A message from our Acting President: Ron Shaw
If we are open to new ideas and experiences, we can learn important lessons from
unexpected sources. Mine came from a trip to New York with a group of people, some of
whom I barely knew. I had heard many great things about the principal of a local high school,
Don Ribey. Don was a quiet unassuming person who appeared quite humble and shy, which
seemed at odds with the enormous and unqualified respect he received from students of his
school, past and present. As an outgoing person, I was engaged in a conversation with
someone I had met in a coffee shop. I introduced Don as a local high school principal. Don
immediately and firmly corrected me to indicate that he was in fact a teacher. All of a
sudden, I completely understood why he was so respected. As a principal, he was completely
focused on the ultimate goal of everyone involved in the school and that was to teach
students. That experience of over 25 years ago still resonates with me to this day.
As an agency, we are all here for the same reason...the mental health of the children of this
community. While we all have separate and distinct roles on this team, we share the same
ultimate purpose. While we on the Board are not going to introduce ourselves as case
workers, we certainly recognize, understand and appreciate the importance of what you,
who work on the front lines with the children of this community, in fact do.
The recent events in Woodstock, as profoundly sad as they are, also serve as an important
reminder of the importance of your work and the importance for us to constantly review and
work to continually improve what we do. There is no room for complacency. It highlights the
significant and profound challenges faced by our and other agencies responsible for building
resilience for children in Huron Perth.
With all of this in mind, I take this opportunity to thank you for the important work you
do. You are the face of our agency. We hope our work continues to support and provide
support to you in delivering front line service to some of the most vulnerable and precious
people in our society.
Ron Shaw, Acting President of the HPC Board
Children & Youth Mental Health
Services
OUR MISSION ~ to provide timely access to a range of assessment and treatment services
offered by skilled professional staff in collaboration with children, youth, families and their
community.
During 2015-2016 our staff provided service to children and youth up to 18 in Huron and Perth through a
range of core services:
 Timely Access (806 served); the funding for Access Intake, Brief Services, Crisis and Service
Coordination are combined to enable us to provide a seamless service from the first point of
contact. This includes our collaboration with our partner Huron Perth Helpline and Crisis
Intervention Team that provides the first response to children and youth in serious mental
health crisis.
 Counselling & Therapy (served 406)
 Intensive Services; this includes our two Care & Treatment Classrooms and 1-1 support (101
served)
 Consultation and Specialized Assessments (50 served)
We work with our community partners to optimize resources to respond to children and youth with
mental health issues who need help. The Huron Perth Children’s Mental Health Network, the planning
body that provides a focus on planning for child and youth mental health also acts as an advisory body.
Visit our website to access copies of our Core Services Delivery Plan and our Community Mental Health
Plan: www.hpcentre.on.ca
For the year April 1, 2015- March 31, 2016 the combined revenue from multiple sources totaled $ 3, 312, 620
We are grateful to our funders who place their trust in us to render high quality services in Huron and Perth. Annual Financial
Statements are available upon request.
Three services funded through other sources offer additional services to respond to the needs of
children and youth:
“Coordinated Clinical Services for Children/Youth in Care” – this collaborative service with HuronPerth Children’s Aid Society provides shared intake for children/youth in care and clinical services
support child/foster-family/other family caregivers in collaboration with CAS workers and other
community partners (education, doctors, probation) and served 35 children and youth.
School Based Outreach Services – this service provides school-based support services to youth in
Huron secondary schools. This service is made possible through a purchase of service agreement with
the Avon Maitland District School Board and served 171 youth. “In October 2015 we expanded the
service to provide service in 5 schools under a purchase of service agreement with the Huron Perth
Catholic District School Board.”
Huron Perth Children’s Mental Health Network – this is a network of service providers with a shared
concern about child and youth mental health (CYMH) that plays the vital role of community planning
for child and youth mental health services. We are pleased to work with Family Services Perth-Huron
and Community Living Central-Huron (Huron Respite Network), the two other MCYS funded CYMH
services for their provision of respite services. And we are grateful for the many community partners
that also offer CYMH services funded from other sources. Visit our website for the two plans
associated with CYMH: www.hpcentre.on.ca
Transitional Youth Subcommittee – this sub-committee of the Network has brought together various
partners from the child and youth system as well as the adult service system to discuss strategies to
ease the transition of transitional-age youth into adult services. This local effort is also guided by
regional and provincial initiatives that share the interest in improving the service system. Jill Carter
offers leadership to this sub-committee of the Network.
