Executive Director’s Report

FOR is exhausting in the best possible way. After 12 years of being with this amazing program, I keep waiting for the day of rest but thanks to an awesome board, and a fantastic group of staff, volunteers, community partners and of course the people that we support, there is never a dull moment at FOR.

FOR is either busy developing new creative programs for the families and young people, establishing new partnerships and research projects, supporting more families, organizing recovery and family conferences, raising more funds, advocating for improvements to the mental health system or managing better administrative practices.

Our last fiscal year began with a Strategic Planning process which not only reaffirmed our existing directions but also identified a couple of priority items. One of those areas was that FOR should take on more advocacy initiatives. In light of this, we have created a group of families and people with the lived experience to address changes that are required in the mental health system. This group calls itself Families for Mental Health Recovery.

The Strategic Plan also identified that FOR must continue to grow its resources.
We are attempting to increase our fundraising efforts and this year we held a new fundraising initiative organized by the youth from TTYL at Second City. It was a great success and something that we hope we can build upon. Our TTYL Director, Emily Collette continues to be enthusiastic about growing the TTYL program and looking for money in the most creative ways.

FOR continues to recognize the importance of programming for everyone in the family including those with the lived experience. We will continue to pilot programs that involve the whole family as well as expanding our peer support services. This year we were excited to have our first peer support worker. FOR is also excited by new groups that have started such as The NEW RESPECT program for people with the lived experience.

Our programming for the families also expanded this year with CBT and solution-focused groups. I am appreciative to both Maria Haarmans and Krista MacKinnon for their roles in developing these innovative programs. We are hoping that our work with CBT and families will be published this year.

I want to acknowledge all the staff and their work which ensures that every day is a new and fruitful day at FOR. Calista Rajakariar and Marian Dalal continue to work under difficult circumstances in Scarborough. The needs of diverse families are complex and the resources few. They do their work with grace and dignity and determination. I am inspired by their example.

Emily Collette is our leader in youth work. Emily’s commitment to the youth voice is admirable. Emily has spearheaded our TTYL program and the related partnerships. I thank Emily and her talented group of young people for their commitment and for ensuring that we all stay young at heart.

Last year we have expanded our administrative team. Linda continues to keep us in order and we now have Jan Harper giving graciously of her time to assist us with financial and administrative tasks. Shirley Lam continues to ensure that every penny is accounted for. I sincerely thank them for what they do as it gives me great comfort knowing that FOR is well run. Of course, we will always miss Dennis but we have found the strength and courage to carry on to ensure that FOR is sound.

Last year we were also very lucky to have two amazing students Gill and Chloe. They were always there with a clever idea and a helping hand. We look forward to working with our new students Nadeen, Jenessa and Alyssa.

I feel honoured to be surrounded by a group of individuals who want to be innovative, effective and responsible all with the same goal of ensuring everyone has an opportunity to recover from serious mental health issues. The FOR board has recognized the delicate balance between good governance and the freedom required for creative programming. I want to give special thanks to Eric and Taketo for their time, encouragement and patience in helping us to develop FOR. I will miss them both. I want to thank the rest of the board members and our chair Rebekah for their leadership and support.

And lastly, thank you to our families and young people who every day shows us what it is means to be family. They teach us about courage, risk-taking and how to recognize our strengths and move forward. Together I feel that the dreams for FOR are endless!

Respectfully submitted,

Karyn Baker
Executive Director

Chairperson’s Report

FOR has made a developmental leap from adolescence into adulthood. This year we took a brave step away from our parental home of our sponsor Community Resources Connections of Toronto and became financially accountable for our own bookkeeping and other administrative matters. While our continued sponsorship with CRCT is extremely beneficial we have become more responsible for our own operation. During this new developmental stage, the board will also ensure that our policies and procedures reflect our mission and values. The board is now undertaking a process to develop and review policies as necessary. This process will be informed by both the recovery and diversity training that board members participated in this year.

We also continue to be grateful to CAMH for their continued support. Our relationship continues to be beneficial as we work with hundreds of families making contact with CAMH and in return we can call CAMH space – home.

Our youth programming is becoming more of a reality. The Talk to Youth Lately program also known as TTYL finished its second year. The primary focus this year was to expand our high school programming in partnership with the Toronto District School Board. This year, we provided over 24 classroom presentations as well as creating a grade 12 week long curriculum for the Challenge and Challenge course at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute.

This coming year, the TTYL will have a research component attached to it which will determine the benefits that this type of programming has on youth and discrimination about mental health issues. This research will be part of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s work on addressing mental health discrimination across our country. Our work in youth programming continues to be solely funded by fundraising. We are incredibly grateful to all those who contribute both individuals and corporations.
The AGM is a time for me to honour my other board members. I appreciate the commitment that each board member makes in their own unique ways. Deanna, Stella, Steve, Nisa, Mike and Sue bring their family or personal expertise and other talents to the board. Thanks to all of you! This year we are very pleased to welcome one new board member, Ganga Muralidhar. We look forward to both her personal and professional expertise that you can share with us. It is also with mixed feelings of sadness and gratefulness that we say good bye to Taketo Murata and Eric McKnight.

