Letter from Gail Czukar: At the Centre Winter 2004

At the Centre

Executive Vice President of Policy and Planning

As the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health approached its fifth anniversary last year, the Board of Trustees felt it was an appropriate time to review and reflect on its progress and consider where the organization should be heading in the future. When CAMH developed its first strategic directions in 1998, four different organizations were just starting out on this journey together.

The ensuing five years have been exhilarating and sometimes turbulent, but the Strategic Plan has been instrumental in helping CAMH to maintain its focus. We have successfully merged into one organization, although, admittedly, there may still be a few wrinkles to work out.

Beginning last year, a Strategic Plan Renewal Process led by the Board of Trustees at CAMH was started with wide participation from a variety of stakeholders. Over several months, staff, physicians, clients, family members, unions, volunteers, the community and many others within and outside CAMH took part in an exciting and challenging process that resulted in the development of a renewed Strategic Plan.

Our 2003/06 Strategic Plan comprises a refined mission statement and vision along with an updated set of values and commitments that clearly reflect CAMH's growth and development over the past five years. CAMH's core mandates in client-centred care, education, health promotion/prevention and research have been maintained, and the plan emphasizes our ongoing and growing commitment to provide high quality services to our clients in those four areas.

In addition, as part of this process, we took the opportunity to define and identify our strategic priorities for the next three years. These priorities are reflective of our strategic directions and include the following: Client Employment Initiative, Housing and Community Development, Early Intervention, Public Policy Development, Employer of Choice, CAMH Aboriginal Services, the Positron Emission Tomography Centre (PET) and Centre of Excellence for Problem Gambling.

With the addition of three new Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs) - Dev Chopra, EVP of Corporate Services, Franco Vaccarino, EVP of Programs and myself, EVP Policy and Planning - will be able to bring to life our renewed Strategic Plan. This structure provides the backdrop for CAMH to move forward on key initiatives like the integration of research/clinical/education and health promotion activities, and allows us to focus on our expanding role in public policy development and organizational planning. The consolidation of our corporate services under one portfolio enables us to streamline our support services to better support our core mandates.

Currently, we are in the process of producing a comprehensive booklet entitled From Discovery to Recovery: Transforming Lives and Promoting Health that provides an overview of CAMH and outlines our 2003-2006 Strategic Plan. A copy will be mailed to you when it becomes available. In the meantime, a copy is online at www.camh.net

As CAMH continues to grow and develop, we are also considering a change in how CAMH portrays itself as an organization. One immediate result has been the creation of a new logo (see sidebar on A new look for CAMH).

• Print Bookmark