Hi everyone,

I am a Project Manager with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. I am involved in the initiative to develop an evaluation framework and baseline scorecard for the first three years of Ontario's Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy. We, at ICES, work very closely with the System Improvement through Service Collaboratives initiative at CAMH.

I'm looking forward to seeing the discussion generated here!

Hi everyone!

My name is Laura Ball, and I am the Knowledge Translation and Implementation Coordinator for Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care (formerly Mental Health Centre Penetanguishene). This is my first time taking on a role such as this, so I'm really looking forward to accessing this kind of community and "connect"ing with all of you!

Hello to everyone!

My name is Rhea Funnell and I work at the Canadian Mental Health Association, Nipissing Regional Branch in North Bay. I have worked in the field of mental health for about 20 years and was in youth services before that. I am also a person of lived experience and a family member.

I am a strong proponant for not reinventing the wheel and I am looking forward to using EENET as a source for learning about and from all the great and don't-even-think-about-it ideas that are out there.

I've already recognized some of the names on the membership list of people I have worked and collaborated with over the years and if they are an example of the knowledge that will be available for exchanging on this network I know we will all be benefitting greatly!

Hello all,

I work as a supervisor for helpline staff at ConnexOntario. Some of you may remember us as "DART". We have operated helplines connecting people in Ontario to mental health, substance use and problem gambling resources since 1991.

I look forward to being part of this network so that I can keep my staff and our callers up to speed on the many exciting initiatives that are happening across Ontario.

Karna

Boojoo.  I am the Health Services Director for a Tribal Council in Sioux Lookout.  My job encompasses a broad range, but mental health and addictions is an important component

Hi everyone, I'm Amy and I'm a senior program consultant with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's Provincial Programs Branch (formerly, the Mental Health and Addiction Branch, pre-LHIN world).

My interests vary from the broad (provincial mental health and addiction policy/programming) to program-specific (Assertive Community Treatment teams; Early Psychosis Intervention; eating disorders, children's mental health) to issue-specific (Health At Every Size, children and youth with complex, special needs, etc.). I'm hoping that this forum will help me to better connect the provincial mental health agencies in my portfolio with answers and resources and ideas, and allow me to post some issues or ideas that I have, from the perspective of someone who sees how the province functions (or doesn't) as a whole, what the gaps in service are, and what barriers exist system-wide that can be removed, improved and resolved.

It's great to see so many familiar names and I'm looking forward to meeting new colleagues.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Douglas Matheson. I have been working with addictions and mental health for around 12 years now. Currently, I work as a front line case manager with CMHA Durham.

As with most things in life, I wear many hats. One of my other roles at CMHA Durham is the Concurrent Disorder Lead. Part of my responsibility as the CD Lead is to represent my agency on various CD committees throughout the Region of Durham.

Additionally, my role is to work with other internal staff to increase CD capabilities within my agency.

I look forward to this forum and all the discussion and resources that come out of it!

Hello everyone,

My name is Karen Smith and I have worked in several capacities with mental health and addiction agencies over the past 20 years. Currently, I am the Executive Director of the Community Child Abuse Council in Hamilton, ON. I am involved with our Service Collaborative effort here, and active in local planning and KE activities. I am also involved as a facilitator with the CONNECTIONS knowledge exchange project (www.connectionscanada.ca) for agencies serving women with substance use issues. I welcome this opportunity to connect and I look forward to our "conversations".

Hello all,

My name is Jordan Bawks and I'm a medical student at the University of Toronto. I have a lot of interest in mental health, addictions, and promoting wellness and resiliency.
Although school keeps me pretty busy I'm always keeping an eye out for the opportunity to become involved in new initiatives or research. If you have need of an eager and passionate student helper send me a message!
Looking forward to getting the latest on mental health care initiatives and connecting with leaders in the field.  

Hello everyone,

My name is Melissa Taylor-Gates and I am the Social Media and Project Coordinator at mindyourmind. I received my Masters in Library and Information Science in 2011 from The University of Western Ontario. 

I'm really excited to check out the community here and engage on some very important issues. Since I do project coordination and social media here at MYM, I'm in a unique position to engage in knowledge sharing/ mobilization daily.

Hoping to learn a lot from all of you!

Hello,

  I'm Ian Kerr, Project Manager in the Applied Research and Education Department at CPRI. www.cpri.ca  I deliver training on some child/youth screening tools and manage the development of, and am the primairy trainer for the CY suite of interRAI instruments (http://interrai.org/index.php?id=87), including the Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment (ChYMH), Child and Youth Developmental Disabilities assessment (ChYMH - DD), the Youth Justice Custodial Facilities instrument (YJCF) and Education instrument (EDU). 

