Summer 2017 Newsletter by St. Joseph's Health Care London

VOLUME 7

Family Forum Newsletter The Family Advisory Council of Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care and Southwest Center for Forensic Mental Health Care

An accomplished council

2. Family Charter of Rights 3. Rethinking access to psychotherapy 5. Recovery through Spirituality & Artistic Expression 6. Collaborative meeting & Inspiration Corner 7.

Service information for families

Calendar of events

The Mental Health Family Advisory Council recently created a Family Charter of Rights which outlines families’ needs for respect and understanding, education, inclusion, feedback, information and more.

From left, Carol Riddell-Elson, Mental Health Care Family Advisory Committee member and Laurel Lamarre, family liaison admire the new Family Charter of Rights plaque in front of the Family Resource Centre. For more than two decades, members of the Mental Health Care Family Advisory Council have worked to improve the family experience. As a collective group, they provide a voice for family members whose loved ones are receiving mental health care at Parkwood Institute or Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, contributing their time and knowledge to support, educate, and empower families. Council members work with clinicians to ensure family members have the care and services they need while maintaining their own well-being. The council’s participation in mental health care hasn’t been limited to the walls of St. Joseph’s. Some members have actively sought opportunities to become involved in the community and even at the provincial level. The council works in partnership and collaboration with many legislative and external groups such as; Mental Health Commission of Canada; Canadian Mental Health Association; the Local Health Integration Network; Health Quality Ontario; and the Ontario Family Caregivers Advisory Council Network (OFCAN) – a group initiated by St. Joseph’s Mental Health Care Family Advisory Council. “Our council is innovative, creative and open to new ideas,” said Laurel Lamarre, family liaison. “It’s promising to see the organizations we work with taking the recommendations and shifting the paradigm of how care is delivered.” The council continues to make great advances within hospital. In 2015 they launched ‘The Family Inclusion Project’ – a new model designed to incorporate family members in programs and leading practice. They also continue to focus on improving awareness of the Family Resource Centre among patients and their families. More recently, a representative from the council joined the Improving CARE Together project. This project builds on past learning and successes to embed family caregivers as an integral part of the care team in all programs and services. “I feel gratified by the work we’ve done,” says Carol Riddell-Elson, family council member. “It is very rewarding that our voices are being heard regarding what works and what’s not working for families.”

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Family Forum Newsletter

18th Annual Research Half Day

WHEN: Wednesday, November 1, 2017 WHERE: Parkwood Institute Mental Health Building Auditorium TIME: 12:00 pm - 4:30 pm The focus of the program will be rehabilitation and recovery in mental health. The Tony Cerenzia Research Lecture will be delivered by guest speaker, Dr. Sean Kidd. Dr. Sean Kidd is a Clinical Psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and a Clinician Scientist in CAMH's Complex Care and Recovery Program. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

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Family Forum Newsletter

From: Catalyst newsletter- June 2017 - Opinion: Rethinking Access to Psychotherapy To improve access, we need new approaches to funding and delivery By Louise Bradley, President and CEO, Mental Health Commission of Canada and Karen Cohen, CEO, Canadian Psychological Association

A sure recipe for failure is doing the same unsuccessful thing over and over, but expecting different results. With millions of Canadians reporting an unmet need for mental health care, it’s time to revisit how we fund, deliver and access psychological services. Imagine finding a lump in your breast, or blood in your urine. It’s a terrifying prospect, and the visceral fear is tempered only by the knowledge that you can seek immediate medical attention. Now, picture a scenario where your doctor takes note of your symptoms and tells you to return in six months, when she can determine if you’ve deteriorated sufficiently to warrant treatment. We don’t wait until cancer reaches stage four, or hold-off on treating diabetes until gangrene sets in. We intervene as quickly as possible, because it’s not news that early detection is key to more successful health outcomes. This doesn’t only apply to physical illness. Ample evidence points towards the value – in both economic savings and improved patient outcomes – of mental health promotion and early intervention. It’s high time we turned the provision of mental health services on its head. Rather than offering people what we fund, we have to pause and ask ourselves what people actually need. As provinces and territories are poised to receive an infusion of dollars targeted for mental health via the Health Accord, it’s time to examine where new investments have the greatest potential to reinvigorate our uncoordinated patchwork of services. We can’t continue to funnel people to care providers unable or ill equipped to address their needs. Instead, we need to be asking: what do people need, where do they need it, and who should be providing it? Right now, people are often only able to access mental health services when they are so critically ill they may be beyond help. This is because funded treatments are largely available through hospitals, where scant resources can’t be expended on patients who aren’t in critical distress. Additionally, primary care providers like family physicians and nurse practitioners often don’t have the time, training or interest in treating mental health problems. In an ideal world, people should be able to walk through the door of any trained health service provider and be assessed, diagnosed and appropriately triaged to the right kind of service and support. Instead, you have individuals and families pushed to the brink of despair, sitting on waitlists for mental health care. The repercussions of this unmet need reverberate throughout families, and across communities. Continued on next page...

