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Health Care |
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The elected leadership of current and former Provincial Psychiatric Hospitals approved, in the summer, the need for a mental health campaign to highlight the gaps in mental health services in Ontario. OPSEU's Executive Board approved funding for the campaign in September. The first stage of the campaign is to collect information regarding the gaps in mental health services. OPSEU has hired experienced researcher Janet Solberg to research and write a report on the state of mental health services for each of nine geographical areas across the province. The geographic areas match the nine regional task forces the government has appointed to restructure mental health services. We hope to have the nine reports completed by the spring. Campaigns Officer Megan Park has been assigned to co-ordinate the meetings with OPSEU locals in the nine areas. These meetings will happen over the winter months. A key part of the campaign is collecting information from members. Our members have inside experience and knowledge about mental health services: they are our greatest asset. The meetings will involve members from current and divested psychiatric hospitals, public hospitals, community mental health agencies and from sectors whose members come in contact with the mentally ill, such as Corrections and the Courts (through Court Diversion Programs). The second stage of the campaign is to mobilize member and community involvement in campaigns around the nine regional mental health reports OPSEU will have produced. The aim of these campaigns is to lobby for greater resources for mental health services. This campaigning will likely happen in the spring or the fall. Our campaigns depend on the timing of the recommendations going from the nine government task forces to the province. The Mental Health Division will determine strategically the best time for these campaigns to happen. To date, we've held meetings with members in North Bay (Oct. 31) and Ottawa (Nov. 26). We have meetings scheduled for Thunder Bay on Dec. 13 and Hamilton on Dec. 19. The meetings are full-day workshops. Campaigns Officer Megan Park takes members through a number of exercises with the aim to: get direction from the membership on the general format for their regional report, identify potential allies in the community, and collect information on the specific gaps in mental health services that our members experience in their work with the mentally ill. The workshops have gone very well with good feedback from the members. To find out more about the campaign, please contact Megan Park at 1-800-268-7376 ext. 207 or e-mail mpark@opseu.org
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Ontario Public Service Employees Union, 100 Lesmill Rd. Toronto, ON M3B 3P8 (416) 443-8888 www.opseu.org |
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