At the May 2013 Annual General Meeting NADD Ontario tabled the 2013-2016 Strategic Directions. This summary document describes the context and desired outcomes in relation to strategic areas:
February 4, 2013
Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario
Bell Trinity Square
483 Bay St., 10th Floor, South Tower
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C9
Attention: André Marin, Ontario Ombudsman
Dear Mr. Marin,
The Ontario Chapter of the National Association of Dual Diagnosis is a voluntary registered non profit association representing families and service providers who work in the health and developmental service sectors. Our mission is to advance mental wellness for persons with developmental disabilities and their families through the promotion of excellence in mental health care. This is achieved through publications, supporting families, individuals and students to attend conferences, as well as initiating and participating in inter-ministerial discussions with government representatives. We are self funded through membership fees.
Dual Diagnosis in Ontario refers to people who have both a developmental disability and mental health need.1 The estimated prevalence rate of developmental disabilities in the general population is between 1-3 %, and of these, approximately 40% will experience a mental health difficulty or display significant challenging behavior (often a symptom of a medical, emotional or psychiatric concern) during their lifetime.2 3 This means that at the higher end, of the 495,000 Ontarians with a developmental disability 162,000 experience a dual diagnosis.
NADD Ontario welcomes the recently announced investigation by the Ombudsman’s Office into services for adults with developmental disabilities, in particular a review of the response by MCSS to urgent situations and the co-ordination, monitoring and facilitating access to services of individuals in crisis. The experience of our membership is that the system is in crisis and the increase in referrals to your office is a reflection of this broader crisis.
NADD 30th Conference & Exhibit Show- 2013
October 23- October 25, 2013 (Wed – Fri)
Hyatt Regency Baltimore on the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD
You are invited to submit a Call for Presentations proposal for the NADD 30th Annual Conference. Presentation proposals are encouraged that illustrate this year’s theme: 30 Years of Progress: Ready for the Future
Please submit proposals that will focus on practical information. Submissions should focus on a variety of subject areas for children and adult including: public policy issues, assessment strategies, forensics, program models, habilitative approaches, genetic syndromes, new technology, training and family related issues.
Other topic areas are encouraged as well, and all presentations should focus on mental wellness for persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
For more information.. Click here
2014 NADD Internation Congress & Exhibit Show – coming soon
May 7-9, 2014
Hilton Miami Downtown
Miami, Florida
More information regarding this conference will be available later this year at www.thenadd.org
MOHLTC Mental Health and Addictions Service Collaboratives memo – Dec 2012
NADD Ontario Board is Looking for Talent
Lessons Learned from the Crisis and Emergency Study – Dr. Yona Lunsky, May 13, 2011.
Lessons Learned from the Crisis and Emergency Study – Dr. Yona Lunsky, May 13, 2011.
For the latest updates, please visit CARE-ID website that hosts the Coalition information at: http://care-id.com/. Go to “Dual Diagnosis” in left hand column.
Latest report from October 2011: Moving Forward: National Action on Dual Diagnosis.
With support from an international panel, a review of legislation and policy pertaining to people with developmental disabilities and dual diagnosis in Europe, United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada was undertaken. The report provides a series of guiding principles, nine (9) recommendations for necessary action at the pan-Canadian level, along with five (5) enabling actions that need to occur at the federal level to lay the foundation for achievement of the recommendations.
The next step for the Coalition is to connect with Mental Health Commission representatives to identify opportunities for moving forward as well as to identify appropriate federal government contacts.
Please share widely and provide us with your feedback:
How will you use this document?
Do you have contacts in the federal government that can assist with moving this agenda forward?
FYI – The CARE-ID website that hosts the Coalition information has been updated. Check it out! http://care-id.com/ Go to “Dual Diagnosis” in left hand column.
In November 2008, four organizations: NADD Ontario, CARE-ID/ACREDI, Dual Diagnosis program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Developmental Disabilities Section of the Canadian Psychiatric Association launched the National Coalition on Dual Diagnosis. The objective of the National Coalition on Dual Diagnosis is to increase the understanding of the needs of individuals with a developmental disability and mental health needs with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) and for all Canadians.