Family Forum Newsletter

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Rethinking Access to Psychotherapy (Continued from page 3) Our mental health system is, at best, designed to address mental health crises. What we need are appropriate provisions for helping healthy people stay well, and means to prevent moderately ill people from developing severe and persistent mental illness, which sometimes even hospital care cannot successfully treat. Enhancing access to evidence-based psychological services has to be part of any well-thought out Canadian solution. Psychological treatments work. They are first line interventions for mental illness, particularly the ones experienced most commonly; anxiety and depression. Canada lags behind the United Kingdom and Australia, where governments have made publicly funded psychological services available. Today in Canada, these psychological treatments are largely delivered by psychologists, specially trained social workers and psychotherapists; health providers whose services are not covered by our public health insurance systems. While they can be accessed through private insurance, only higher earners, or those with private health insurance benefits through employment, can afford them. This leaves lower income Canadians, who report poorer mental health, unable to access effective treatment. Often, professionals who work outside the public sector are painted as self-serving if they advocate for better access to their services. This assumption is as inherently flawed as suggesting that advocates of pharmacare are in cahoots with the drug industry. Just as medication is effective for a range of health conditions, psychological treatments are effective for a range of mental health issues and disorders. Treatments that work should be accessible to those who need them. That is the Canadian way. An archaic and outmoded system of care has excluded psychologists from contributing their vital services to the full scope of their capacity. The Mental Health Commission of Canada together with the Canadian Psychological Association are among the many mental health stakeholders encouraging informed and meaningful debate about how psychological services can be best integrated into the public system.

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Family Forum Newsletter

Recovery through spirituality and artistic expression

Pictured from left to right: Jessica Baker, Chaplain, Parkwood Institute, Mental Health Care Building, Ron Alderman, Patient Council Member, Belinda Rogers-King, Patient Council Member, Barb Peters, Patient Council Chair, Roy Paglione, Patient Council Member, Rachel Hudson, Patient Council Facilitator.

Being able to explore and express one’s spiritual and religious beliefs is an important part of the recovery process. That’s why Chaplain Jessica Baker spearheaded the Wall of Hope installation at Parkwood Institute’s Mental Health Care Building. She was inspired by patients who wanted to use their artistic talents to bring a message of hope to others and make their new healing environment their own. The wall has made an impression on patients, staff and visitors. A participant in the adolescent in-patient unit spent time creating a special drawing for the wall, and commented, “The wall is so very inspirational! Each time I see it I gain a little bit more hope.” Jessica says that every person’s spiritual journey is unique, and an integral part of who they are. Having a living art space where those in the Mental Health Care Building can interact with their spirituality helps to give voice to all that is deeply sacred and meaningful for patients. “The road to recovery means so much for those with mental health issues. I hope when they see this wall, it will give them the strength and courage they need to make the journey,” says Barb Peters, Chair of the Patient Council, when reflecting on the importance of the wall.

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Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

Health Quality Ontario is the provincial advisor on the quality of health care. With the goal of excellent care for all Ontarians, Health Quality Ontario reports to the public on how the system is performing, develops standards for what quality care looks like, evaluates the effectiveness of new health care technologies and services, and promotes quality improvement aimed at substantial and sustainable positive change. Visit www.hqontario.ca for more information.

Quick access walk-in clinic opens in London Family Service Thames Valley is offering a weekly walk-in clinic for individuals, couples, and families in the community coping with mental health, emotional, or relational concerns that could benefit from quick access to counselling. As a growing evidenced based approach to offering professional psychotherapy, our walk-in clinic aims to provide rapid access to your needs as a way of preventing a crisis in your life from emerging. No appointment necessary. Counselling offered on a first come, first served basis. A sliding scale will be used where fees are applicable, however this will not be a barrier to accessing services. Family Services Thames Valley is located at 125 WOODWARD AVENUE, LONDON, ONTARIO 519-433-0183

The walk-in clinic sessions are available Tuesdays from 1:00 PM to 6:o0 PM http://www.familyservicethamesvalley.com/service/mentalhealth-walk-in-clinic/

