Welcome to OPA

The Ontario Psychiatric Association is the provincial voice of Ontario’s psychiatrists. 

The OPA serves to

  • engage in systems advocacy relating to mental health
  • represent the interests of psychiatrists and individuals living with mental illness or substance use disorders
  • raise awareness and promote understanding of mental illness and substance use disorders
  • support psychiatrists in their professional development, practice, and advocacy

Recent OPA Advocacy Work            

  • Call to delay Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)
  • Mental Health Act Reform: lobbying to reduce legislative barriers to care for the severely ill  e.g. Form 3 criteria; Treatment Pending Appeal
    • OPA Letter-Writing Campaign - advocate legislative change to allow earlier access to care for your loved ones with severe mental illness
  • Protecting delivery of OHIP-covered psychotherapy
  • Fighting stigma against psychiatric illness in the Ministry of Transportation’s 2018 updates to Medical Condition Reporting requirements
  • Supporting Keira’s Law to expand education for judges about domestic violence
  • Integration of mental health and addictions care 

Who are OPA members?

  • psychiatrists practicing in Ontario, Canada
  • associates in related disciplines  e.g. GP psychotherapy, family medicine, nursing, registered psychotherapy, social work, psychology, occupational therapy
  • trainees in the above fields

Join us – Keep Psychiatric Advocacy Thriving!
As a not-for-profit, the OPA relies on membership dues to do the work that only the OPA can do – serving the needs of psychiatrists and patients across the province.

Member Benefits

Advocacy & Leadership

Partner Discounts and Affiliates

Practice Support

OPA Council

Working groups

Resident Advisory Council

  • Review Courses:

UToronto Psych Refresh 20%
UOttawa EK Koranyi 10%

  • PsychedUp CME 25%
  • Sick Kids CCMH Learning Institute 15%
  • Leading Edge Seminars up to 10%
  • Caversham Booksellers 5%
  • PESI $50
  • McLean Hospital 10%
  • Intelligent Office

Job board

Office space listings

Research recruitment

Curated clinical resources for psychiatrists

Curated service and education resources for patients

How else can you support the OPA?

  • Apply to represent the patient and family voice on working groups and/or the OPA Patient Advisory Council 
  • Contribute financially
  • Sponsor the OPA
  • Follow us on social media     

The Ontario Psychiatric Association cannot comment or advise on matters relating to clinical care (e.g. referrals, patient care, diagnosis, treatment, hospitalization).  The OPA is not  involved in individual cases of clinical care or legal advocacy. The OPA is not a disciplinary or regulatory body in the medical field, and does not investigate complaints about physicians.

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News & Updates

 
 
OPA Advocacy

January 2024

Canada not ready to expand MAID for mental disorders 

In a brief to the Special Joint Committee on MAID, the OPA identified Canada's medical system as being unprepared to safely expand MAID for mental disorders as sole underlying medical condition (MD-SUMC), under the current Federal legislative framework. 

The OPA's recent study on perspectives of Canadian psychiatrists and psychiatry residents found that 61% of participants disagreed that MAID should be permitted for MD-SUMC, while 80% disagreed that the Canadian medical system is prepared to safely support the expansion of MAID for MD-SUMC by March 17, 2024.  

Read the OPA's preliminary study findings.


January 2024

Current mental health laws impede early access to psychiatric treatment, leading to worse health outcomes for incapable persons with severe mental illness who are denied rights to health.  The OPA calls for legislative change to better meet the needs of Ontarians with severe mental illness and the families supporting them.
The Ontario Psychiatric Association proposes 3 reforms to Ontario mental health law:

  1. Permit Treatment Pending Appeal under the Health Care Consent Act
  2. Remove past response to treatment from Form 3 Box B Involuntary Admission Criteria, under the Mental Health Act
  3. Extend a first involuntary admission to up to 30 days, under a Form 3

Read the OPA's detailed Mental Health Law Reform Proposals and engage on social media


May 2023

Earlier this year, the OPA followed former Toronto Mayor John Tory's call for a mental health summit. Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier of Ontario and Minister of Health, responded to the OPA. Read the response letter here.


Psychotherapy Advocacy

April 2023

Dr Renata Villela, OPA Past President, published a Letter to the Editor in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry this month, with several current and past OPA Councillors as co-authors. Read more.


OPA Statement on Uninsured Program Cuts

March 2023

The Ontario Psychiatric Association is disappointed by the Ontario government's decision to stop health care coverage for all by ending the Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Persons Program, effective March 31, 2023. Read more. 


© 2024 Ontario Psychiatric Association
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