About OPDI

OPDI represents the consumer voice by highlighting the achievements and challenges, potential and needs of our member organizations and the many individuals who use them. We represent their interests at the major provincial mental health/addiction policy planning and strategy implementation tables.

Mission

Ontario Peer Development Initiative’s mission is to acquire, understand and amplify the unique and distinct voice of consumer/ survivor organizations across Ontario. The experiential expertise of our peers will shape the mental health system to achieve a valued, recovery-oriented, community-based approach to support.

Vision

OPDI strives to provide a strong, cohesive and unified voice for consumer/survivor organizations in Ontario. It will use its resources to develop quality, valued and responsive supports and services to meet the needs of its membership. Informed by an open and inclusive consultative process and building on networking opportunities, OPDI will capture the perspective of its member groups and promote the uniqueness and worth of peer support and consumer/survivor organizations in the continuum of mental health care. In this way, OPDI will promote equitable funding and the expansion of peer-driven services in communities across the province.

OPDI will keep member groups informed of changes in legislation, policies and advocate on their behalf at the provincial level. Informed by the issues and concerns of stakeholders, OPDI through its policies, education and advocacy, will seek to promote recovery-oriented service design and delivery to respond to the needs and priorities of service users – based on what they define as meaningful. OPDI will be known as an authoritative and trusted voice on consumer/survivor issues across the system. OPDI will work collaboratively and in partnership with government and other stakeholders to improve regional coordination and promote positive changes for consumers.

As a provincially focused consumer/survivor organization OPDI will serve as a best practice model for capturing and amplifying the consumer voice and promoting its value as an essential and respected perspective. OPDI will be seen as a model of organizational excellence and will share its learnings with other consumer/survivor organizations to strengthen the community as a whole.

Values

• Experiential knowledge
  OPDI recognizes and promotes the value of experiential knowledge and skills gained through living with mental health issues, understanding the recovery process and their challenges in navigating the mental health system.
• Hope & Recovery
  OPDI believes in the right of each individual to develop their own approach to recovery and that by providing people with choice and an opportunity to share their experiences with their peers they can learn from each other.
• Acceptance, respect, openness and inclusion
  OPDI will promote acceptance, respect, openness and inclusion and will respect all people’s race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and ability.
• Responsive
  OPDI will consult with, and be responsive to, its membership and provide supports and services aligned with their priorities.
• Integrity, openness, and honesty
  OPDI will act with integrity, openness and honesty in all its relationships, dealings and transactions. We strive to earn and convey trust through these values.
• Accountability
  OPDI is accountable to its membership and will maintain an inclusive,collaborative and transparent approach to its operations. It will keep faith with the public trust through being efficient, cost effective and careful in the stewardship of its resources.
• Partnership and Collaboration
  OPDI believes in collaboration and partnership. By bringing people together we can achieve a better result than by working alone.