Emergencies

Emergency Mental Health cases are seen immediately. If you are facing a crisis, call the Mental Health Crisis Line at 1-888-429-8167, or call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.

Mental Health & Addictions Child and Adolescent Services

Service/Procedure Summary

Wait-times for Community Mental Health and Addictions
The Department of Health and Wellness, Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), and the IWK Health Centre are working together to improve access to mental health and addictions care and support for Nova Scotians. We are committed to having the right services, in the right place, at the right time, and delivered by the right provider for patients.

In 2018-19 we are standardizing the way we collect and report wait-times for Community Mental Health and Addictions clinic appointments. Wait time standards have been chosen and waits will be reported online by triage level.

A person’s triage level is determined by their condition as assessed by clinicians working in intake or referral. In providing care and treatment based on clinical assessment, people triaged as urgent receive care before people triaged as non-urgent.

  • Triage 1: Emergency, no wait--patients immediate access to care through emergency or crisis services
  • Triage 2: Urgent, target is within seven days
  • Triage 3: Non-Urgent, target is within 28 days
see more
Instructions - Instructional text.

Wait Times

Urgent

Facility 90% (Wait 1) 50% (Wait 1) 90% (Wait 2)sort descending 50% (Wait 2)
NSHA Western Zone
6 days
5 days
7 days
4 days
NSHA Eastern Zone
7 days
5 days
7 days
5 days
NSHA Northern Zone
7 days
3 days
8 days
5 days
IWK
6 days
4 days
21 days
7 days

Non-Urgent

Facility 90% (Wait 1) 50% (Wait 1) 90% (Wait 2)sort descending 50% (Wait 2)
Valley Regional clinics
21 days
8 days
17 days
9 days
Yarmouth Regional clinics
14 days
6 days
20 days
14 days
NSHA Clinical Virtual Care Team
50 days
7 days
27 days
13 days
Windsor clinic
31 days
15 days
46 days
31 days
Guysborough Antigonish clinics
35 days
21 days
62 days
33 days
IWK
119 days
59 days
91 days
39 days
South Shore Regional clinics
43 days
25 days
92 days
28 days
Cape Breton Regional Municipality
211 days
176 days
107 days
48 days
Aberdeen Regional clinics
94 days
50 days
113 days
15 days
Cumberland County clinics
26 days
16 days
176 days
8 days
Colchester Regional clinics
41 days
27 days
351 days
189 days
Rural Cape Breton clinics
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Reduce your wait time

Not all wait times are the same, and you may reduce your wait time for health care services. Explore options and talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner.

Talk to your primary care provider

Wait time information can help you and your primary care provider make informed decisions. Find wait times and share the numbers with your healthcare provider.