The Alberta Alliance on Mental Illness & Mental Health (AAMIMH) says it's time for families and those with lived experience to play a far bigger role in advocating for improved mental health services in the province.
After unveiling a new strategic plan and hiring a new Interim Executive Director last year, the Alliance - now celebrating its 20th year as the province's largest mental health advocacy organization - recently secured a new three-year funding agreement from Alberta Health.
With its full funding request granted, the AAMIMH it is now mapping out plans to engage organizations supporting clients and families, including FAMI-Alberta (Families supporting Adults with Mental Illness in Alberta) and others. FAMI-A is a grassroots group that supports family members who are dealing with serious mental health conditions, such as Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.
Discussions are underway with Alliance members and FAMI-A to explore greater collaboration opportunities, including a potential family-centred conference focusing on mental illness and mental health early next year. "We need to find ways to ensure that families and those with lived experiences are included and heard in all of the Alliance's future consultation, priorities and communications activities," says Lee Hall, the Alliance's Interim Executive Director.
"A big part of the Alliance's focus, moving forward, is on giving families and those with lived experience a bigger voice in advocating for policy and mental health service improvements. We are looking at creating our new Voices Committee - part of a larger Voices strategy - as a more formal opportunity for family members and those with lived experience to share their experiences, insights and recommendations," Hall explains.
The Alliance's 18 members include professional associations such as the College of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Alberta, the Alberta College of Social Workers and the Psychologists' Association of Alberta, as well as mental health advocacy groups like the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta and individuals who are advocating for more effective mental health and addictions services. In order to be strong advocates, says Hall, the Alliance needs to ensure client and family perspectives are reflected in all of its priority areas.
Hall, who has been involved with Accreditation Canada as a surveyor and educator for nearly two decades - where she oversees large and small-scale evaluations of health systems, public and mental health services and community organizations - says she is excited about the Alliance's opportunities with a grassroots organization like FAMI-A.
"In keeping with best practices both nationally and internationally, we need to recognize the unique perspective families and those with lived experience bring to the table, and embed this in our advocacy work," she says.
"Let's face it, providers and funders play a key role in developing and providing services. But we are missing a critical voice if we don't ensure client and family voices are at the table when those decisions are made. Families have got to be involved at every level. We're going to take that to heart and embed family dialogue and engagement in all of our activities," she adds.
"FAMI-A has been organizing workshops or Boot Camps for its members - which they call Love You Forever - for some time. Thanks to our introduction to FAMI-A by Alberta Health Services (AHS), we are excited by the potential this new relationship brings, and we certainly see benefits here for both of us. It's an opportunity to bring family voices to an advocacy level so they can speak to government policy makers and service providers as well as to each other," says Hall.
FAMI-A's origins trace back to 2016, when Edmonton lawyer Averie McNary and a close friend realized they were both struggling to access appropriate mental health services for their two adult children.
"As parents of adult kids with serious mental illnesses, we discovered our mutual anger and frustration in trying to get support and help for our kids from the system, as well as support and help for ourselves. So the two of us got together and started making some cold calls, and we found that there was tremendous interest in this issue. We weren't alone," says McNary.
Soon after they connected with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Edmonton Region office, which offered them free space and administrative support. From there, they received further support from staff at AHS Addictions and Mental Health, Edmonton Zone. FAMI-A's founders then began planning mental health training sessions for other parents and caregivers.
"That morphed into the first Love You Forever Boot Camp event, which we held in November 2016. We're now working on our sixth event which is coming up on May 4th. So it's all about the education of families, including siblings, spouses, and natural supporters like close friends and neighbours, who are dealing with the impact of serious mental illness on a family member," says McNary.
FAMI-A's May 4th Boot Camp will be held at the Edmonton Law Courts, where attendees will have an opportunity to learn how Edmonton Mental Health Court (EMHC) functions. Launched last April - thanks largely to the efforts of Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Peter Rodd, Lead Psychiatrist for EMHC, and Assistant Chief Judge Larry Anderson - the Court is in session three days a week and deals with individuals accused of committing offences due at least partly to mental health issues.
Although FAMI-A now has its own website, monthly newsletter and Twitter account, it has little in the way of a formal organizational structure. "There are now 275 people on our mailing list but we're not incorporated. We have tried to keep it simple. It's really a core group of family members who are keeping it going, with some administrative support from the CMHA's Edmonton Region office," says McNary.
More recently, FAMI-A has also begun to recognize the value of advocacy issues, and is exploring how to play a bigger role on that front by working in tandem with Hall and the AAMIMH. "It's really exciting, this whole move toward creating more of a provincial hub through the Alliance, and we see a lot of mutual benefits from it," says McNary.
"One of the biggest issues for us is the sharing of information between healthcare professionals, providers and family members. So we're working slowly on that. We also have ongoing monthly meetings which are a combination of education sessions, business sessions and support sessions."
"The early discussion regarding a conference has begun, with the Alliance, FAMI-A and other potential partner organizations. It would feature a major focus on family engagement, services and support," says Hall.
"AAMIMH is also planning a Board retreat for its members in the near future to move forward on their new strategic plan. We will be consulting with our members on how to embed families and those with lived experiences in all of our priorities, our advocacy work and our communications. The bottom line is, they've got to be at the table with us at every level of the process."
