Introducing the Co-Chairs for the National Mental Health and Substance Use Standardization Collaborative
The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is moving forward with the launch of the National Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Standardization Collaborative, as the first step in developing national standards to address the needs of Canadians related to mental health and substance use. We are proud to be working with government partners to help improve the delivery of mental health and substance use services.
National standards will help formalize what Canadians can expect in terms of the timeliness and quality of services across the country.
The MHSU Collaborative will include representatives from provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, health organizations, and people with lived and living experience. It will advise on the scope and detailed statements of work for the standards deliverables, prior to SCC engaging with standards development organizations to develop the documents. It will also identify interested parties and technical expertise to support the standardization process.
The objectives of the Collaborative are to:
- Build consensus on key mental health and substance use standardization issues and needs to inform the National Mental Health and Substance Use Standardization
- Support the development of national standards-based tools in six mental health and substance use standards priority areas; and
- Support the development of the Conformity Assessment and Accreditation Strategy.
SCC is honoured to introduce the new Co-Chairs of the Collaborative, who have vast experience and knowledge in the areas of mental health and substance abuse.
Dr. Carol Hopkins is the Chief Executive Officer of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation (a division of the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation) and is of the Lenape Nation at Moraviantown, ON. Carol was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Canada, 2018. In 2019, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Western University.
Carol has spent more than 25 years in the field of First Nations substance use and mental health. She holds both a Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Toronto and a degree in sacred Indigenous Knowledge, equivalent to a PhD in western based education systems.
Carol has co-chaired national initiatives known for best practice in national policy review and development, resulting in the: First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework (FNMWC), the Honouring Our Strengths: A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use Issues Among First Nations in Canada, the Indigenous Wellness Framework, and the Native Wellness Assessment. Her leadership has been engaged within Health and Mental Health for First Nations, Provincial, Territorial, and Federal governments serving a number of expert advisory and task groups.
Dr. Brian Rush is Emeritus Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Senior Scientist with the Homewood Research Institute and Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Dept. of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.
Trained with a PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics, Brian has worked for over 45 years on mental health and substance use services research, his work spanning survey research, needs-based planning, validation of screening and assessment tools, and development and implementation of perception-of-care, outcome monitoring and performance measurement tools and processes. Over the years Brian has led major treatment system reviews and evaluations in many Canadian jurisdictions and prepared several syntheses of research evidence, including concurrent disorders, collaborative care, rapid access services, and mental health and substance use service and sector-level integration.