An initial activity of the four founding organizations within the National Coalition was to develop The Advocacy Toolkit: These materials were developed so that advocates for people with dual diagnosis have the “tools” to help them make their case as effectively as possible. They are based on simple straightforward, plain language that the dual diagnosis field can use uniformly to make our case to decision-makers. They are easy to understand, put a human face on dual diagnosis, and outline clearly defined solutions. They are for anyone’s use locally, regionally, provincially or federally. The toolkit is available at: www.care-id.com, the Canadian Association for Research and Education in Intellectual Disabilities web site. Click on the Dual Diagnosis page in the left hand column and you can access the Position Statement, Factsheet, FAQ, Stories, Glossary, Media Release, Backgrounder, and Plain Language pamphlet information – all for you to use in your local efforts.
December 2008 NationalCoalition on Dual Diagnosis Update
March 2009 National Coalition Update: Our March 2009 consensus Coalition response has been sent to the MHCC. Click here for the 17 page pdf.
Work has continued in bringing the message of the National Coalition to the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Of particular note at this time is that we have more than 400 names on our Coalition e-mail list. To help facilitate communication to such a large group we are now utilizing Constant Contacts as our e-mail application. This is being managed by Christine Iacobucci. If you want to forward the information to your own networks, please scroll down to the bottom where it says “Forward email.” Using this tool your recipient will be able to access the links that are embedded in the message. Otherwise, doing it through your own e-mail the recipient will lose that access.
MORE ABOUT CARE-ID (Canadian Association for Research and Education in Intellectual Disabilities / Association canadienne pour la recherche et l’enseignement en deficience intellectuelle)
The objectives of CARE-ID as a Canadian Association are to:
One of the initial activities of the association will be to launch cross country video-conference ’rounds’ on education and research that is occurring. Click here for the PDF file for the brochure but more information is available on the website. The Board members include various developmental and health, community and academic health science centre perspectives from Canada as well as family members.
Health Concerns: Solving Two Puzzles -“Dual Diagnosis” Tralee Pearce. The Globe & Mail. Published on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009, 12:00 am EST. Last updated on Friday, Apr. 10, 2009, 7:48 am EDT.
Experts believe as many as 50 per cent of children with developmental disabilities may also have mental health issues. But the second condition often goes undiagnosed and untreated.
2011 March 31 Letter to the MOHLTC, MCSS, MCYS Ministers re: The new Mental Health and Addiction Strategy and People with Dual Diagnosis
Training, Recruitment and Retention in the field of Developmental Disabilities and Dual Diagnosis (2007) This paper was written by NADD Ontario to bring a population health and cross sector perspective to the dialogue that is occurring in Ontario today. It provides a literature review of what other jurisdictions have done to address similar issues. The paper has been distributed to the Provincial Network on Developmental Disabilities, the leads of the Community Networks of Specialized Care for Individuals with a Dual Diagnosis and/or Challenging Behaviours, and the Academic Health Science Centres Task Force on Education in Developmental Disabilities. Our goal is to initiate partnerships with provincial groups who are working on addressing this issue. Please provide us with your comments and feedback on the attached form.
Submission by NADD Ontario to The Draft Minister’s Regulation on Quality Assurance Measures February 16, 2010, 23 page PDF.
“Services and Supports to Promote the Social Inclusion of Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act, 2008” S.O. 2008, CHAPTER 14 Consolidation Period: From January 1, 2011 to the e-Laws currency date. Note: July 1, 2011 has been named by proclamation as the day on which sections 2, 3, 12-17 and subsection 43 (3) of this Act come into force. Last amendment: 2010, c. 15, s. 242.
Commentary – Public Health: “Mental health in Canada: out of the shadows forever” doi:10.1503/cmaj.071897. Kirby, Michael. (May 6, 2008). Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), 178(10):1320-1323.