Suicide Prevention (our Targeted Prevention funded by MCYS) –
Thanks to a 3 years grant from MCYS and a grant from Brain & Mind
Matters Community Fund, community partners from Huron and
Perth have collaborated regionally to benefit from training on Best
Practices for Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention. We
have formed the Huron Perth Suicide Prevention Advisory
Committee and are working to draft a Community Plan for our area.
Terri Sparling and Martha Hazell offer leadership to this work along
with both public health units, both school boards, Choices for
Change, Huron Perth Helpline and Crisis Intervention Team and the
CCCAC – Mental Health & Addiction Nurses.
For more information about this work contact
[email protected]
Huron-Perth Centre is more than just its Children’s Mental Health services. Our Youth Justice Services
and some special adult services extend our reach and touch the lives of children, youth and their
families in Huron and Perth.
YOUTH JUSTICE SERVICES
Diversion Program (EJM) - Under the YCJA this service offers “extra-judicial measures” in Perth, precharge intervention with referrals from police and served 79 youth.
Youth Justice Committee Program –Perth – under the YJCA this service offers intervention postcharge, pre-court through crown referral; can also be referred by Diversion program to access justice
circles (conferences) and trained community volunteers helped to serve 24 youth.
Dedicated to Youth on Probation – Mental Health - Counsellors provide assessment and treatment at
times augmented by CYWs to youth referred by probation and served 70 youth. This service funded by
MCYS-YJ provides a Clinician with access to 1-1 support from a Child &Youth worker to address needs
identified by the Probation Officer(s) and any assessment recommendations. This team works to reduce
risk factors and assist youth to reintegrate with community following any custody placement and served
70 youth.
Dedicated to Youth on Probation – Community Support - Child & Youth workers (CYWs) work with
Counsellors to address specific goal areas including but not limited to school issues, interpersonal
conflicts, employment/need for other supports to reduce risk areas for 24 youth.
OUR ADULT SERVICES

Renascence – supportive counselling services for women who have been victims of abuse;
individual and group services, sexual abuse survivors group twice per year in partnership
with Women’s Shelter of Huron; provided service to 88 women; funded by Ministry of
Community & Social Services

Male Survivors Pilot Project – a new initiative launched in 2012 this project offering
counseling to male survivors of child sexual abuse in Huron; funded by the Ministry of
Attorney General and served 6 clients.

Delta – group treatment for partner assault in Huron
with partner contacts being a key aspect to safety of
women and children. This program provided service
to 48 court mandated clients and is funded by the
Ministry of Attorney General and client fees.
As of April 2016 the Huron-Perth Centre has signaled
to the Ministry of the Attorney General that the
Centre cannot continue to operate the service. The
projected end date is November 15, 2016. The single
reason for this decision relates to an inability to
manage operating costs within current funding.
Huron-Perth Centre is working closely with the
Ministry of Attorney General to sort out next steps.
We are grateful to all of the staff who have worked
in this program over the years since its inception in
the early 1980s. Huron-Perth Centre has been
committed to providing this service as we believe
that it offers clients the opportunity to make
changes that impact the mental health of children and
youth and on the safety of women and children. We
have valued the many positive working relationships
with all community partners.
2014-2015 Board of Directors
The Huron-Perth Centre is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of up to 12 individuals
who bring diverse perspectives, with equal representation from both Huron and Perth
counties. The term of office is 3 years and includes involvement on one committee in
addition to the 10 regular meetings held in various locations including Clinton, Dublin and
Stratford. Interested individuals can request more information by contacting Terri Sparling,
CEO at 519-273-3373 X 2230
Betty Beer-Vanrooy
HURON President
Ron Shaw
PERTH & Vice President
Susan Qureshi
PERTH Secretary
Gary O’Donnell
HURON
Shelley Blackmore
HURON
Allan Watts
PERTH
Dave Higgins
HURON
Diane Millian
HURON
Elizabeth Wilson
PERTH
John Herbert
PERTH
Steve Miners
HURON
We believe that positive relationships
are the foundation for healing and for
realizing the potential in all persons.
