President’s Message: November 15, 2014

– Mark Coupal, OAA Executive President


For the first time the OAA and the Journal of Mental Health Ethics partnered to put on the 2014 OAA Conference, Doing Whatever It Takes, Ethics in ACTion. Our conference committee was instrumental in getting everything off the ground. Their hard work must not be understated: from the venue, food, entertainment and speakers, the committee’s efforts paid off. On behalf of the OAA Executive Committee, we would also like to thank the members for helping make the conference such a success.

Moving forward, the Executive wants our OAA to be member-driven as we emphasized at the Membership meeting. Our members made it clear that they want more from the OAA and to be notified as we progress. Issues were identified and I am pleased to state that an action plan is currently under way to help respond.

Membership involvement in the action plan is also paramount, so a number of committees are being formed so that members will be involved to work together on the common issues facing the ACT teams in Ontario. Our main sources for information will be the OAA web site and E-newsletters.

Your OAA will continue running twice a year workshops for discipline-specific ACT workers. They will provide additional opportunities for information sharing and networking. Please continue to monitor the web page for announcements and also, watch for your E-newsletters.