How we started. Where we’ve been. Where we’re going.

The Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) was established over two decades ago to address the mental health needs of older adults, a critical area which is often overlooked. Initially focused on long-term care homes, the CCSMH identified gaps in mental health care for older adults and successfully secured funding to create clinical guidelines and knowledge materials on a number of important key topics: mental health in long-term care, suicide prevention, depression, and delirium. These guidelines were first-of-their-kind globally and provided essential support for health care providers and care partners. Since that time, we have expanded our areas of focus to an ever-growing list of priority areas including social isolation and loneliness, anxiety, substance use and behaviours in dementia.

Our mission is to promote the mental health of older adults by connecting people, ideas, and resources. Our value statement, obvious for those of us in the field, is that mental illness is not a normal part of aging and that older adults deserve compassionate, evidence-based mental health care.

We take pride in being the only national interprofessional organization in Canada dedicated to the mental health issues experienced by older adults. Other, larger mental health organizations may come in and out of work on seniors’ mental health seemingly as the political and funding winds blow but we are steadfast in this work. We are here to stay.

We pride ourselves in taking research evidence and synthesizing and distilling it so it can be used in knowledge translation, education and advocacy. The development of resources like guidelines, clinician pocket cards and brochures for older adults and their care partners and the education we provide to health care professionals, care partners, and older adults empowers them all to make changes to the mental health care of older adults. Our material aims to raise awareness, improve interventions, and influence public policies to enhance the mental well-being of older adults. The Coalition remains dedicated to bridging knowledge gaps and ensuring mental health is prioritized in aging care.

Driven by compassion and evidence-based approaches, the CCSMH strives to make a lasting impact on the mental health and well-being of older adults across Canada.

As is likely the case for many of you, the CCSMH faces several obstacles that impact our ability to sustain proactive and well-planned efforts:

• Funding: Securing consistent funding remains a challenge.
• Political Engagement: Interest in (and resources for) issues affecting older adults often fluctuates with political priorities.

To date, our funding has almost entirely been from successful grant writing.  While this has enabled us to develop much-needed and valuable resources and tools, the time-limited nature of this sort of funding makes ongoing, sustained work very challenging! It also means that our agenda is significantly influenced by the priority areas of funders which aren’t always a perfect match for the work that we know needs to be done. While there’s no shortage of meaningful work to do, maintaining momentum (or a focused strategic direction) can be difficult.

If you believe in the work we do, here are some ways to help:

Make a Donation: Your contribution can help us continue our efforts and will help us develop a sustainable financial base.

Connect Us to Donors: If you know someone who may be interested in supporting our work, please let us know and consider helping us make an introduction.

Include Us in Research: If you’re a researcher, consider including a stipend for CCSMH as a Knowledge Translation (KT) partner in your funding proposals. If you wish to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Ways We Can Work Together

• For Clinicians and Healthcare Providers: Join our mailing list and review our clinician-focused materials to integrate best practices into your work.
• For Researchers: If you want your research to make an impact and to reach health care providers across Canada, consider partnering with us in your funding applications.
• If you are an older adult, or know an older adult, and if our mission resonates with you, consider telling others about our organization, making a donation, creating a legacy gift, etc.

Together, we can make a difference in improving mental health for older adults across Canada.

---

View our 2024 Year in Review Reel

Visionner la bobine du bilan de l'année 2024