Standing Committees of the Board - Highlights
AUDIT & RISK COMMITTEE - Ron Shaw, Susan Qureshi, John Herbert with Terri Sparling and Linda
Nicholson
The Audit Committee oversees all aspects of the Centre’s risk management practices and has
provided oversight to several areas of potential risk. The committee reviews financial reports in
advance of board meetings and offers advice to management.
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE - Ron Shaw, Susan Qureshi and Peter Ivatts (community volunteer) with
Terri Sparling
Our Governance Committee is poised to offer leadership to the Board regarding any needed changes
to governing documents given the new role of Lead Agency for Huron and Perth.
LONG RANGE PLANNING – Shelley Blackmore, Allan Watts, Diane Millian, Elizabeth Wilson and
community members Caitlin Robb and Kathy Douglas with staff Joan Tabbert, Sarah Wigan, Loretta
Turner, Chris Coombs, Michelle Evans and Terri Sparling
Updated our Strategic Plan 2014-2017, copies available upon request.
Advocacy through Children’s Mental Health Week – in partnership with our Mental Health Leads
from both school boards to promote CMH Week throughout all schools; sponsored by the ETFO Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (AMDSB)
Supported the efforts of our New Horizons to promote mental health awareness, reduce stigma,
take action for supportive schools and raise funds to attend the Disable the Label conference in July
2016.
SALARY & BENEFITS – Gary O’Donnell, Betty Beer-Vanrooy and Dave Higgins with staff: Patty Hills,
Brenda Dumond, Jill Carter, Mark Allen, JayJ McKinley, Michelle Evans and Cheryl Priestap and as
resource: Terri Sparling and Linda Nicholson
Staff representatives developed a comprehensive survey process to guide decisions about our
compensation package and this work will result in some improvements to the benefit package in
2016-2017.
CEO EVALUATION – Betty Beer Vanrooy (President), Ron Shaw (Audit & Risk Chair), Shelley Blackmore
and Allan Watts (Long Range Planning Chairs) and Gary O’Donnell (Salary & Benefits Chair)
The committee continues to utilize a process of evaluation that has been mutually designed between
Board and CEO for the purpose of establishing meaningful goals and monitoring progress and guide
decisions on the use of new lead agency resources to build agency capacity.
** Seeking to form a Fund-raising Committee – Interested community volunteers can contact
[email protected] **
2014-2015 HPC Staff
Our Child & Youth Mental Health Team:
A number of Counsellors and Child & Youth Workers work together to provide our child and youth mental
health core-services as defined by the provincial service framework:
Mark Allen, Heather Becker, Hayley Black, Shirley Brooker, Stefanie Bultje, Shannon Carroll, Jill Carter,
Chris Coombs, Brenda Dumond, Martha Hazell, Patty Hills, Natasha Carter, Jenny Kelp, Anne Catherine
Jean, Kulpreet Luckhardt, Amanda MacDonald, Cathy Marlowe, Mary McInnes, Anne Orr*, Darlene Pullen,
Sandy Stuart, Joan Tabbert, Michelle Van Loon, Laurie Thomson*
Consulting Psychologist: Dr. Milton Blake
External Consultations: Dr. Rosaline Salo, Dr. Kristen Blaine and Tele-Mental Health (formerly Telepsychiatry)
Other service staff increase our capacity to serve vulnerable children and youth:
Coordinated Clinical Services for Children in Care - Stefanie Bultje, Hayley Black, Sheila O’Donovan, Darlene
Pullen, Denise Nevin
School-Based Outreach Services – Scott Fisher, Diane Maize, Sarah Wigan and Julie Webster-Waldie
Youth Justice – Diversion - JayJ McKinley
Youth Justice Committee Perth - Scott Fisher & a team of dedicated volunteers
Dedicated Services to Probation Team - Jill Carter, Mark Allen, Julie Webster-Waldie
Youth Engagement - Sarah Wigan, adult ally with New Horizons
Our adult services staff:
Renascence - Sheri MacLaren & Cathy Marlowe
Group Delta – Sheri MacLaren, Darlene Pullen and Scott Fisher and Chad Wise “on loan” from Ministry of
Correctional Services
Male Survivors – Sheri MacLaren
Administrative Support Team: Fran McGregor, Lorraine Moffat, Heidi Jackson-Lantz, Cheryl Priestap (IT
Admin Support), Jaclyn Mustard (Business Unit Admin Support), Loretta Turner and the following parttime/evening staff: Rosemary Nicholson, Cyndi Stephenson, Becky Sebben, Olivia Pullen* and Meryl
Thomas
Management Team: Terri Sparling (CEO) with Linda Nicholson (Business Manager), Jennifer Azzano (Perth
Clinical Services Manager), Cathy Graham (Huron Clinical Services Manager) and Val Millson (Clinical
Services Manager for Partnerships and Protocols) with support from Michelle Evans and the following
individuals who augmented the Management Team: Louise Tamblyn, Jim Boniferro, Anne-Catherine Jean
(OH&S Manager) and Amanda MacDonald (Quality Assurance Manager).
