– Dave Guthrie, ACT Team Manager, Community Integration Program (CIP)Providence Care Kingston, Ontario
Over 300 delegates and presenters gathered in Kingston this October for our “Doing Whatever It Takes, Ethics in ACTion” conference. The conference was a full 2 ½ days, with engaging and inspiring key note speakers as well as educational workshops and evening entertainment.
The Ontario ACT Association along with its partners, The Journal of Ethics in Mental health and Providence Care, extended invitations to other community mental service providers as well as other ACT teams in British Columbia and Quebec. Overall, the conference theme was well blended into the 2 ½ day conference program. The delegates enjoyed the various sessions. Below are a few of the comments from the delegates:
“Dr Maher’s ethical case studies will be a constant reflective tool that I will use when faced with ethical dilemmas in my daily practice”.
“Conversation about ACT Standards was great – learned many new things – would like to see more of this type of discussion at the conferences”.
“I feel more comfortable and responsible as a professional for my own self-care, to bring up with colleagues ethical dilemmas or problems on a more frequent/regular basis”
“Dr Kirsch is a phenomenal speaker who reintroduced the dangers of inappropriately prescribed medication. I will bring this thought back to my practice and re-evaluate the possibility of alternative and holistic treatment”
“The impact of Stephen Page’s talk and the connection that I felt with his talk of shame, hiding, avoiding was so incredibly strong. The impact of this talk has started me thinking about how I might adapt the program to better serve the client population that I work with because I think it is of utmost importance to address self-stigma as a building block to recovery.”
“ I also enjoyed the Compassion Fatigue workshop and I can see it of importance for all mental health workers. It brings the awareness we need to be able to understand how our work impacts us but also our clients.”
“The Peer Support presentation done by Dr Rebeiro brought me inspiration in focusing more on enhancing the peer support role of our clients.”