The Junior League of Toronto has identified mental health among youth as a central issue to focus on through community and fundraising efforts. One of our major partnerships is the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital. 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. The Early Psychosis Unit (EPU) is an 18-bed inpatient unit dedicated to the care, treatment, and support of young people who are experiencing a first episode of psychosis. The unit assists the clients and their families with the initial period of recovery and adjustment.

We partnered with the CAMH Foundation Gifts of Light (GOL) to provide additional programming, special events and resources to the CAMH community. GOL is the foundation that provides practical, meaningful gifts to meet the unique needs of mental health clients at CAMH.

The CAMH Team kicked off the 2017-2018 year with an array of programming on the Early Psychosis Unit. Based on last year’s programming, we received feedback to diversify our evening programming to tailor the various interests and needs of the clients. We have partnered with 3 organizations to provide Wednesday evening programming. To date, our sessions have focused on spoken word, hip hop dance, beatboxing, visual arts and yoga.

• Unity Charity a not-for profit organization that utilizes hip hop to improve young people’s lives creating healthier communities. The artists perform and share their personal stories demonstrating how art can be a positive outlet for change in their lives.
• Workman Arts a not-for-profit professional arts company that promotes a greater understanding of mental illness and addiction through the arts. The artists lead a series of visual arts sessions to promote self-expression and relaxation through the arts.
• Yoga Guru Fatha Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa is a teacher of Kundalini Yoga and the teachings of Yogi Bhajan. Guru Fatha leads a series of sessions designed to promote healthy strategies on how to meditate, relax, and positive body images.

For more information regarding CAMH visit their website at http://www.camh.ca/