PRISME: Strengthening expertise and expanding access to mental health care

The Government of New Brunswick and Vitalité Health Network have launched PRISME (Regional Interprofessional Mental Health Education Program), a new initiative aimed at strengthening expertise and expanding access to mental health care.

Developed in partnership with the Université de Moncton and the Université de Sherbrooke, the program will provide family physicians and nurse practitioners with advanced training in mental health and addiction care, leading to university certification. It will also foster closer collaboration among primary health care providers, psychiatrists, university partners, and the research community.

A key component of PRISME will be the creation, in Moncton, of a team of primary health care professionals specializing in mental health, consisting of three nurse practitioners and a family physician who have received extensive training in this field. In collaboration with psychiatrists, this team will care for patients with moderate needs who require short-term stabilization before returning to their primary health care provider.

This approach will allow psychiatrists to focus their expertise more on the most complex cases, while providing patients with faster access to care tailored to their needs.

The Moncton team will also serve as a clinical training site for primary health care providers and trainees from across the province, who will be able to receive mentorship and gain hands-on experience working alongside psychiatric specialists.