Its a global initative (http://www.interrai.org) to improve the quality of life of vulnerable persons through a seamless comprehensive assessment system.  Through collaborative efforts and stakeholder involvement we have started piloting the ChYMH, ChYMH-DD, an Adolescent supplement and Rapid Screener. 

I'm hopeful to find some like minded people and opportunities to colalborate, in addition to reading the content and following the great discussions!

Hi, my name is Saereen.  I am a part of the SISC panel at CAMH.  I have been with CAMH since November of 2012.  I love the idea of having our own form where we may connect with other CAMH and other medical professionals and express our views.  Looking forward to reading and hoping I can also contribute some interesting reading to those that cross my eenet path.

Hi everyone,

My name is Jenny and I am a Youth Resource Developer with mindyourmind. I am also an Ontario Certified Teacher with teachables in Visual Arts, English, French and Special Education. I'm looking forward to conversations and sharing!

Hi all,

I'm Doris, currently a postdoc researcher in the Addiction Imaging Research Group at CAMH - we use PET/MRI neuroimaging to try to understand neurobiological correlates of addictions and impulse control disorders.  I'm dying to put what I know about brains, drugs, and mental health to good use, so really looking forward to watching this space to see how it's done!

I would love to hear what you are learning in your current work.

Hi there!  This is Amy here.  I am a bilingual (English and français) knowledge exchange lead in Northeastern Ontario.  I work out of the Sudbury CAMH office and look forward to connecting with many of you in either official language (or, if you're from a northern franco-Ontario community like myself, Frenglish).  Loving all of the discussions going on!  See you in the forums!

Salut

Hi everyone,

This is Natasha from ConnexOntario Health Services Information. We operate the provincial Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol and Problem Gambling Helplines.

I'm the Supervisor for Health Data Management. The staff in this department collect program information from govn't funded mental health and addiction organizations. We are also in contact with LHINs, researchers, system planners, organizations, etc. providing them with maps and other data relevant to the mental health and addictions sector.

I look forward to parcipating in this online community!

Hi all,

My name is Alex Harrison and I am the CAMH Knowledge Exchange Lead for the Simcoe-Muskoka region, located in Penetanguishene.

I am part of the Simcoe-Muskoka Service Collaborative, and am very interested in connecting with community partners, service users, and researchers from Simcoe and Muskoka!

Hi there,

I'm Janet, I coordinate the Refugee Mental Health Project at CAMH. The Project (funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada) has  developed online courses, a toolkit and an online community for Ontario service providers to support their work with refugee clients/patients.

I'm glad to be part of this lively community; I hope to liaise and exchange information/resources between this community and the Refugee Mental Health Project community.

Hello everyone,

I'm Heather Miko-Kelly, Youth Projects and Volunteer Coordinator at mindyourmind. We are a mental health promotion program for youth and young adults. We primarily use technology to reach youth and provide them with the tools and resources to help themselves or help their peers when going through difficult times.  I'm happy to be part of the CAMH Service Collaborative in London, ON and excited for the tools we will be co-developing with youth as part of this project.

Welcome Heather

I am assuming that you are working with Deanna on the London Service Collaborative. I met her at a Knowledge Exchange event in Toronto, when she was on our youth panel. 

Hi everyone, my name is Alexandra and I'm a Communications Specialist - Social Media with Peel Children's Centre and Nexus Youth Services in Mississauga, ON. My background is in social media marketing, research and design and I'm interested in the new opportunities offered to the field of child and youth mental health by social media and new technologies. 

Hello...

I only found this introduce yourself part...

I have been yapping on the forum for months now but did not formally introduce myself...

I am a provincial systems level LIVED EXPERIENCE/'Family' advocate.

I am a survivor of mental illness, drug/alcohol addictions and also a bereaved mother.  My 25 year old son Pete, died from an accidental prescription Oxycontin overdose on Dec. 23, 2001 (he also struggled with concurrent disorders)

I have worked for a decade sharing mine and my late son's journey both publicly as a speaker and around many system level tables, for both youth and adults through Ministry of Health, Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH), DTFP, Mississauga/Halton LHIN, Region of Halton, plus other government & community agencies.

I have had the distinct pleasure of working on specialized projects such as the Health Minister’s Expert Working Group Narcotic Addition and Ministry of Health’s Consumer Advisory for the 10 year Mental Health & Addiction and also have training and past experience with Children's Aid Society, Big Sisters, Restorative Justice, Conflict mediation and completed the Halton Citizen’s Police Academy program.

Oh... and in my spare time I wrote three lived experience picture & soulful prose e-books.

Hey there everyone!

