Collaborations

HILLS OF HEADWATERS COLLABORATIVE ONTARIO HEALTH TEAM

The Hills of Headwaters Collaborative Ontario Health Team (OHT) is a partnership of health and community organizations and providers working together to unify and improve the health and social care of Dufferin-Caledon residents.

FTP, as a funded agency of The Ministry of Health, has been one of the partner agencies involved in the creation and implementation of the OHT in Dufferin-Caledon from its inception. Today, more than 20 partners across health and community services form a Collaborative Council that meets twice a month. While we are in the early days of building the team, with the help of residents, patients and partners, we have identified and focused on these initial priority areas: • Pandemic Response • Bringing together our mental health and addictions services • Creating a collaborative palliative care team • Providing supports for unpaid caregivers FTP is active at many levels of the OHT. Our Executive Director, Norah Kennedy sits at both the Anchor leadership group and the Collaborative Council, and co-chairs the Mental Health and Community Supports Working Group. Lynette Pole-Langdon, Director of Counselling, Education and Community Mental Health Initiatives, sits on numerous sub-groups of the Mental Health working group—in particular, the Community Covid Response group and the Integrated Crisis Response Network. Jessie Humphries, Manager of Information Systems and Quality Assurance, contributes to the Digital Working Group and Kelly Lee, Manager of Fund Development and Communication Strategies, has contributed to the Communications portfolio. Collaboration is one of our Strategic Pillars. Through the ongoing work of the OHT, we hope to be able to contribute to collaborative vision to enhance the health and wellbeing of our community.

OTHER IMPORTANT COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

FTP is proud to participate on many committees and tables with a variety of local agencies and service providers including the Dufferin County Equity Collaboration (DCEC), the Housing and Homelessness and Congregate Settings tables, the Dufferin-Caledon Drug Strategy Team as well as the Dufferin|\Caledon Domestic Assault Review Team (DART). This year, the Dufferin Community Safety and Well-Being Plan was approved. Leveraging existing tables and community groups, leads were established for each of the five priority pillars to develop and implement action plans over the next four years. The five priorities pillars are: mental health, addictions, safety/well-being, housing and equity/racism. FTP participates as either a lead or contributor for each pillar. Together with Dufferin Child and Family Services, FTP spearheaded and co-chaired the Congregate Settings table. Through bi-weekly meetings with other congregate settings in our region, including representatives from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and Peel Public Health agencies, we lead knowledge, information and resource sharing, supporting our collective and collaborative response to challenges born out of the pandemic.