What is ChYMH and why does it matter?
Mental health and wellness care works best when it starts early. Studies show that an estimated 70% of adult mental health problems begin during childhood. Despite this, there has been a persistent gap when it comes to a comprehensive mental health assessment for children and infants. The Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment (ChYMH) solves this important need by providing a coordinated and consistent approach to assessing the mental health of children aged 4 through 18.
Developed through the cooperation of interRAI, a collective of clinical experts from over 30 countries, the ChYMH assessment meets an important mental health need by providing an easy, consistent way to record and catalog a young client’s mental health and wellness.
ChYMH was created by interRAI to support comprehensive mental health care planning starting at an early age. It measures outcome quality through a standardized assessment that forms a solid foundation for a lifetime of care. The ChYMH uses specific periods of observation to create a reliable and well-regulated record of clinical characteristics.
This makes ChYMH ideal for meeting the reporting standards set forth by the Ontario Ministry of Health. It should come as no surprise that ChYMH has quickly become the preferred assessment for serving the mental health and wellness needs of Canada’s youth population.
ChYMH is a standardized assessment, so there is no need for specialized training for mental health professionals to use it. This helps to mitigate common difficulties with Brief Intervention (BI) intake, such as missing consent or missing needs assessments. Because measurements are taken at both BI intake and BI outcome, it is easy to create a detailed record of patient progress throughout the full lifecycle of their care.
These features make ChYMH ideal for taking in new clients or managing clients with an active program history. For more information, refer to this in-depth guide to ChYMH reporting standards.
Finding the Right Software for ChYMH BI
Despite the standardization of ChYMH BI, it does not necessarily integrate with all mental health software solutions. Therefore, it’s critical to choose a software solution that works directly with your ChYMH assessment tools—for example, maintaining compliance with all Chapter 7 reporting requirements and meeting the data security standards mandated by interRAI. EMHware is one such solution, with many of the features you should look for in mental health software.
That includes easy appointment scheduling, intuitive reporting, and a referral management system to streamline your referral process. This improves your operational efficiency, as you can work directly with data from the ChYMH Assessment to quickly generate valuable reports.
If you’re ready to see how EMHware can make it easier to work with ChYMH BI and reporting—as well as other mental health and wellness standards for both children and adults—set up time to talk with one of our experts!