Patient Wellness and Patient Engagement at CAMH

RBC Patient and Family Learning Space

The RBC Patient and Family Learning Space (PFLS) is an interactive hub for patients, families and the community to access reliable information about mental health, substance use and recovery. The PFLS offers services in-person and virtually, along with resources in print, web and app formats. Through the PFLS you can attend interactive workshops and webinars, and discover a variety of community-based services that can support you and the people you care for in their experience of mental health, substance use and addiction challenges, along with their treatment and recovery.

For information about upcoming events and new resources, subscribe to the monthly Patient and Family Learning Space Newsletter or view the newsletters here.

Gifts of Light

Gifts of Light helps CAMH’s frontline staff supply patients with basic needs items such as toiletries. This program also supports with meaningful patient experiences and activities that can help in their recovery, such as art and music therapy. Gifts of Light is supported through the generosity of our donors. 

Patient and Family Engagment

Patient and family partners collaborate with CAMH staff, physicians and leadership in a wide array of projects and initiatives throughout the hospital, sharing their ideas and experiences as members of working groups, steering committees, and focus groups. These important partnerships support higher quality, safer and more efficient healthcare, improved patient outcomes, and greater patient, family, staff and physician satisfaction.

To support this work, CAMH has developed and implemented a Patient and Family Engagement Roadmap, which is based on the principles of Patient- and Family-Centered Care. The Roadmap details specific actions that guide us toward a future where patients and families are included in all aspects of our organizational, clinical, research and education initiatives—helping us to achieve the highest quality care.

To learn more about our philosophy and approach to patient and family engagement, and to see some examples of how patient and family engagement is shaping service development and quality improvement at CAMH, see the Patient and Family Engagement at CAMH booklet.

Patient and Family Partners Program

Patient and family engagement at CAMH means patients, family and health care professionals are actively collaborating to improve health care quality, both at direct care and hospital system levels. One of our structures for supporting patient and family engagement is the Patient and Family Partners Program (PFPP).

The PFPP welcomes and orients patients and family who are interested in sharing their ideas and experiences to help to improve care for all. The PFPP then matches patient and family partners with projects, based on partner interests and experiences.

Patient and family partners have the opportunity to provide direct input and to collaborate on CAMH programs, policies, services and research initiatives. Partner activities include:

• Sharing ideas via surveys or focus groups
• Being a member of a project team and/or committee
• Providing input and recommendations on research projects

To learn more about the PFPP, please contact the our team at PFPProgram@camh.ca