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2023 CMHO

Virtual Conference

Jan 30 – Feb 10th

Connecting the Dots: Learning and Reflecting Together

In the face of unique challenges and pressures experienced by our mental health system over the last year, our leaders and communities have adapted, pivoted and responded to meet the needs of children, young people and families. While innovation has surfaced in many unique ways, there is still a need to learn and reflect about existing gaps and challenges as we continue towards our vision that all children and young people get the treatment they need within a high performing system. In this year’s conference, we take a moment to reflect and connect the dots by exploring and unpacking a number of leading system and sector topics.

Session Information

All of the recordings we are able to share are linked below.
If you do not see a particular session below, it is because it is not available.

Connecting the Dots Between the Infant & Early Years to the Middle Years: Supporting the best mental health for children under 12

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Building on the themes and lessons of our 2020 and 2021 “It Takes a Village” conference sessions, Dr. Chaya Kulkarni and Dr. Purnima Sundar will explore connections and opportunities for promoting and advancing mental well-being from the infant and early years to the middle years. The session will highlight leading research and evidence, durrent work and best practice and the role of collaboration, relationship building and innovation to support the best mental health and well being for children under 12.

We’re all going through the same thing! Identifying and exploring leadership trends across the CYMH System.

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During the summer of 2022, MacPhie conducted a leadership and management training program that was open to individual managers and future managers from all CMHO agencies. We developed and designed this 6-month program based on the needs and current challenges of leaders within the children’smental health sector. In this program, managers had the opportunity to engage in inter-agency collaboration, share experiences, and learn best practices from one another. This 60-minute session will be based on the overall key themes and learnings that consistently emerged from our discussions across all participants and their respective organizations.

Improve, evolve and adapt as we go: how our Quality Improvement work helps us grow during a time of constant change – a quality journey from Open Doors for Lanark Children and Youth.

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Quest, the Knowledge Institute’s Quality Improvement (QI) Program, is designed to support child and youth mental health and addictions organizations tackle issues that impact the quality of services for children, young people and families in Ontario, and to build capacity around QI culture. In this session, we will illustrate our Quest journey by sharing examples of how two cohorts progressed through their improvement initiatives, including QI strategies and activities they implemented to adapt, pivot and grow their resilience in a time of constant change. More specifically, an agency leader from Open Doors for Lanark Children and Youth will share how their QI initiatives support the agency’s growth into a robust learning community.

The EDI Journey: Lessons and Reflections on EDI work in the Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health Sector and Beyond

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As organizations look inward and consider their commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion, there is a recognition that the child and youth mental health sector is at different points in their health equity journey. Leaders from the CYMH sector, will be joined by the Alliance for Healthier Communities, to reflect on their EDI efforts while providing an overview of their work so far. Prioritizing EDI work is rooted in a collective effort to create a mental health system that is equitable and responsive to mental health needs across Ontario. This session provides an opportunity to share learnings with a focus at the system, regional and organizational level.

Transforming how Kids and Families Connect to Services in Toronto: Implementing the Help Ahead central point of intake, overview, benefits and challenges

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Implementing the Help Ahead central point of intake for infant, child and youth mental health (ICYMH) services has numerous benefits for clients and the system, including improving access, client experience, equity, and managing demand. Implementing central intake in the Toronto-region is a transformative initiative that will impact 23 ICYMH services providers and requires significant change management to ensure a smooth transition. Join Capitalize for Kids (C4K) for a brief presentation of the Help Ahead program and an engaging panel focusing on the challenges and opportunities around central intake. C4K is a not-for-profit company that provides operational management consulting support for the child and youth mental health sector and is partnering with Strides Toronto and Toronto-region core service providers to implement the Help Ahead central point of intake. In this session, C4K will provide a brief overview to the organization’s consulting model and current and future projects, before a focused session with Strides Toronto and other Toronto-region agencies to discuss the implementation of the Help Ahead central point of intake, change management challenges, and how the Toronto-region is overcoming these challenges.

Youth Led Advocacy with the YAC

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Join The New Mentality and Children’s Mental Health Ontario’s Youth Action Committee (YAC) discuss next steps from their 2021 released policy paper, “Adjusting the Spotlight: Re-centering Neglected BlPOC Youth Voices Surrounding Mental Health.” This 60-minute session led by youth advocates on the YAC will be an opportunity to hear about The New Mentality’s ongoing commitment to embedding racial equity in all their practices. Youth will also share their lived experiences and share their perspective on what is needed to include meaningful and impactful DEI initiatives within the child and youth mental health sector and participate in a Q&A period.

Innovations in Virtual Care: Implications for improving quality of mental health services

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This session will highlight five projects that were funded through the 2021-2022 Innovation Initiatives of the Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions, focusing on virtual care. Panelists will describe their innovative solutions to the shift to virtual care, and share their lessons learned in improving the quality of mental health services. Projects include virtual psychoeducation for young people with mental health and substance use challenges, cognitive behaviour therapy using virtual reality, asynchronous virtual dialectical behaviour therapy, an analysis of improving access from having virtual care, and practical considerations for improving therapeutic alliance in virtual care

Ontario Health Teams & Community CYMH Experiences

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Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) officially launched almost three years ago with the broad vision of integrating all health care services, including mental health and addictions. Since 2019, Children’s Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) has provided information to members about this process, and more recently, have begun to unpack how members are experiencing and engaging with OHTs through a member survey. Grounded in the experience of 3 community child and youth mental health (CYMH) providers and their respective journeys with OHTs, we are sharing key reflections on how to optimize CYMH needs through current and emerging health system transformation. CMHO will also share their findings from their recent member survey. Come and hear from their experiences, learn what the survey revealed, and share your own thoughts, questions, and ideas for next steps in Ontario’s health system transformation.

Our Journey: Raising Children with Mental Illness

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Join Jan Stewart author of Hold on Tight, and PCMH Chapter Leaders, Holly Sabara, Jeff Warner, Damion Nurse, and Sarah Hudson as they share their journey on raising children/youth with mental illness.

Thank you to our sponsor:

 The Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I register?
  • The sessions will be offered by Zoom Meetings.

  • Advance registration is required for each individual session through the links above

What are the fees?
  • This year, there are no registration fees for our virtual conference in recognition of all the hard work everyone has been doing through the pandemic!
Who are the sessions for?
  • The sessions are designed for community child and youth mental health leaders, clinicians and policymakers – but are open to anyone interested in child and youth mental health.
Will sessions be recorded?
  • When permitted we will be recording the sessions and making them available after the Conference.
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