The third edition of the CMHA’s annual Mental Health for All (MH4A) Conference took place in Montreal, from October 22^nd to October 24^th 2018. The conference gathered health care providers, front-line workers, researchers, funders, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience. 2018 was CMHA’s 100^th anniversary, and the conference’s theme was “Ahead by a century: the shape of things to come”. This year, the aim of the conference was to envision the future of mental health in Canada, by fostering creation, sharing and innovation. Talks and discussions ranged from public health’s role in mental health promotion and illness prevention, the science of mental health, substance use and mental health, taking a progressive approach towards diverse populations, to developing mentally healthy schools, campuses, and workplace.

Members of the ACCESS Open Minds team and network were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to present their findings at this conference, at our booth, presentations, and in the poster sessions. At our booth, we shared our learnings regarding early identification, community mapping, e-mental health, peer support practices, and other helpful intervention tools. For our presentation, we decided on a diverse range of presenters: members from our Central Office, our National Youth Council and from sites across the country. Our presenters spoke about the history of the ACCESS Open Minds’ project, the rationale for our research, updates and successes from our sites, as well as key takeaways for youth engagement from our National Youth Council. We presented three posters during the conference: one on families and carers’ experiential knowledge and expertise on family engagement, one on youth engagement in the clinician hiring process and one on access to mental health services for homeless youth.

We would like to congratulate all of our presenters for their excellent work and thanks to those who came to visit our booth, came by our posters and saw our presentations- we loved sharing discussing our project with you!

Click here to download the presentations:

• Creating Culture Shifts: Collaboration, Outreach and Diversity in Service Transformation
• Transformation, Collaboration and Diversity in Youth Mental Health
• The Youth Space-the Experience at Parc-Extension (FR)

Click here to download the posters:

• Involving Diverse Stakeholders on Hiring Panels: Transforming Youth Mental Healthcare
• ACCESS Open Minds Family and Carers Council: Active Partners in Youth Mental Healthcare
• Access to Mental Health Services for Homeless Youth