
Moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific, please join us again next week for the final episode in the Promising Practices podcast when we head to British Columbia to learn more about designing and delivering effective mental health and addictions online services. Thank you for listening!