The Ontario Shores Annual Reports highlight achievements and events from the fiscal year April 1 - March 31. Clinical and financial data are also presented, along with stories from our staff, patients and families.
Patient Experience Surveys Patient, family and caregiver feedback is important to us as it helps us plan and improve services. Ontario Shores regularly conducts an anonymous survey called Ontario Perception of Care Tool for Mental Health and Addictions (OPOC-MHA). All patients are offered this...
Ontario Shores is committed to providing a great experience for patients, family members and caregivers. That’s why we make it a priority to partner with patient and family members to support us in making decisions that improve overall quality of care. Patient and Family Advisors are volunteers at...
As a family member and/or caregiver, we understand that your loved one's illness can also have a significant impact on you. We recognize that an essential part of an individual's recovery is the support and care of families and friends, so we would like to extend this support to you. Ontario Shores...
The Family Resource Centre (FRC) is a dedicated, therapeutic space for families to share knowledge, access resources and connect with other families for support and encouragement. Families play an important role in their loved one's journey of recovery. But often the significant emotional and...
Our youth's mental health not only impacts the individual but their family and friends. The Whiteman family know first-hand with the loss of Jackson, who was a beloved brother, son, and friend. Please help the Western University Mustangs Women's Lacrosse team in their efforts to raise funds in...
One year ago, on March 11, 2020, the world changed in ways we could barely comprehend when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in response to the spread of COVID-19. It was clear in the days that followed that we needed to adjust to a new normal, whatever that meant in those...
Ontario is in crisis. This is not a controversial statement by any means as reports of residents of our province lining up in hot spots in Toronto and Peel Region for an opportunity to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine have been widespread. The images of people lined up around tracks...
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores), The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (The Royal) and Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care (Waypoint) have implemented a unified and upgraded health information system (HIS) to provide seamless care to patients across the three...
Ontario Shores has partnered with Pizza Forno to bring their automated pizza oven to Ontario Shores. Ontario Shores is the first hospital in Ontario to offer this service. Staff, patients, volunteers, guests and members of the community can purchase fresh, artisanal pizza from the vending machine...
In the Spring, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) and Durham Mental Health Services (DMHS) announced their commitment to explore opportunities for greater collaboration. Ontario Shores and DMHS worked together to conduct a thorough analysis of an integration, its...
In May, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) and Durham Mental Health Services (DMHS) announced their commitment to explore opportunities for greater collaboration to enhance mental health care services in the region. Both organizations explored three options, from...
The Board of Directors of Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health (Ontario Shores Foundation) is pleased to welcome Shannon Stuart as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation. As an accomplished fundraising professional, Ms. Stuart brings more than 20 years’ experience to the role. She...
With us all being at home more we have come to rely our technologies to learn, to work, to stay connected, and to be entertained. Even with some stores and activities reopening, we are still heavily relying on screen time to get through our days. For most parents, they are worried about how much...
Ontario Shores and its Nutrition and Food Services (NFS) is #RisingUp to serve its community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NFS team have been doing things differently since the start of the pandemic. Outpatients have been struggling with meeting their basic everyday needs due to the closure of...
This past weekend was beautiful. The sun was shining, there was barely any wind, and some restrictions of quarantine were lifted. While most of us chose to stay at home and isolate ourselves in our own backyards, we saw many people flood to parks to escape the prisons of our homes and the awful...
This pandemic has led to most of us exhibiting all sorts of abnormal behaviours, one of which has been an increase in substance use as a way of coping. On a normal day having a loved one with a substance related disorders can be an emotional roller coaster. And in my experience talking to family...
There’s been a longstanding myth surrounding maintaining healthy cognition as we age, and that is that we can stay mentally healthy if we do a lot of puzzles and brain games. But, do you know the effects of what doing lots of puzzles has on your brain? You get really good at doing puzzles. Now, if...
You’ve probably heard a common myth that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Yes, it is a myth. This claim originated in the 1950’s out of research a plastic surgeon conducted where he found it took people about 21 days to become more accustomed to their new face. One magazine published this, and then...
Thank you. No matter how many ways I try to say it, it comes down to that phrase each and every day during this unprecedented time. Words simply cannot express how grateful I am for everyone at Ontario Shores and how proud I am of the collective work that’s been done since the World Health...
Whether you’re a front-line worker encroaching on burnout; a parent trying to juggle working from home and educating your kids; or you’ve been temporarily unemployed, we are all experiencing stressors from our current situation and could use a little self-care. But, there is still some...
There have been many articles that discuss resiliency and coping through finding meaning during this crisis. As a main focus of my job is to increase people’s knowledge of mental illness while also decreasing stigma, one questioning thought I’ve had: will we’ll see a positive attitude shift around...
The term burnout has become common workplace lingo for most professions in recent years. It is basically defined as chronic workplace stress with three defining characteristics including: exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy ( Maslach & Leiter 2016 ). While it isn’t actually a formal diagnosis, it...