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CMHA National Conference starts today with celebration of 60th anniversary of CMHA Ottawa
Dec 19, 2016
The Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) national conference, “Changing Perspectives…Addressing the Social Determinants of Mental Health and Addictions”, hosted by CMHA Ottawa, opened today at the Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel, with several specialized institutes taking place. The main sessions and keynotes will be held Thursday and Friday, Oct. 17-18. CMHA Ottawa and the Mental Health Commission of Canada are co-hosting a reception to open the conference today at 5:00 p.m. to celebrate CMHA Ottawa’s 60th anniversary, and to showcase their new partnership and focus on workplace mental health. The two organizations will formalize their partnership on Friday afternoon through a formal agreement.
The conference addresses the growing awareness of the issues related to mental illness and the costs in human suffering that occur when serious mental illness is left untreated. While 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, a person’s mental health status is ultimately determined by a range of conditions referred to as the social determinants of health. These include: income and social status; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions; social environments; physical environments; personal health practices and coping skills; healthy child development; gender; and culture.
“Individuals with severe mental illness experience negative health outcomes to an astounding degree, dying up to twenty-five years earlier than the general population. There is a growing commitment to ‘do’ something about these issues and a new and expanding body of knowledge and evidence about what can or should be done,” says Tim Simboli, Executive Director, CMHA Ottawa. “Some would say we are experiencing a revolution in our approaches to helping individuals with mental illness and addressing the root causes for the overall health disparities experienced by this population.”
“Mental health and addiction stakeholders and governments have to focus more “upstream” to address the determinants of health and the social determinants of mental health and addiction in order to change the face of mental health and mental illness in Canada” says Peter Coleridge, National CEO, CMHA.