Archipel recognized as Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) by Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) 

Jul 10, 2024

Ontario Health Team for Ottawa East and Prescott-Russell receives official designation

The Archipel Ontario Health Team now holds Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) designation, as recognized by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). On Thursday, June 20, members of the Archipel team attended the RNAO Annual General Meeting in Toronto to receive the official designation.  

Receiving a BPSO designation demonstrates a commitment to excellence in implementing and evaluating several RNAO’s Best Practice Guidelines (BPGs). The RNAO is the professional association that represents registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs) and nursing students in the province. Archipel is a coordinated group of health and community service organizations and professionals operating in Ottawa East and Prescott-Russell, providing health care and services in both English and French.  

Dania Versailles, CMHA Ottawa’s Director of Clinical Services, was in attendance.  In Fall 2022, Dania was selected as co-chair of Archipel. Dania is a highly regarded leader in Black nursing in Ontario, and a steadfast proponent for French-language services in Eastern Ontario. 

 Prior to accepting the role of co-chair, Dania led the Archipel mental health and substance use health workgroup, a position that has been filled by CMHA Ottawa’s own Nancy Rouselle, Program Manager, Familiar Faces. Congratulations, Nancy!  

For the past four years, as part of the Archipel BPSO team, Dania and Nancy have been joined by Despina Pelekos, System Navigator, and Mik Phipps, Housing Outreach Case Manager. Despina and Mik are two emerging leaders at CMHA Ottawa and in the local community. 

According to Archipel, “Achieving the RNAO’s BPSO designation is the result of the Archipel BPSO Task Force member organizations’ quest for excellence and demonstrates their commitment to continuous improvement.” The involvement of CMHA Ottawa is instrumental in ensuring the mental health and substance use health community and its interests are front and centre with the improvements the OHT are tasked to implement system-wide for the citizens of Ottawa-East and Prescott-Russell geography in collaboration with more than 60 partner organizations.  

CMHA Ottawa is proud to stand with its Archipel partners Hôpital Montfort, Montfort Renaissance (MRI), and Ottawa Public Health (OPH). Congratulations to all involved.  

In addition to ensuring that key guidelines are embedded within services across organizations, the group is proud to have established a clinical for birthing people living with postpartum depression that don’t have primary care providers. It has also developed the capacity to educate mental health care providers in delivering reconsolidation therapy to individuals affected by PTSD that repeatedly visit hospital emergency departments. In both cases, the over-arching goals are to help divert people away from emergency rooms and help them access the right care and services to address their needs. 

For more on the Archipel BPSO designation from the RNAO, check out this article: Archipel receives official designation as a Best Practice Spotlight Organization (eso-archipel.ca) 

Photo courtesy of Archipel: Sharlène Clarke (Archipel), Stéphanie Bonenfant (MRI), Gasline Ternier (Montfort), Natalie Rozon (SPO), Dania Versailles (CMHA Ottawa), Natalie Ladouceur (Montfort) and Steve Vachon (MRI) at the RNAO AGM in Toronto last month.