Message From The CEO

The past year has been a very productive and rewarding one. On August 31, 2007 Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the establishment of the National Mental Health Commission and the Board of Directors in Ottawa at the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership Conference in Ottawa. I had the privilege of being present for this event as a participant of the conference. Finally, mental health is being recognized as a priority. The International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership provides an international infrastructure to identify and exchange information about effective leadership, management and operational practices in the delivery of mental health services. It encourages the development of organizational and management best practice within mental health services through collaborative and innovative arrangements among mental health leaders. Canada joined this organization this year as did the CMHA-WECB. The Branch hosted two international guests from Florida at the Branch prior to moving on to the conference in Ottawa. These relationships have been sustained and we continue to benefit from sharing resources and best practices.

Over the past two years we have had regular meetings with the University of Windsor, School of Social Work to discuss two initiatives proposed by the Branch to strengthen staff expertise and knowledge. The first was the development of the “Fundamentals of Community Mental Health & Addiction Certification Program” which has been created in collaboration with the University, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as well as the Branch. In addition, the University has developed.

We continue to be committed to increasing the public understanding of mental health and mental health problems, and reducing the stigma attached to seeking help for mental health problems. Our “Talk About It Series” speaker was Patty Duke in 2007 who attracted over 1,000 people who were able to benefit from her personal story and experiences. Another major accomplishment this year was the Cogeco TV Series, Mental Health for Life. It was the first time our branch wrote, produced and starred-in its own series focusing on mental health issues. A special thank you to Cogeco for supporting this project.

Integration continues to be a major priority. On the three CMHA Branches in the Erie St. Clair LHIN signed a collaborative agreement, formalizing the work that had already begun in developing opportunities for shared services to promote best practices. Thus far we have an arrangement for sharing human resources, submitted a joint proposal for the Aging at Home Initiative and we are participating as a pilot in the Province’s Common Assessment Protocol Project.

CHC review

In furtherance of the priority to have access to primary care, the Branch participated on the steering committees for the development of Family Health Teams in Leamington and Windsor. We congratulate both teams on their establishment to provide services in their respective communities.

We are committed to diversity of the workforce to reflect the community we serve and to promoting a culturally competent environment. We now have a staff that speak 26 languages. We are also working collaboratively with the University of Windsor, School of Social Work with the benefit of a research grant to develop: staff competencies to create culturally supportive environment and to ensure access and culturally appropriate services to diverse populations. These recommendations should be available in the summer of 2008.

Increased capacity

Information Management continues to be a priority and a challenge. Last summer the software for client data and records was changed for both mental health services and the community health centre. We have high expectations of being able to provide more detailed and reliable information to ensure that we are having positive outcomes and planning appropriate services. It will take a year of data input to have meaningful reports and to ensure that the information is reliable.

As many of us are aware, United Way has implemented a new long term funding strategy based on root cause prevention. We appreciate that public education and coping with unemployment, adult bereavement and Griefworks continue to receive partial funding from the United Way.

The collaboration and integration initiatives have created a new level of governance to governance responsibilities for the Board of Directors with tri county CMHA collaboration, the LHINS and the community health centres program review. This requires considerable time and dedication when provided on a voluntary basis. Special thanks to Patricia McMahon, Chair of the Board whose participation in all of these activities has been most appreciated. As Past Chair, John Clark will be leaving the Board this year and he will be greatly missed. We are grateful to have his continuing involvement with Leadership Council as well as his membership on the Board of CMHA Ontario. John, thank you for your leadership, your mentorship and for being such a remarkable champion for community mental health and addiction services in our community and the province.

These are only a few of the highlights in the past year. We are excited to move forward the mental health and addictions agenda in the next year. We will continue to make information management and our quality programs a high priority to ensure that we are able to build services built on evidence and best practice. I want to recognize all of the staff for the accomplishments we have achieved this year while also continuing to provide quality services. The work involved has been extraordinary with the system changes that are taking place. You are to be commended for your passion and commitment as without these, we would not have made such significant progress.

We are moving toward a more integrated system and embrace the opportunities of working more closely with our partners in the system to create a seamless experience for the consumer that is built on best practice.

Sincerely,