justice system including criminal drug mental health court-involved

The Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee presents "Breaking the Cycle: Housing and Homelessness Help Hub (H4) in Windsor Essex"

Individuals experiencing homelessness, mental health challenges, and addiction are disproportionately impacted by the justice system, often denied bail at higher rates and forced to navigate a complex web of appointments to avoid returning to custody.

✨The Call for Abstracts is now open. ✨

The Waypoint Research Institute is excited to announce our InSPIRE 2025 conference on taking place on June 2-4, 2025 at the Village Conference Centre in Blue Mountain, ON.

This conference focuses on Integrating Science, Practice, Innovation, Research and Experience (InSPIRE). Which will highlight and explore innovative and inclusive approaches to research, practice, and engagement in the mental health and substance use sector.

Join the Waypoint Research Institute for the third and final session of our Waypoint Talks Coercive Control series, supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This session will be hosted by Dr. TK Logan, a Professor in the Department of Behavioural Science at the University of Kentucky, and will explore what stalking is, why it matters, and a tool that has been developed to help those being stalked. A certificate of attendance will be provided to participants upon request following the session.

Join the Waypoint Research Institute for the second session of our Waypoint Talks Coercive Control series, supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This session will be hosted by Dr.

Join the Waypoint Research Institute for the first session of our Waypoint Talks Coercive Control series, supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This session will be hosted by Dr. Amanda Robinson, Professor of Criminology from Cardiff University, and will explore how the criminalization of coercive control in the UK has impacted policy, practice, and service delivery. A certificate of attendance will be provided to participants upon request following the session. 

The Provincial HSJCC Conference is the network’s premiere educational event – bringing together more than 600 professionals from across the human services and justice sectors to share promising practices, build cross-sector networks and engage in solutions for the people they serve. Attendees benefit from a richly engrossing program that leaves them better equipped and inspired to meet the needs of Ontarians.

The conference program will reflect a broad range of themes while showcasing work being done within the human service and justice sectors.

Two full days.

How can youth workers best support youth with incarcerated family? What do youth workers need to understand about the unique experiences of these youth?

Join YouthRex for this conversation with practitioners and advocates to learn from their professional and lived experience, exploring the realities for youth with incarcerated family, including issues such as:

YouthREX and partners – the Ontario Native Education Counselling Association (ONECA), Provincial Youth Outreach Worker Program at Strides Toronto, and YMCA Youth Cannabis Awareness Program – invite you to a two-part community

Colonial Trauma and Wholistic Healing Practices: Supporting Prisoners and Ex-prisoners

March 27, 2023 @ 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET

Presented by: Giselle Dias

How can youth workers draw from a Critical Positive Youth Development framework to support youth in conflict with the law as partners and agents in their own change process, and to create a sense of mutual ownership?

Join us for this workshop to discuss the importance of leadership and skill development, social awareness, social responsibility, and restorative practices. We will discuss strategies for engaging youth who are involuntary participants.

Course overview

Families are an immense resource in the care, treatment and recovery of individuals with co-occurring mental health and addiction problems. However, they often have limited access to the resources, information and help that they need to be supportive to the ones they love. This six-week facilitator-led online course for health care providers explores the needs of families affected by concurrent disorders, as well as the strategies that health care providers can use to empower families and ensure that their experiences are positive ones.

The Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario, and John Howard Society of Ontario, in partnership with the Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee, are hosting a knowledge exchange forum to share the results of a community-based research project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. This project explores how cannabis use impacts mental health and whether it helps or hinders a participant’s completion of a Drug Treatment Court (DTC) Program.

Mental Health Courts vary in structure and operation. A judicial panel will discuss some issues arising from the operation of Mental Health Courts and share some ideas on how to optimize outcomes.

Register for this free session here.

Mobile Outreach and Support Teams (MOST) comprise practitioners trained to support persons with mental health challenges. Police Chief Herridge of the St Thomas Police Service will describe how the MOST program serves as a vehicle for increased collaboration between law enforcement and treatment providers towards more optimum outcomes.

Register for this free session here.

Mental Health Courts are Justice Treatment Partnerships which to varying degrees integrate legal case processing with mental health treatment interventions. Experienced practitioners will discuss some of the legal and treatment issues which arise in the operation of Mental Health Courts.

Register for this free session here.

This week, the Mental Health Commission of Canada launched a directory of community-based mental health and substance use services and supports available in Canada for people who are transitioning from the criminal justice system into the community. This national inventory represents a new step towards reducing the barriers to service access that are often experienced by justice-involved persons, especially those who are re-entering the community from correctional settings. Importantly, this inventory will be updated over time to ensure its currency and breadth.

Mentally Disabled Do Not Have Fair Access to Justice

At the time of the imminent opening of HSJCC’s Community Justice Conference 2021, I appreciate CMHA branches and John Howard Society branches as two of the main organizations that assist people with mental health issues in the criminal justices system. Yet, many mentally disabled with barriers to access justice are not assisted because the system they access is not the Criminal one.