Executive Director’s Report

Alexander Graham Bell wrote “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones that open for us.”

My hope for all of us as we enter this upcoming year is that we do focus on all the doors that may be open to us as the CAMH door closes.

Since I arrived at FOR almost 15 years ago, we have always been housed under the CAMH umbrella. I have appreciated the generosity of CAMH in providing our rent, phones and computer access. And I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank them for this support.

Come April 2012, we will be opening another door at FOR and I wish I knew with all certainty where this door may be, but for now, we are exploring all the possibilities. It will need to be space that is conducive to our family work, accessible to families who come from all over the Toronto area and affordable. The likely reality is that our funding from the Toronto LHINS will not increase which means either more fundraising or creative use of shared space with other organizations. I am grateful to our sponsor Community Resources Connections of Toronto and David Lemire their Executive Director for supporting us through this process.

We will be reaching out to our families and community partners to brainstorm with us all doors that may open up for us.

This year, we have also had to say good bye, for now, to Krista McKinnon who left to have a baby. Emily has also left family work to lead TTYL full-time. These changes have led to hiring 2 new employees – Elly Litvak and Jessica Bush. We have worked with Elly on community development activities and are so pleased to have her with us. Jessica was a student with us 4 years ago and I am thrilled to welcome her back.

FOR has made a commitment to have as many student placements as possible so these students have the opportunity to learn about recovery. This year we welcome 3 new students and I would like to thank the students from last year – Nadeen, Jenessa, Alyssa and Michael. Hopefully, they will continue the recovery work and perhaps one day they will also come back to FOR.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the FOR staff, Emily, Linda, Calista, Marian and Shirley for all their hard work with families, TTYL or behind the scenes. We continue to try to offer innovative and effective programming for our youth and families. This year, the staff have also focused on our accountability procedures to ensure that we are meeting the standards, targets and guidelines of our funders.

Advocacy and community development initiatives are important to the FOR community and this past year we established Families for Recovery an advocacy group of both family members and people with the lived experience. This group developed the first Trialogue in the Toronto area. I would like to also thank all those involved in this for their commitment to recovery work.

I would also like to give a big thank you to our board members. This year, FOR has needed them more than ever as we try to navigate the closure of the CAMH door; increase our accountability mechanisms and raise even more money. It is not glamorous work but it is so necessary and I appreciate it tremendously.

In closing, I would like to thank our families and youth who come to FOR. You are the ones that make it all worthwhile. We admire your strength, determination and resilience. Without you, we would not work so hard to make sure that FOR looks to open all doors and keep growing this amazing program. Thank you.

Karyn Baker

Chairperson’s Report

This year has been filled with the unexpected. We have experienced tremendous growth in our Talk to Youth Lately program. This was possible due to a large donation from the Christina Hendrie Foundation and a two year grant from the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport. We also ran our most successful golf tournament in 2010. With these funds, we have been able to enhance our staff capacity and the number of youth that participate in this program. The young people in TTYL had a busy year with a number of public performances culminating in grand performance earlier this year called Minds Matter which you can now check out on You Tube.

Another unexpected development was that CAMH has informed us that we will not be moving into their new space on Queen Street. We have been told that they can no longer afford to pay for space of their many partner agencies. CAMH kindly gave us space for another year at Pape and Danforth. At the end of April 2012, we will be again moving and for the first time ever, it will not be under the home of CAMH.

The staff, board and our sponsor organization, Community Resources Connections of Toronto (CRCT) have been exploring what options are available to us. Our problem is that our budget, as is, will not be sufficient for rent. Our options include program cutbacks to pay for rent, increasing our fundraising revenue or sharing space with existing organizations or amalgamating with a larger mental health organization. The conversations will continue and we welcome input especially from the families that we support.

We have also had some unexpected change with our board, particularly the resignation of Steve McIntyre. Steve felt the need to resign as his personal commitments did not give him the time required to fulfill his role on the board. Steve did a great job as our treasurer and we will miss him.

At this time, I would like to express my gratitude to the board members – Sue, Mike, Deanna, Nisa, Stella and Ganga for not only their time but also the dedication that they have shown to growing FOR.

To Karyn, Marian, Krista, Emily, Calista, Linda, Shirley, Conor, Michael, Alyssa, Janessa and Nadeen thank you for your hard work and commitment to our families, our youth and for making recovery a possibility for many.

To those of you who have given of your money or volunteered your time to FOR, we also thank you. In the past, I too needed FOR as a family member and I know how difficult it can be. I am especially grateful to our families who trust us to support you in your recovery. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,

Rebekah Tsingos
Chairperson