Northern BC accounts for 21.4% of total Compass encounters, with Indigenous youth particularly underserved, and the program showed a steady increase in Indigenous-related calls from 18% in 2018 to 41% in 2024, highlighting distinct mental health challenges compared to other regions of the province.
Northern BC accounted for 21.4% of total Compass program encounters over the study period.
Community providers in Northern BC were more likely to request specialized virtual consultations than providers in other regions.
Indigenous youth in Northern BC are particularly underserved, and Northern BC represented 46% of all Indigenous consultations in the Compass program.
Anxiety was the most common presenting concern across all regions served by the Compass program.
The study identified distinct mental health challenges in Northern BC compared to other regions of the province, attributed to unique socioeconomic and geographical factors.
The authors recommend further research to explore the impact of specialized child and youth mental health and substance use provider-to-provider consultations in other similarly underserved areas in Canada.
This research evaluated six years of data from the Compass Program at BC Children's Hospital, a service that allows community healthcare providers to consult with specialists about children's and youth mental health and substance use concerns. The study found that Northern British Columbia — a large, rural, and remote region — accounts for more than one-fifth of all consultations, and that providers there are more likely to seek these specialized consultations than providers elsewhere in the province. Anxiety was the most common concern across all regions, and medication questions were the most frequent reason for calls specifically from Northern BC providers. A particularly notable finding is that Indigenous youth in Northern BC are significantly underserved. Northern BC accounted for 46% of all consultations involving Indigenous clients across the entire program, and 55% of direct consultations in Northern BC involved Indigenous patients. The proportion of Indigenous-related calls from Northern BC grew substantially over the study period, rising from 18% in 2018 to 41% in 2024, suggesting increasing recognition of and engagement with this need. This research suggests that programs like Compass — which connect remote community providers with specialized mental health expertise through virtual consultations — may help address significant gaps in mental health services for rural and Indigenous communities. The authors propose that the Compass model could serve as an example for other underserved regions across Canada, and call for further research into the effectiveness of similar provider-to-provider consultation approaches in comparable settings.
Tsang V, Kim A, Wu T, Hill L, Burkey M, Crawford M, et al.. (2026). British Columbia Children's Hospital Compass Program: Extending mental health supports for rural Northern communities.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0340735