2021 Canadian Collaborative
Mental Health Care Conference
Justice, health equity, and reducing the digital divide
October 19-23, 2021
Register now for the 2021 annual Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Care Conference held in partnership with the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, our sister organization in the U.S. Our joint conference will be held virtually this Fall, with a day dedicated to Canadian content on October 19th, followed by a joint integrated event with Canadian and American content October 20th-23rd.
This year’s theme is Justice, Health Equity, and Reducing the Digital Divide. In the wake of a global pandemic and increased international awareness of systemic racism, the time is now for sustainable action to address health and social inequities. This year’s international conference will focus on acknowledging and addressing the systemic racial and socioeconomic inequities in mental health care and will examine a path forward together. We will focus, not only on research and ideas, but actionable steps to help bring equitable health care to all.
This year’s international conference will feature more than 90 breakout sessions of peer-reviewed content, including many with a Canadian focus, representing a diverse blend of topics and clinical, research, administrative, policy, or training issues. The conference will include inspiring programming in innovative areas of collaborative and integrated healthcare, especially highlighting (though not limited to) the following:
Socioeconomic, racial, and other inequities in healthcare with paths to move forward
Actionable steps to bring equitable healthcare to all
Telehealth sustainability and leveraging the virtual platform to reduce disparity.
Tuesday, October 19th will be a special “Canada Day”, hosted by the Canadian co-chairs and conference advisor. The day will be devoted to exploring health equity as a human right, justice, and the future of collaborative mental health care in Canada. Confirmed presenters include keynote speaker Nick Kates providing the latest updates on collaborative care and presenting the new CPA/CFPC position paper; a panel discussion on how collaborative care can advance health equity with Maria Patriquin, Robert Wright, Mary Jane Hampton, Praseedha Janakiram and Christopher Mushquash; and a lived experience keynote by Tyler Simmonds. This dynamic day will be interactive and feature a mix of presenters with the power to unite people and ideas, and propel action and policies. The conference will serve as a catalyst to various stakeholders in the community, organizations, and government in order to strengthen innovations in the provision of mental health care services in Canada at a critical time. We aim to cultivate community through collaboration by investing in a vision of collaborative mental health care that is more equitable, inclusive, and diverse.
Registration gives you access to over 120 concurrent sessions as well as 60 posters/webcasts/podcasts at a special rate (for Canadians only) of $150 US. With your registration, you can also provide free registration to a student or person with lived experience. See details below.
…Your registration Pays it Forward!
In an effort to demonstrate awareness and commitment to social justice, this year’s registration for Canadian participants will include a “pay it forward” model wherein an individual’s registration will cover the cost of another attendee. This will allow an individual or organization to immediately impact the quality of the conference through more diverse representation and engagement. A key component of fostering health equity is enabling access to education, research, and innovations. Networking opportunities can lead to novel partnerships and strengthen collaborative and integrated health care.
We strongly encourage you to invite a person with lived experience, a student, or another person who might otherwise face barriers to attending the conference to participate with you. Once you have registered for the conference and identified your partner, please introduce them to Sari Ackerman (Sari.Ackerman@HamiltonFHT.ca) to provide them with the promotional code that will make their registration free.
Additional bursaries for registration are also available upon request by contacting Sari (limited numbers apply).
More information about the conference is available on our conference page as well as on the CFHA website. If you have any questions, please contact Jackie Hahn at jhahn@cfha.net.
We look forward to a great conference in October!
Dr. Matt Burkey and Dr. Maria Patriquin, Conference co-chairs