Eric has been on the board for over 10 years. He has been instrumental in helping the organization to become the vibrant place that we are today. When he joined the board, we had a budget of $52,000 and one part-time staff person. With his business savvy, FOR was able to recruit other board members who helped us with our fundraising and led to the development of our annual golf tournament. Thank you Eric for all your hard work over the years.
Taketo has also served on our board for three terms. He has also witnessed FOR during our years of transition. He has provided our board with strong yet reaffirming guidance over these years. He helped us stay true to our original values of providing the best possible support to families using the recovery approach. We will miss you Taketo.

To Karyn, Marian, Krista, Emily, Calista, Linda, Shirley and Conor, 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
Family Outreach and Response Program

WORDS ON THE WALL: GEOFFREY REAUME IN CONVERSATION WITH RUTH RUTH
To celebrate the re-issue of his groundbreaking study, Remembrance Of Patients Past (University of Toronto Press), scholar and activist Geoffrey Reaume will conduct a walking tour of the wall surrounding the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH ) grounds at 1001 Queen St. West. He will then guide the group to the Gladstone Hotel, where he will have an on-stage conversation Ruth Ruth Stackhouse of Friendly Spike Theatre Band. Three of the installation pieces from The Story Behind The Wall, an exhibition by Workman Arts (WA) inspired by Reaume’s text, will be featured on-stage. There will be a silent auction of bricks painted by local artists. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Psychiatric Survivors Archives of Toronto (PSAT) for the purpose of purchasing commemorative plaques detailing the history of the 19th century patient-built wall and other aspects of unpaid patient labour. Marc Glassman, Executive Director of This Is Not A Reading Series, will host the evening event. – A TINARS event presented by University of Toronto Press, Gladstone Hotel, NOW Magazine, Torontoist.com, Take Five On CIUT, Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto and Workman Arts.
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St West, Toronto
Wed Apr 21: 8:00pm (Doors 7:30pm) $5 (Free With Book Purchase)

EVENT ITINERARY
Silent Auction Viewing Begins 4pm, Gladstone Hotel Ballroom,
Wall Walking Tour 6pm, Main Entrance, CAMH, 1001 Queen St West
Interview / Auction 8 pm (Doors 7:30pm), Gladstone Ballroom, Gladston Hotel, 1214 Queen St. West

REMEMBRANCE OF PATIENTS PAST Historian Geoffrey Reaume remembers previously forgotten psychiatric patients in his groundbreaking study, Remembrance Of Patients Past, by examining in rich detail their daily life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane (now called the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health – CAMH) from 1870-1940. Psychiatric patients endured abuse and could lead monotonous lives inside the asylum’s walls, yet these same women and men worked hard at unpaid institutional jobs for years and decades on end, created their own entertainment, even in some cases made their own clothes, while forming meaningful relationships with other patients and some staff.

Using first person accounts by and about patients – including letters written by inmates which were confiscated by hospital staff – Reaume weaves together a tapestry of stories about the daily lives of people confined behind brick walls that patients themselves built.

GEOFFREY REAUME is an associate professor in the Critical Disability Studies Graduate Program at York University.

RUTH RUTH STACKHOUSE is a proud member of the psychiatric survivor community. She studied theater in New York City and is currently Theatre Director of the Friendly Spike Theatre Band. A long-standing activist, she has protested against institutional confinement and the exploitation of patient labour. www.friendlyspike.ca

THE PSYCHIATRIC SURVIVOR ARCHIVES OF TORONTO (PSAT) is dedicated to ensuring that the rich history of people who have experienced the psychiatric system is preserved for our community and the wider community as a resource from which everyone can share and learn. PSAT is a grass roots organization that is run for and by psychiatric survivors and seeks to reflect the broad diversity of views that are expressed by all people with a psychiatric history however they choose to self-identify. www.psychiatricsurvivorarchives.com

THE STORY BEHIND THE WALL is a mixed-media and cross-disciplinary project created by artists of the Workman Arts Project for Scotiabank Nuitblanche 2009. Six artists chose six former patients from the Toronto Hospital for the Insane as depicted in Geoffrey Reaume’s book Remembrance of Patients Past – Patient life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, 1870-1940. Their goal was to create figurative sculptures to creatively and expressively tell the stories of these individual patients from the past who have mostly been confined to a history of silence.

WORKMAN ARTS (WA) facilitates aspiring, emerging and established artists with mental illness and addiction issues to develop and refine their art form through its arts training programs, public performance/exhibit opportunities and partnering with other art organizations. As well, WA promotes a greater public understanding of mental illness and addiction through the creation, presentation and discussion of the artistic media.
www.workmanarts.com

For Media / Info
Geoffrey Reaume: Andrea Wilson, awilson@utpress.utoronto.ca
PSAT Silent Auction: Andrea White, psychsurvivorarchives@gmail.com
TINARS: Chris Reed, coordinator@tinars.ca