OPDI to train 200 Peer Supporters with $196,200 Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant

(Toronto, Ontario, August 8, 2008) – The Ontario Peer Development Initiative (OPDI) will train 200 Ontarians with the lived experience of mental health issues to assist others in their recovery, thanks to a $196,200 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). This two-year project will also develop a made-in-Ontario peer support training toolkit that can be shared with consumer/survivor initiatives (CSIs) across the province.

“I am pleased that OPDI has received a Trillium Foundation Grant for this important project”, said David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.  “Our government is committed to improving the lives and health of all Ontarians and this innovative, made-in-Ontario initiative will help to better support those living with mental health issues.”

“In researched studies and pilot projects, peer support has saved many millions of dollars through shortened hospital stays and reduced readmissions, and has improved the lives of people with serious mental illness in many ways”, says Deborrah Sherman, Executive Director of OPDI.  “Peer supporters assist individuals by reducing their social isolation, by modeling their own recovery, and by sharing their own successful coping skills to reduce symptom distress, navigate the mental health system, and deal with everyday life as well as mental health crises.”

While several CSIs in the province have initiated their own peer training courses and manuals, most have no consistent processes. Through this project OPDI will bring together the most effective good practices of all to create a train-the-trainer program all Ontario peer-run organizations can access.

“This is welcome and exciting news to our membership.  We thank the Ontario Trillium Foundation for their recognition and investment in the value of peer supports led by mental health consumer/survivors”, says Joel Johnson, President of OPDI.

OPDI is a membership-based organization which represents some 50 of Ontario’s consumer/survivor initiatives and organizations that work within the mental health system.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Government of Ontario.  For 25 years, the Foundation has supported the growth and vitality of communities across the province.  OTF continues to strengthen the capacity of the volunteer sector through investments in community-based initiatives.  For more information, please visit http://www.trilliumfoundation.org .

For more information, please contact:
Deborrah Sherman, Executive Director
Ontario Peer Development Initiative
(416) 484-8785 ext 238