* Indicates staff no longer with the Centre
YOUTH & FAMILY
ENGAGEMENT
Huron-Perth New Horizons – this mighty youth led group is our
New Mentality chapter associated with the provincial youth engagement
initiative with Children’s Mental Health Ontario. Its energy comes from
students who attend Central Huron Secondary School but is open to any
youth 13-24. The New Horizons have had an ambitious year with many
activities aimed at reducing the stigma of mental illness and promoting
positive mental wellness. The New Horizons also attended a Provincial
Youth Summit, a part of the annual CMHO conference. They have been
successful in obtaining a United Way grant in collaboration with the Active
Minds group located at South Huron District High School, the product of which has been
the poster and ribbon campaign to help students locate supports within their school. In
July 2015 they attended the Disable the Label Conference and plan to do so again in July
2016. They are supported by adult allies Sarah Wigan (HPC staff), Kathy Douglas
(community volunteer) and our Long Range Planning Committee.
The New Horizons worked in
collaboration with Active Minds of
South Huron to create posters and
ribbons for their high schools. The
ribbons represent safe spaces
within the high schools for
students to talk about mental
health and were distributed to all
staff in both schools.
This project was funded through a
United Way grant received in the
fall of 2015.
(Ribbons are pictured above)
Family Engagement – calling all parents! – Huron-Perth Centre is keen to hear from
parents who may wish to contribute their advice and wisdom about what they find helpful
from the services they receive. In the fall of 2016 several focus groups will be offered to
begin the dialogue with the hope of forming a Parent Advisory Council. For more
information email [email protected]
Our Quality Assurance Committee, led by Amanda MacDonald, QA Manager, provided oversight to a
number of quality assurance processes. The committee held 6 committee meetings, reviewed over 168
client satisfaction surveys, and provided a response to the 91 community partners who responded to a
survey. Through the consultation, the feedback received affirmed that the community experiences HPC
staff to be “excellent”, responsive to client needs and providers of quality services. Feedback from
clients and community partners is valued and informs improvements. Important themes emerged and
our responses include:
REDUCED WAITING LISTS & WAITING PERIOD - Despite actions to manage the demand for our
services, we know that some clients still wait too long for service. Our planned changes to service
delivery should really help. Our “Timely Access Team” aims to make it easier for clients to connect to
the Centre and receive some initial clinical assistance in a timely way, often at the point of call and more
service time for “Counselling & Therapy” will increase the number of children we can serve.
IMPROVED ACCESSIBILITY - It is important that you know that we provide assistance to help clients
access our services. If you know of a client that needs this help, we welcome you to let us know.
MORE COMMUNICATION - We value working in collaboration with any and all professionals who
are working with the family. We do continue to value self-referral but with consent, we welcome you to
call us to help develop a plan in effort to respond to the unique needs of each child, youth and family
who needs our support.
MORE SERVICES – with existing resources we create partnerships and we are grateful to community
partners who collaborate to help make a difference in the lives of the children and youth who struggle
with mental health issues. We were delighted to receive new investment funding for CYMH in 2015 and
worked with our community to focus these funds on priorities identified through community planning
processes.
The committee worked on goals related to increasing the use of Evidence-Informed Practices,
supporting learning in implementation science, exploring new ways to measure and track “quality”,
increasing organizational capacity to use data to inform decision-making and training in performance
measurement and program evaluation.
SPECIAL THANKS TO STAFF WHO OFFER LEADERSHIP TO OUR INTERNAL COMMITTEES
A number of staff contribute to the health and wellbeing of the organization and we are indebted
to their commitment to this work as it has a corresponding positive impact on staff and their work
with children, youth and families.
