Barbara Steep - Health Promotion and Prevention

Strengthening Families for the Future

Barbara works in several of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods, building partnerships among a variety of community agencies to deliver Strengthening Families for the Future. To date programs have been delivered in Lawrence Heights, Eglinton East/Kennedy Park and Kingston Galloway. This unique prevention program reaches out to families who have a parent or caregiver who has had a substance use or mental health challenge and has children 7 -11. Over the course of 14 weeks, the program provides families with an opportunity to strengthen their skills and knowledge in parenting, communication and positive discipline.

Through a grant from Child Welfare, Barbara also plays a role in bringing Strengthening Families to clients associated with child protection services by supporting the development of programs at Native Child and Family, The Jean Tweed Centre and Children’s Aid – Toronto Branch.

Toronto Drug Strategy

Barbara represents CAMH on the Prevention Working Group of the Toronto Drug Strategy.

The role of the working group is to develop strategies to expand comprehensive prevention programming for youth, children and families.

Parkdale and Regent Park Focus Communities

Preventing substance use problems and building healthy communities are the goals of Parkdale and Regent Park Focus communities. In these projects, local agencies work together to develop programs for a variety of audiences and in ways that are meaningful to the community. Barbara contributes to these projects through her membership on the Advisory Committee, and provides support by advising on program initiatives and funding opportunities as the organizations undergo change in their relationship with their primary funder: The Ministry of Health Promotion.

Council for a Tobacco Free Toronto

Barbara contributes to the work of the Council for a Tobacco Free Toronto in the areas of awareness, advocacy and policy development as it relates to the harms of second hand smoke. A recent focus of the Council has been second hand smoke in multi unit dwellings. Through the development of a pamphlet, display and news articles, the Council is bringing attention to the need for builders, owners and superintendents of apartment and condominium buildings to address the problem of drifting second hand smoke through improved building standards and policy development.

Health Promoting Hospitals

This fall CAMH is hosting Strengthening Families for the Future at its College Street site. Holding the program at CAMH makes it easy for families associated with CAMH to access the program, as well as to those living in the local community. In addition, it supports CAMH’s value of being family sensitive, and making CAMH a health promoting hospital – one that creates connections with the community it serves and seeks opportunities to partner with community agencies in the delivery of its programs. To make the program a reality, Barbara has worked closely with different areas of CAMH, in particular the Family and Women’s Addictions programs, and the Child, Youth and Family program. The CAMH SFF program gets underway November 16 and will be delivered through a partnership which includes The Child Development Institute, Toronto Public Health and CAMH’s Family and Women’s Addictions programs.