Psychology month may have wrapped up Saturday, but access to services is a year-round concern to doctors and the people hoping to see them, said the co-president of the Association of Psychology Newfoundland and Labrador.

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“We don’t have enough,” she told The Telegram Tuesday.

“We have 220 divided between health care, education, university and private practice for the whole province. It’s been a longstanding and significant issue for us,” said Hubbard.

According to Eastern Health, the majority of its psychology referrals are made to the Terrace Clinic in St. John’s, which has seven psychologists.

Its most recent data, from Dec. 31, 2014, says the wait time at the clinic for urgent cases is one month, for semi-urgent cases is seven months and for scheduled cases is about 18 months. There were 174 individuals on the wait list at that time.

Eastern Health defines urgent as a severe psychosocial impairment with a disruption in daily living, including suicidal thoughts. It can also include substance abuse in pregnancy or a newly diagnosed eating disorder.

Semi-urgent is considered moderate with fleeting suicidal thoughts or panic attacks, and scheduled is classified as a mild psychosocial impairment with symptoms of depression or anxiety.

Hubbard says the recent national campaign, Mind Your Mental Health, helped bring awareness to the accessibility issue and stressed that everyone has a right to psychological services.

However, if you don’t have enough, she asked, how can people have timely access to the help they need?

The campaign featured celebrities, politicians and everyday people having their photos taken in a T-shirt that said, “Mind Your Mental Health.”

It also includes a link on the website, mymh.ca, where you can email a letter to politicians asking for increased psychological services.

The numbers of photos and letters are still being counted.

“We’ve been advocating for years, but what’s interesting is we now have grassroots support and people are much more open to talking about mental health,” Hubbard said.

“Grassroots support is huge. Meetings being initiated in the community by the community. They’re more effective with the government than we ever could be,” she said.

One of the people behind that community movement is Crista Burnett, who is living with major depressive disorder.

She had been on a waiting list for 17 months before seeing a psychologist.

The wife and mother was Newfoundland and Labrador’s team leader for Healthy Minds’ 2015 Bell Let’s Talk campaign.

She also developed a website called Mental Health Advocates NL to help people who are seeking guidance and resources.

 “Seventeen months is too long to have to wait for help and we need to do better,” she said.

“I know people waiting now and friends of people who have died waiting,” said Burnett.

Burnett said the meeting held Thursday night at the Froude Avenue Community Centre was an opportunity to get together and show support for accessibility.

She said it was also a chance to let people know they can advocate on their own behalf for better services and there is strength in community.

“There’s so much interest in better mental health now than ever before and I wanted to show people we all have a right to services,” Burnett said.

Some mental-health facts

•Depression and anxiety are most likely to be experienced by Canadians.

•According to the World Health Organization, by 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of disability adjusted life years for all ages and both sexes.

•According to the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health, two out of three people with a diagnosed mental disorder do not seek or receive care.

•It is estimated that Canada loses $30 billion annually in direct and lost productivity associated with mental-health problems and addictions.