My name is Inali and I have lived in London for almost 8 years now, although on a number of socio-economic levels. I am a volunteer at Mindyourmind, and a member of the London CAMH Service-Collaborative. I am also a co-Founder and Facilitator at London Youth Poetry, a Speaker on the Youth Incite Team with Youth Opportunities Unlimited... among other things.
Having fallen through a lot of gaps in systems, I feel obligated to recognize them and help make changes to eliminate them.

I am passionate about building community and connections between people, peer support, and constructive self-expression. 
Talk to me about anything! Ask me questions about my experiences, opinions, project ideas... anything. I want to get to know you all! 

Hello ,

My name is Savannah Barker, and I am the Education Liaison with CameronHelps, a charitable organization that works toward raising awareness and reducing the stigma that surrounds youth mental health and teen suicide. Our philosophy is "physical health for mental health," and we believe that participating in a running group can help youth cope with mental health problems, or simply the stresses that come with high school. I am interested in expanding our linkages with community agencies across Ontario, as well as determining where our organization can come in to enhance current services and initiatives.

I can't wait to see how this initiative will support our goal of understanding the current services available for youth struggling with mental health problems, and how we can collaborate with agencies to strengthen these services.

Hello Everyone, my name is Kimberly Cato and I am a Psychotherapist at True Roots Counselling Services in the Halton / Peel Regions. 

I am excited about this opportunity to participate in this EENet forum and really look forward to what lies ahead!!

Feel free to contact and question me as the need strikes you.  I am open to any conversation that enables me to grow ... personally, professionally and spiritually.

Be well!!

Welcome aboard Kimberly!

I'll introduce Kimberly too, she is awesome!

I am so happy that you have joined the forum.....

Betty-Lou Kristy

Lived Experience/‘Family’ Advocate- Mental Health, Addiction, Trauma & Bereavement

If you ever have any technical issues just bug Jason Guriel. He is the EENet Supervisor. I LOVE bugging Jason! LOL

Jason Guriel

EENet Supervisor

Hi Kimberly,

Welcome, I've heard your name before just not sure where from.  I am an active volunteer in the Burlington Community with accessibility, poverty and mental health.  Currently I sit on the Burlington Mental Health Roundtable's new Leadership team and the JBH CAC.

Hi everyone!

My name is Emma Firsten-Kaufman and I'm a Knowledge Broker for EENet within the Provincial System Support Program at CAMH. Looking forward to learning from and sharing with all of you!

Emma

Welcome Emma!

All you need to know is ..... "it is all about Betty-Lou"  LOL

Betty-Lou Kristy

Lived Experience/‘Family’ Advocate- Mental Health, Addiction, Trauma & Bereavement

PROVIDING EVIDENCE from community to systems level policy, planning & governance

Welcome, Emma! I'm looking forward to working with you too 

Hello, I am Michaela and I am doing my internship with CAMH HPRC and EENet. I am attending Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario, I have just completed my third year in Health Promotion. This is my first time working in mental health and addictions so I am very eager to be a part of the EENet connect community.

I just finished my first week (of five) and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. Everyone is so friendly and approachable – I have met with different colleagues learning about their role at CAMH. I have been to two webinars, one where I helped answer technical questions, not sure how I pulled that off having no idea what I was doing; a meeting discussing youth services; and a nutrition conference.

Overall, it has been very interesting learning about the mental health and addictions system I have felt a little out of the loop and feeling like I have no idea what anyone is talking about (I have created a list of commonly used acronyms) but I look forward to the rest of my time here and contributing to EENet Connect.

Welcome Michaela!

I am the head EENet Connect Super Ninja. Typically my fun description is 'purple haired, heavily tattooed, EENet Connect Super Ninja'. (Jason Guriel jokes I should put on a business card)

Recently I caught another minor "oops" that a colleague at the Ministry of Health did. She e-mailed back her thank you and said "Good thing you have the eyes of a lynx"

So now my full fun description will be "purple haired, heavily tattooed, EENet Connect Super Ninja with the eyes of a lynx"  LOL

Welcome again....

Betty-Lou Kristy

Lived Experience/‘Family’ Advocate- Mental Health, Addiction, Trauma & Bereavement

PROVIDING EVIDENCE from community to systems level policy, planning & governance

Thank you for the welcome Betty-Lou!

Hello everyone,

My name is Heather Lillico and I am a Knowledge Broker with the Opioid Resource Hub in the Provincial System Support Program at CAMH. I'm looking forward to connecting with others and sharing resources and best practices!

Hello Heather;

Welcome! I am one of the EENet Super Ninjas (and I do a lot of work with the Opioid Resource Hub)   I have purple hair, lots of tattoos and am currently struggling with hot flashes and menopause. (LOL) 

Betty-Lou Kristy

Lived Experience/‘Family’ Advocate- Mental Health, Addiction, Trauma & Bereavement