On January 24, 2017, CAMH Education was proud to launch Communicating with People with Mental Health Disabilities: What Justice Sector Professionals Can Do to Remove Barriers, part of the EnAbling Change Program.
This online training, created in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Toronto Branch acknowledges that:
- People with mental health disabilities face barriers in all sectors of society.
- Justice sector professionals must understand these barriers and how to use effective communication to increase equal access to services.
The launch featured speakers such as the Honourable Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Government and Consumer Services and Minister Responsible for Accessibility, Justice Edward Kelly, Ontario Court of Justice, Shelia Bristo, Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Court Services Division and Steve Lurie, Executive Director of CMHA Toronto Branch. Each speaker recognized the need for this type of training program and its potential to remove barriers within the justice system for individuals with mental health disabilities.
The Communicating with People with Mental Health Disabilities course has been designed for people working in the Ontario justice sector, including:
- members of the judiciary
- tribunal members and staff
- lawyers
- paralegals
- professionals working in courthouses, and legal and probation offices
- any other justice sector professionals who provide services to people with mental health disabilities.
The goals of the course are to:
- increase awareness of the legal obligations of justice sector service providers to meet the communication needs of people with mental health disabilities
- increase awareness of mental health disabilities and related communication barriers
- provide practical information and strategies on identifying and removing barriers in order to offer effective communications and services.
The course consists of four modules that include information on:
- social and medical models of disability
- common mental health issues and related disabilities
- stigma, discrimination and social determinants of health
- the impact of trauma
- communication strategies.
It takes three to four hours to complete the course, but participants can select the modules they want to review in whatever sequence they wish, and work at their own pace.
The course features multimedia audio and video clips from justice sector professionals and people with lived experience. It also features additional material such as case studies, tip sheets and other resources, including referral and health service information.
We’d like to acknowledge the core team of CAMH staff who helped create and develop the training:
- Mark Fernley, Rosalicia Rondon and Oliver Ho, of Education Services, who worked through the content including the video interviews and accumulation of addition resources.
- Anne Simon and Doug Giles of the Simulation and Digital Innovation team, supported by Alan Tang and Shirley Lin of IMG, who uploaded the content to a CAMH-hosted learning management system and ensured the project met an elevated level of accessibility standards.
- Erica McDiarmid from the CAMH Evaluation team, who will be providing a report on the outcomes of the project.
The project was supported by Ivan Silver, Latika Nirula and Asha Maharaj of the CAMH Education management team.
This is great work that will go a long way to help, as the program name says, enable change!