After unveiling a new strategic plan and hiring a new Interim Executive Director last year, the Alliance - now celebrating its 20th year as the province's largest mental health advocacy organization - recently secured a new three-year funding agreement from Alberta Health.
With its full funding request granted, the AAMIMH it is now mapping out plans to engage organizations supporting clients and families, including FAMI-Alberta (Families supporting Adults with Mental Illness in Alberta) and others. FAMI-A is a grassroots group that supports family members who are dealing with serious mental health conditions, such as Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.
Discussions are underway with Alliance members and FAMI-A to explore greater collaboration opportunities, including a potential family-centred conference focusing on mental illness and mental health early next year. "We need to find ways to ensure that families and those with lived experiences are included and heard in all of the Alliance's future consultation, priorities and communications activities," says Lee Hall, the Alliance's Interim Executive Director.
"A big part of the Alliance's focus, moving forward, is on giving families and those with lived experience a bigger voice in advocating for policy and mental health service improvements. We are looking at creating our new Voices Committee - part of a larger Voices strategy - as a more formal opportunity for family members and those with lived experience to share their experiences, insights and recommendations," Hall explains.
The Alliance's 18 members include professional associations such as the College of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Alberta, the Alberta College of Social Workers and the Psychologists' Association of Alberta, as well as mental health advocacy groups like the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta and individuals who are advocating for more effective mental health and addictions services. In order to be strong advocates, says Hall, the Alliance needs to ensure client and family perspectives are reflected in all of its priority areas.
Hall, who has been involved with Accreditation Canada as a surveyor and educator for nearly two decades - where she oversees large and small-scale evaluations of health systems, public and mental health services and community organizations - says she is excited about the Alliance's opportunities with a grassroots organization like FAMI-A.
"In keeping with best practices both nationally and internationally, we need to recognize the unique perspective families and those with lived experience bring to the table, and embed this in our advocacy work," she says.
"Let's face it, providers and funders play a key role in developing and providing services. But we are missing a critical voice if we don't ensure client and family voices are at the table when those decisions are made. Families have got to be involved at every level. We're going to take that to heart and embed family dialogue and engagement in all of our activities," she adds.
"FAMI-A has been organizing workshops or Boot Camps for its members - which they call Love You Forever - for some time. Thanks to our introduction to FAMI-A by Alberta Health Services (AHS), we are excited by the potential this new relationship brings, and we certainly see benefits here for both of us. It's an opportunity to bring family voices to an advocacy level so they can speak to government policy makers and service providers as well as to each other," says Hall.
FAMI-A's origins trace back to 2016, when Edmonton lawyer Averie McNary and a close friend realized they were both struggling to access appropriate mental health services for their two adult children.
"As parents of adult kids with serious mental illnesses, we discovered our mutual anger and frustration in trying to get support and help for our kids from the system, as well as support and help for ourselves. So the two of us got together and started making some cold calls, and we found that there was tremendous interest in this issue. We weren't alone," says McNary.
Soon after they connected with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Edmonton Region office, which offered them free space and administrative support. From there, they received further support from staff at AHS Addictions and Mental Health, Edmonton Zone. FAMI-A's founders then began planning mental health training sessions for other parents and caregivers.
"That morphed into the first Love You Forever Boot Camp event, which we held in November 2016. We're now working on our sixth event which is coming up on May 4th. So it's all about the education of families, including siblings, spouses, and natural supporters like close friends and neighbours, who are dealing with the impact of serious mental illness on a family member," says McNary.
FAMI-A's May 4th Boot Camp will be held at the Edmonton Law Courts, where attendees will have an opportunity to learn how Edmonton Mental Health Court (EMHC) functions. Launched last April - thanks largely to the efforts of Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Peter Rodd, Lead Psychiatrist for EMHC, and Assistant Chief Judge Larry Anderson - the Court is in session three days a week and deals with individuals accused of committing offences due at least partly to mental health issues.
Although FAMI-A now has its own website, monthly newsletter and Twitter account, it has little in the way of a formal organizational structure. "There are now 275 people on our mailing list but we're not incorporated. We have tried to keep it simple. It's really a core group of family members who are keeping it going, with some administrative support from the CMHA's Edmonton Region office," says McNary.
More recently, FAMI-A has also begun to recognize the value of advocacy issues, and is exploring how to play a bigger role on that front by working in tandem with Hall and the AAMIMH. "It's really exciting, this whole move toward creating more of a provincial hub through the Alliance, and we see a lot of mutual benefits from it," says McNary.
"One of the biggest issues for us is the sharing of information between healthcare professionals, providers and family members. So we're working slowly on that. We also have ongoing monthly meetings which are a combination of education sessions, business sessions and support sessions."
"The early discussion regarding a conference has begun, with the Alliance, FAMI-A and other potential partner organizations. It would feature a major focus on family engagement, services and support," says Hall.
"AAMIMH is also planning a Board retreat for its members in the near future to move forward on their new strategic plan. We will be consulting with our members on how to embed families and those with lived experiences in all of our priorities, our advocacy work and our communications. The bottom line is, they've got to be at the table with us at every level of the process."