Michael Kirby, PhD – Dr. Kirby is Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. Correspondence to: Dr. Michael Kirby, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Suite 1800, 10301 Southport Lane SW, Calgary AB T2W 1S7; fax 613-798-2989; mkirby@mentalhealthcommission.ca
“Canada is the only G8 country that does not have a national mental health strategy. This startling fact was one of the findings of the investigation of mental health in Canada by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. Equally shocking is the fact that the Senate committee’s report Out of the Shadows at Last is the first national report on mental health, compared with more than 300 reports on the physical health system.”
1. Feedback sought by the Commission
There are going to be an increasing number of opportunities for the dual diagnosis voice to be heard by the Commission through their on-line e-consultations. Please take a few minutes to make sure your input is registered. Here are two current opportunities:
-Setting the Goals to Guide a Mental Health Strategy for Canada – the online consultation link for the draft mental health strategy framework.
As you know, our key message here is that:
The framework should define the population(s) that are the subject of its transformative goals. We ask that people with dual diagnosis and other kinds of complex problems be included in that definition and their needs be taken into account throughout the document.
-MHCC Service System Advisory Committee is seeking feedback on their draft recommendations to improve the mental health system for ethnoracial, immigrant and racialized groups in Canada. http://www.camh.net/Public_policy/Public_policy_papers/consultation_mhcc_feb09.html
2. Continuation of the dialogue with the Commission
The chairs of all the Commission sub-committees have received the summary information of our recommendations and advocacy toolkit. As a result, the Dr. Simon Davidson, Chair of the Child and Youth Committee contacted me to discuss how dual diagnosis could be represented within the various initiatives of that committee. Laurie Dart, Executive Director of the Griffin Centre in Toronto has offered to be the primary Coalition contact for that committee. With her assistance we have recommended a young person to participate on the Youth Reference Group. We are also represented on the National Advisory Committee for the Evergreen Framework. This framework document will be specific to child and youth mental health and complement the MHCC’s Mental Health Strategy for Canada. Its purpose is to inform and guide the development and application of policies and plans created by provincial or territorial governments, and service organizations. Their work is only just beginning, but if you have questions, please contact Laurie at ldart@griffin-centre.org
3. Family Unit Self-Stigma
The Child and Youth Committee is also seeking proposals to address self-stigma for a child or youth experiencing a mental disorder or mental illness, as well as self-stigma for the family unit, and to identify needs and effective strategies for understanding and tackling the impact of self stigma. A family unit is defined as anyone involved in the life of the child or youth with a mental disorder or mental illness, such as biological parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, grandparents, siblings, or other family members. This is a project that the Coalition should monitor carefully for opportunities to have input as families are such a key and lifelong part of the support system for the person with a dual diagnosis. The project proposal call can be found at http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/ResearchContractOpportunities.aspx
4.Homelessness Projects
As noted in the last update, these demonstration projects are scheduled for implementation beginning April 1, 2009. The purpose of the projects, located in Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, is to evaluate different models of care in terms of service and system interventions that best achieve housing stability and improved health and well-being. Each locale is developing a structure (e.g. advisory groups) for how this multi-site research demonstration project will proceed – based on the particular populations of interest. The Coalition needs local leaders in each city to connect with the Site Coordinators and find out how they can bring the dual diagnosis perspective to the project. In Toronto, Mary Jane Cripps, Executive Director of Reconnect Mental Health Services has offered to be the primary Coalition contact for that site. If you have any questions regarding Toronto, she can be reached at mjcripps@reconnect.on.ca
If you want to volunteer to be the lead person in the other cities, please let me know and I will facilitate links between the various sites.
Regards to all,
Susan Morris
Clinical Director
Dual Diagnosis Program
416-535-8501 Ext. 1136
www.camh.net/dualdiagnosis
www.camh.net/Path%5FHome
“Are mental health services improving for people with dual diagnosis?” by Kim Goggins. CrossCurrents Journal, Autumn 2008. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
“Death by Indifference”- March 2007.
A 36 page pdf available on the Mencap, UK website.
