Resources for clients, families and friends
CAMH provides various helpful resources for clients and families. Here are some highlights:
Supports for Families and Friends lists a variety of services for families of individuals who experience mental health and/or substance use disorders
The CAMH McLaughlin Information Centre is committed to supporting the many people who find it difficult to access the mental health and addiction systems.
Guide to CAMH’s Programs and Services, including Care and Treatment Programs.
Education and Booklets:
Access to accurate, reliable and impartial information is critical for clients, their families and friends to be able to make
informed decisions around care, treatment and recovery, and to reduce the stigma still associated with addiction and mental
health issues.
A new public information series from CAMH Publications
Understanding Psychiatric Medications
This series of booklet/brochures provides concrete, balanced information in plain language that can help people better understand
and make choices about psychiatric drugs. Titles in this series include: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Benzodiazepines
and Mood Stabilizers.
Online Self-directed Tutorials
The Mental Health and Addiction 101 series consists of a variety of quick, easy to use online tutorials for anyone who wants to learn more about mental health and addiction
topics. This series includes tutorials such as: Introduction to Addiction, Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorders, Depression,
Older Adults, Posttraumatic Stress Disorders, Schizophrenia, Stages of Change, Stigma and more.
A Family Guide to Concurrent Disorders
Families need help to deal with the impact of concurrent disorders, but families are also a key to finding effective solutions.
To help their relatives on the journey to recovery, families need: information about substance use and mental health problems;
a common language with treatment providers; strategies to cope with issues associated with concurrent disorders; and strategies
to look after themselves and reduce the impact of their relatives’ problems on their own lives.
What Parents Need to Know about Teens
What Parents Need to Know about Teens addresses the facts and myths of teen life and teens’ relationships with parents. Each
section of the booklet is devoted to a different parenting strategy:
1. Be an effective parent: Balance sensitivity and firmness.
2. Place an emphasis on safety, responsibility and obeying rules.
3. Teach—don’t just criticize.
4. Understand your teen’s development—and how it affects your relationship.
5. Understand the pressures—and the risks—your teen faces.
Growing Up Resilient: Ways to Build Resilience in Children and Youth
Resilience is an important aspect of mental well-being. Bouncing back from today’s stresses is one of the best life skills
children and youth can develop. Growing Up Resilient is a must-read for adults (including parents, teachers and front-line workers) who want to increase resilience in the children
and youth in their lives.
Stigma: Understanding the impact of prejudice and discrimination on people with mental health and substance use problems
Moving beyond stigma: Information for families of people with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems
Substance Abuse Treatment for Young People - What you need to know
This pamphlet is for parents/guardians, relatives, teachers, friends and anyone who may be concerned about alcohol or other
substance use in a person under 25, and includes services available for young people in the Greater Toronto Area. This pamphlet
was developed by the Toronto Youth Addiction Cluster, representing a number of agencies serving youth with substance use issue,
including CAMH.
Methadone Maintenance Treatment: Client Handbook
This book should answer many of the questions you may have about methadone treatment, and can help you to know what questions
you should ask your doctor, pharmacist, counsellor and others. It’s put together so that you can either dip into it, or read
it all at once, as you wish. There’s information here for those thinking about methadone treatment, for the new client and
the long-term client, and for families and friends. You can use this information to help you to understand and make decisions
about your treatment. You can use it to educate others. You can use it to help you to get well.
Information Guides
These concise, informative and accessible guides are written for people with mental health concerns, their families and friends,
and anyone else interested in an introduction to the many aspects of mental health. The information guides help clients in
talking with care providers, by educating and empowering everyone involved. The guides have been a source of knowledge and
support for many people.
Hear me, Understand me, Support me: What young women want you to know about depression
Hear Me, Understand Me, Support Me explores the diverse challenges that young women experience in relation to depression;
prevention strategies; healthy helping relationships; the dos and don'ts of working with young women; and referrals and resources
that can provide more information. Each section has three key features: “Hear Me,” “Understand Me” and “Support Me.”
Information about CAMH for clients and families
The information collected here has been created for clients, patients and anyone considering coming to CAMH for care, so they
can begin to make informed decisions about what is best for them. This booklet provides an overview of CAMH's services and
programs. Family members and friends of people who use our services may also be interested in this information. We also have
programs designed specifically for family members and friends.
Staff Pocket Guide to Services For Families
A list of services provided by CAMH provides a variety of programs for families at each of its four main sites as well as
at satellite offices. Also, unless indicated otherwise, services are open to non-CAMH as well as CAMH client families.
ID#1321 -SP
Content updated:
November 02, 2009 11:27 AM
Centre for Addiction
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