They work in partnership with health care providers and organizations across the system, and engage with patients themselves, to help initiate substantial and sustainable change to the province’s complex health system. They define the meaning of quality as it pertains to health care, and provide strategic advice so all the parts of the system can improve. They also analyze virtually all aspects of Ontario’s health care. This includes looking at the overall health of Ontarians, how well different areas of the system are working together, and most importantly, patient experience. They then produce comprehensive, objective reports based on data, facts and the voice of patients, caregivers and those who work each day in the health system. As well as make recommendations on how to improve care using the best evidence. Finally, they support large scale quality improvements by working with partners to facilitate ways for health care providers to learn from each other and share innovative approaches. HQO has developed quality of standards. Quality standards outline for clinicians and patients what quality care looks like. They focus on conditions where there are large variations in how care is delivered, or where there are gaps between the care provided in Ontario and the care patients should receive. Visit: http://www.hqontario.ca/Evidence-to-Improve -Care/Quality-Standards/View-all-QualityStandards

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Collaborative meeting with developer of Ontario Perception of Care Tool (OPOC)

Dr. Brian Rush with members of the Ontario Family Caregivers Advisory Network (OFCAN)

A collaborative meeting was held on June 1, in Ottawa, between OFCAN groups and Dr. Rush from Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to discuss changes to the Family Ontario Perception of Care tool that was designed to evaluate the caregiver’s satisfaction. The meeting was well attended by caregivers and stakeholders. The family perspective was clearly articulated and respected throughout the process and the focus remained on measuring the experience of family caregivers interacting with mental health and addiction services. After much discussion, a list of "Domains" (themes or categories) was established for the new survey. There is now a plan to review the existing family caregiver surveys, develop a plan to expand the scope of engagement to include a broader community sector and form an Advisory Committee to lead this process. Some next steps include:  More representation  Draft survey this summer  Determine composition of smaller committee  Piloting the survey  Implementation plan To keep informed please visit www.ofcan.org

Visit this inspirational video titled: No Excuses, No Limits: Luca Patuelli at TEDxYouth@Montreal https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=U8htBtRBtIs

Five-year-old, Matt, worked with a speech therapist on the ch sound, which came out k. The   therapist asked him to say chicken. He responded with kitchen. They tried again and again, but it always came out kitchen. Undeterred, she pushed him for one more try. Matt sighed and said, “Why don’t we just call it a duck?” Q: What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards? A: a receding hare-line.

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Family Forum Newsletter

he Family Resource Centre offers a variety of services for families, their loved ones and mental health professionals, including:

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A resource library which contains current books, magazines, videos, audio tapes, and pamphlets on most mental illnesses

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An opportunity to meet one-on-one with another family member who has had a personal experience with mental illness and the mental health system

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One on one support

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A free 8 week family education course offered twice per year (Spring/Fall)

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Speakers for community groups

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Membership on the Family Advisory Council

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A computer for family members to search for internet information on mental health We are located at Parkwood Institute’s Mental Health Care Building 550 Wellington Road—Room F2-191 The Family Resource Centre is open: Monday to Friday: 8 am - 4 pm (unless otherwise posted) Contact us at: 519 646-6100 Ext. 47440 or visit our webpage :

A support group for people who have a family member with a mental illness. Our aim is to listen, show compassion, share experiences, offer hope and be supportive of one another. We particularly welcome those for whom being a caregiver or support person is a new and overwhelming experience. We meet the first Tuesday of each month at CMHA - Queen Street Site. For more information contact Joy Lang at 519-434-7760.

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Here is a list of some upcoming activities happening involving the Family Advisory Council or other groups to educate or assist patients and their families. Contact the Family Resource Centre at 519 – 646-6100 Ext. 47440

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Family Advisory Council –Sept 11, Oct. 16

Family Community Support Group Sept. 5 & Oct. 3 Contact Joy Lang for details 519-434-7760

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Civic Holiday—August 7 Labour Day - September 4

FAC

GROUP

July 2017

If you are interested in donating to Mental

Health Care Programs at St. Joseph’s Contact: Senior Development Officer 519-646-6100, ext. 65454

Donations for the Family Resource Centre can be made directly to: St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation Attn: Dr. Wm. A. Tillmann Memorial Fund Resource Centre for Families 268 Grosvenor Street London, ON N6A 4V2

This newsletter is intended to be used as a communication vehicle by the Family Advisory Council at St. Joseph’s Mental Health Care with families who share common interests and concerns. The information herein is believed to be accurate; St. Joseph’s, the Family Advisory Council, and the author(s) cannot be held responsible for any errors. It is the responsibility of the reader to work with professionals when making any clinical decisions

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