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 Centre for Addictionand Mental Health |
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About CAMH
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 Health promotion resourcesThe following information is meant to provide information about health promotion theory and practice within the mental health addictions fields. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) accepts the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health promotion, which states: "Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment. Health is, therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Therefore, health promotion goes beyond healthy life-styles to well-being." (WHO, 1986). Based on this definition, it is important to recognize that health promotion programs and services are not only appropriate for "well" people, but clinical populations as well. To address health promotion issues within various populations and settings, a range of strategies can be used including policy initiatives, environmental strategies, intersectoral partnerships and the broad determinants of health (i.e. employment, housing, income, social support, etc), as well as the more traditional lifestyle and public education initiatives.
1974: Minister of Health, Marc Lalonde released A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians and expanded the concept of health to include genetics, lifestyle, environment and the organization of health services. Evidence demonstrated that lifestyle influences health more than medical services, yet less than 1% was invested into preventive services in Canada. 1986: The First International Conference on Health Promotion was held and a guiding health promotion document (which continues to guide the field today) entitled The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was developed. Jake Epp, Minister of Health, released Achieving Health for All: A Framework for Health Promotion, which emphasized strengthening health services by reducing inequities and influencing the determinants of health, versus ad hoc health promotion activities. 1990: Health & Welfare Canada published A Guide for Health Promotion by Health Care Facilities, and reorienting health services became an international movement with the creation of the Budapest Declaration on Health Promoting Hospitals. A few years later, WHO collaborating centres on health promotion and health systems reform were established at the University of Toronto and Dalhousie University. Public health units continued to focus on promoting health through healthy eating and active living, while gaining more momentum to increase efforts toward social determinants of health including housing, income and social support. Research and publications on the broader determinants of health were published such as Why are some people healthy and others not? The determinants of health of populations.
Health promotion at CAMH has been an important aspect of service delivery in the past and continues to be with the enhancing health promotion and prevention strategic direction. The Enhancing Prevention and Health Promotion Implementation Team (EPHPIT) was struck to define CAMH's role and approach to promoting health, preventing substance abuse and mental illness, as well as improving quality of life for clients. The initial tasks of the team included developing a conceptual framework to guide the prevention and heath promotion activities of CAMH. The framework includes health promotion, relapse prevention, health recovery and prevention as broad categories for promoting quality of life and influencing determinants of health, protective factors and risk factors. The team was also responsible for identifying implications of the framework and making strategic recommendations for clinical and community-based programs. The team decided, as an initial step, to develop an inventory of health promotion within clinical areas based on the framework in order to get a sense of what is currently going on. Currently CAMH clinical settings are the focus of an education and consultation process to enhance health promotion and prevention. It was decided that clinical areas should be the focus because of varied levels of understanding about what health promotion is and how it is practised. Work is also being planned to improve employee wellness and workplace health promotion programming for CAMH staff.
Health promotion, the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health, can be considered an umbrella term that incorporates these activities. Harm reduction is a policy or program directed towards decreasing the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence (although abstinence can be one of the strategies). Prevention can be divided into three levels for comparison. Primary prevention is directed toward preventing the initial occurrence of a disorder; secondary prevention seeks to arrest or retard existing disease and its effects; and tertiary prevention seeks to reduce the occurrence of relapses. Relapse prevention includes specific clinical strategies designed to help clients achieve their substance use and mental health goals. Finally, health recovery includes early intervention, treatment, rehabilitation, and harm reduction. What is mental health promotion? Mental health promotion is the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals and communities to take control over their lives and improve their mental health. What are "determinants of health"? Determinants of health are factors impacting on living and working conditions conducive to health. Among the determinants of health are housing, education, genetics, income, employment, culture, physical environment, equity, gender and race. How can one go about "doing" health promotion? The following strategies, which are often combined, are commonly used:
What are some examples of health promotion at CAMH? Where can I get more information about health promotion? The following websites provide access to a variety of health promotion topics:
What resources does CAMH have to help me with health promotion? There are several key contacts within CAMH who are able to provide support for individuals engaging in health promotion work. Within Policy, Education and Health Promotion (PEHP), a team has been formed to provide consultative support to clinical and community- based programs in order to encourage the integration of and build the capacity for health promotion within CAMH. This team will be able to help you with planning and answer other questions you might have such as: What is the difference between health promotion, prevention and population health? How can my health promotion and diversity efforts be combined? What are some best practices is health promotion? Feel free to contact the following representatives from the Health Promotion Team to assist you: Marianne Kobus-Matthews, Senior Health Promotion Consultant - marianne_kobusmatthe@camh.net. Ms. Reggie Caverson, Senior Health Promotion Consultant; Health Education Enforcement Partnership (HEP) Coordinator, Ontario
- reggie_caverson@camh.net Content updated: September 07, 2006 4:51 PM |
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Published May 09, 2008 4:22 PM ID#695-SA |