Simplifying How People Connect to Mental Health and Addictions Care | The Clinical Compass

People looking for mental health or addictions services in Ontario often don’t know where to start. They may navigate multiple programs, complete several intake processes and repeat their story several times before accessing the support they need.

For Nala Sriharan, Provincial Clinical Lead for Central Intake for Mental Health and Addictions at Ontario Health's Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, improving access is both a professional focus and a long-standing commitment.

A Career Focused on Access to Care

Sriharan brings more than 25 years of experience as a nurse and health system leader to her role as a provincial clinical lead. For more than 15 years, she has focused on coordinated access and centralized intake models. Her work has spanned areas like diabetes, orthopedics, and mental health and addictions, with a consistent focus on simplifying how people connect to care. Alongside her provincial clinical leadership role at Ontario Health, she currently serves as Director of Coordinated Access at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), contributing operational expertise to system-level design.

When the opportunity arose to support provincial Central Intake work, it was a natural fit. "I was excited to take the work we had done locally and regionally and help shape a provincial approach," she says. "Access to care has always been a deep passion."

This work aligns with Ontario Health’s commitment to improving access and modernizing referrals through Central Intake, part of the Patients Before Paperwork initiative. Central Intake for Mental Health and Addictions is advanced through the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, which is improving access, coordination and quality across Ontario’s mental health and addictions system.

Bridging Care and System Design

Clinical leaders play a key role in connecting front-line care with system planning and strategy, which includes ensuring intake processes support safe, timely and appropriate connections to care. For Sriharan, this connection is essential. "Clinical leadership helps bridge the gap between strategy and implementation," she says. "It ensures the systems we design reflect the realities of care practices and client and family experiences."

In her role, she works with provincial partners, including community providers, primary care and people with lived/living experience to help build a more connected mental health and addictions system, with the goal of simplifying how people move through care – not add another pathway.

A More Connected Front Door to Care

Central Intake for Mental Health and Addictions provides a coordinated entry point to publicly funded services. It helps individuals, families and providers connect more quickly to the right care for them.

"If we can help people access care earlier, we can change the trajectory of illness and improve outcomes," says Sriharan. The work supports the province’s Roadmap to Wellness and broader efforts to improve access and coordination across the system.

Advancing Equity and Cultural Safety

Central Intake supports more equitable access by reducing navigation barriers and strengthening connections to culturally specific and community-led services.

With Central Intake, people can access publicly funded mental health and addictions services through a single, regional entry point. A standardized intake process helps assess their needs and connect them to appropriate services more quickly, while supporting culturally safe pathways by linking people with programs that reflect their values, identities and preferences.

Using Data to Close Gaps in Care

Over time, Central Intake will help strengthen the system’s understanding of service demand and access patterns across Ontario by providing more consistent information about who is accessing care. These insights can help identify emerging gaps, including the kinds of services individuals need, as well as unmet needs related to languages or cultural supports.

"The data is critical for understanding where the system is working – and where it isn't,” Sriharan says. These insights also help guide outreach, improve communication and support service planning that better meets community needs.

A Connected Future for Mental Health and Addictions Care

For Sriharan, success means creating a consistent experience for people accessing care across Ontario through connected Central Intake hubs. "The ideal future is one where people don’t have to navigate multiple systems to find help," she says. "The system should do that work for them."

She believes the current moment presents a unique opportunity, with a growing investment in access, technology and system coordination, making access to care a shared priority across the health system.

For someone who has spent a career focused on improving access to care, helping shape this transformation at a provincial level is both exciting and deeply meaningful.

"It's a privilege to contribute to building a connected, high-quality mental health and addictions system for Ontarians," Sriharan says.

Learn about Ontario Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, where Sriharan’s clinical leadership is helping inform how we deliver services and supports across the province.