OPENING REMARKS – 9:00 to 9:05 a.m.
Land Acknowledgement and Welcome
• Henry Wall, Chief Administrative Officer, Kenora District Services Board

KEYNOTE – 9:05 to 9:30 a.m.
• The Honourable Wanda Thomas Bernard, Senator – Nova Scotia (East Preston)

KEYNOTE – 9:30 to 10:00 a.m.
Making Human Services More Human: Why Language Matters
• Bryony Shannon, Writer, Rewriting Social Care

New systems, processes, forms, and administrative language sometimes leave human services feeling less than human for the people being served and to the people working within them. In this short session, join Bryony Shannon, writer of Rewriting Social Care, to explore how paying attention to the language we use (and don’t use) can help us understand more about current attitudes, power dynamics and ways of working, and how we can all play a part in shifting the narrative.

Explore the Trauma-Informed Wales Framework – 10:00 am – 11:15 pm
• Jen Daffin, Community Clinical Psychologist – Deputy Director of Relational Practice and Change, Platfform
• Joanne Hopkins, Programme Director, ACES, Criminal Justice and Violence Prevention, Public Health Wales

In this session we will learn about the newly developed Trauma-Informed Wales Framework. This Framework intends to help build a coherent, consistent, all-society approach to develop and implement a trauma-informed practice across Wales. We will hear how this work will impact and influence the delivery of wider Welsh Government policies, particularly those which support vulnerable people and communities.
Click here to read the Trauma-Informed Wales Framework.

☕️ BREAK: 11:15 to 11:30 am

Human Services, Social Care and the Importance of Healthcare Integration
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
• Additional Remarks – Doug Ball, Executive Director, OMSSA
• MODERATOR: Christine MacDonald, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, County of Bruce
• John Connolly, Head of Department of Social Sciences, Glasgow School of Business for Society, Glasgow Caledonian University
• Dr. Andrew Pinto, Founder and Director, Upstream Lab, Family Physician, St. Michael’s Hospital, and Associate Professor, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

The pandemic’s strain on the healthcare system has shown and continues to show the essential connection between health and social care. Social care can play a role in protecting the health care system from being overwhelmed by addressing social needs before they become health needs. With municipal social services being a major component of the social care fabric that exists in Ontario, these services are fundamental to the well-being of society and our communities. And yet, social services are often only connected to the broader provincial healthcare system by the smallest of threads.

This plenary will bring together Dr. Andrew Pinto, family physician, and founder and director of the Upstream Lab at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Prof. John Connolly of Glasgow Caledonian University to discuss not only why this integration is so important, but also how it can be effectively achieved.

Dr. Pinto and his colleagues at the Upstream Lab have sought to find ways to improve health outcomes by finding solutions to address social and economic issues faced by patients ‘upstream.’

Prof. Connolly, meanwhile, has researched the role of leadership in the integration of health and social care at NHS Health Scotland. This unique session will bring together both medical and public policy perspectives in an discussion of central importance to OMSSA Members.

Resources:

• John Connolly, et al., The Leadership of Co-Production in Health and Social Care Integration in Scotland: A Qualitative Study
• John Connolly, Integrating health and social care: seven steps for success
• Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Toronto Star), Doctors at St. Mike’s launch project to address root causes of poor health
• Andrew D. Pinto, et al., Integrating health and social care for children in Canada
• Andrew D. Pinto, et al., Employment Interventions in Health Settings: A Systematic Review and Synthesis