OPA 2012 Annual Conference
Partners in Care: Transforming the System
March 30 & 31, 2012
The Westin Harbour Castle,
One Harbour Square, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 1A6
On behalf of the OPA Continuing Education Committee, it is once again my pleasure to welcome you to this year’s Ontario Psychiatric Association Annual Conference. Over the course of the conference you will have a chance to mingle with peers from across the province and enjoy a diverse and strong academic programme. This year we have shifted to a new venue, the Westin Harbour Castle, and we look forward to your feedback on this change.
The theme of this year’s annual conference mirrors incoming OPA President Dr. Sarah Jarmain’s presidential theme for the year, Partners in Care: Transforming the System, and builds on our ongoing efforts at engaging the profession and public. With last year’s release of the government policy paper on mental health, “Open Minds, Healthy Minds”, and with pending OMA-Ministry negotiations, it is essential we remain engaged in examining psychiatry’s role in society and continue working with other stakeholders while advocating for our profession and our patients.
The conference will open with a plenary session by Laughing Like Crazy, a peer support group that builds skills and uses humour to empower those who have experienced mental illness. Innovative peer models such as this not only help bring mental illness ‘out of the shadows’, they illustrate the power of working with partners to broaden the scope of public messaging on mental health and illness. The second day of the conference will feature a keynote presentation by award winning author and journalist André Picard. André has written and spoken extensively on public health, and specifically on mental health reform, was named Canada’s first “Public Health Hero” by the Canadian Public Health Association and a “Champion of Mental Health” by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health. André’s presentation is bound to provide an engaging and insightful analysis of unfolding mental health reforms.
The remainder of the programme includes a diverse range of renowned invited speakers, including Dr. Molyn Leszcz from Toronto on increasing effectiveness of psychotherapy, Dr. Laurence Kirmayer from McGill on key issues in cross-cultural psychiatry, Dr. Pierre Blier from Ottawa on advances in psychopharmacology of mood disorders, and Dr. Ken LeClair from Queen’s on development and practice of geriatric psychiatry. The submitted sessions and workshops being offered are equally exciting, ranging from a panel providing the latest updates from CANMAT, to overviews of the negotiation and medical-political landscape, sessions on health systems and service delivery, and of course many sessions to improve clinical management and skills. By the end of the conference, we are confident you will return to your practice with important new information, new ideas, and new insights.
Of course no conference should be “all work and no play”, and we hope you will also join us for this year’s Gala Dinner on the Friday night of the conference. As always this will be a great opportunity to mix with colleagues and OPA Council members, and honour the recipient of the T.A. Sweet Award.
I want to thank the Education Committee and OPA Council for all their hard work in putting together this year’s programme. Thank you again for joining us this year, we look forward to your participation and feedback!
Best regards,
K. Sonu Gaind
Chair, OPA Education Committee
Call for Abstracts
Abstract submission for the Conference program is now closed
