CAMH receives support from TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund

For Immediate Release – December 14, 2010 (Toronto) - Today Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI) announced CAMH’s Community Support and Research Unit as one of 19 community organizations to receive funding from the new TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund to help deliver financial literacy programming in their communities. Many CAMH clients live in poverty and have low levels of financial literacy; this initiative will have a profound impact by increasing the financial health and well-being of hundreds of the clients CAMH serves by helping them to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to take control of their financial futures.

While CAMH’s Income Maintenance and Advocacy Program (IMAP) has a proven track record of providing a wide range of income services to over 1,000 clients a year, it was not until our recent collaboration with SEDI that we were introduced to new and innovative thinking around income issues. Our work with SEDI has inspired creative ideas and new perspectives on how to expand and enhance the income services we provide to our clients, including a Financial Literacy Series designed to be facilitated by frontline CAMH clinicians which has recently been piloted. With the $100,000 in new funding, this initiative will be expanded more broadly, and a wide variety of online education and resources, training, and professional development opportunities for CAMH clinical staff will be developed, allowing us to reach more clinicians and, through them, help more clients with mental illness and addictions. Providing our clients with the opportunity to develop personal growth in the area of financial literacy can make all the difference in helping them work towards reaching their financial goals, such as acquiring workforce skills, and gaining financial independence.

For more information and to learn more about the other recipients, please visit: http://td.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1113

Media contact: Michael Torres, CAMH Media Relations, 416-595-6015; or by email at media@camh.net

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The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit www.camh.net.