 Accreditation – Successfully received re-accreditation in the fall of 2015. Thanks to our co-chairs
Michelle Van Loon and Mary McInnes and the following staff: Heather Becker, Michelle Evans, AC
Jean, Amanda MacDonald, Linda Nicholson, Sandy Stuart, Terri Sparling and Julie WebsterWaldie. The team continues to offer leadership as a means of maintaining compliance to
accreditation standards. They monitor updates from the Canadian Centre for Accreditation in
preparation for re-accreditation in 2019.
 Clinical Records – this staff-initiated group began in 2013 to offer advice on ways to reduce the
burden of documentation and ensure compliance to accreditation standards. It will complete its work
in 2016 with a number of changes that achieve both outcomes. Tanks to Terri Sparling, Michelle Van
Loon, Cheryl Priestap, Heather Becker, Hayley Black, Amanda MacDonald, Julie Webster-Waldie,
Heidi Jackson, Michelle Evans.
 Implementation Team - led by Amanda MacDonald with Jim Boniferro and Louise Tamblyn this team
has worked to provide leadership in implementing a new practice. Our project focuses on the Social
Ecological Approach of Dr. Michael Unger. Team members include: Cathy Marlowe, Martha Hazell, Jill
Carter, Sarah Wigan, Loretta Turner, Brenda Dumond, Cheryl Priestap, Patty Hills and Linda
Nicholson.
 Occupational Health & Safety – this team transcends the usual activities of attending to a safe
workplace; in addition to annual training on various aspects of safety this group is influencing agency
decisions that acknowledge the impact of vicarious trauma and support wellness and well-being for
staff. Thanks to Anne-Catherine Jean (OH & S Manager), Heather Becker, Loretta Turner, Scott Fisher
and Jenny Kelp for their insight and leadership.
 Professional Development Task Force – this staff initiated group seeks ways to optimize professional
learning and growth. Members are keen to identify creative ways to share expertise and integrate
learning into practice. Thanks to Val Millson, Shannon Carroll, Shirley Brooker, Darlene Pullen, Sheri
MacLaren, Amanda MacDonald, JayJ McKinley and Julie Webster-Waldie.
 Quality Assurance – leadership to a number of continuous improvement processes. The committee is
currently redefining how it defines quality and will help guide efforts to use data to inform practice.
Amanda MacDonald (QAC Chair) with Jennifer Azzano, Shirley Brooker, Cheryl Priestap, Jill Carter,
Mary McInnes, Michelle Evans, Val Millson and Terri Sparling. A copy of the Quality Assurance Report
for 2015 is available on the website or by request.
 Technology - provides guidance around the growing and evolving needs for technology in the
agency. Membership includes staff from all perspectives – technical, clinical, administrative, and
management. The current team includes Cheryl Priestap (Chair), Linda Nicholson, Fran McGregor,
Heidi Jackson Lantz, Michelle Evans, Heather Becker, Shannon Carroll, and Steve Caskey/Community
IT Solutions. Julie Webster Waldie and Scott Fisher served for many years until November 2015.
From Terri Sparling, CEO
The tides of change have continued to challenge Board, Management Team and Centre staff. The
focus of change has continued to be on our child and youth mental health systems locally and
provincially and this past year we were delighted to receive new CYMH investment funding. This new
funding has helped to maintain two care and treatment classrooms (Section 23 Classrooms) and has
increased the capacity of our two community partners Family Services Perth-Huron and Community
Living Central-Huron to provide more respite services for children and youth with mental health
issues. We created our Timely Access Team in April of 2015 and by November 2015 we launched the
new processes that make access easier for clients and community partners. We have continued to
ready ourselves to take on more responsibilities as a Lead Agency.
Across all services staff have been engaged in a number of activities to improve services including
program development in two valued group services (Therapeutic Parenting and Trauma Group),
learning about successful implementation generally with a focus on implementing Dr. Michael
Unger’s “Social Ecological Approach” and a review of our clinical records practices to identify changes
in processes to ease the burden of documentation. Our Occupational Health & Safety Committee has
helped to focus our attention on the emotional costs to staff in the business of providing services to
distressed children, youth and families and push us to examine key elements of healthy workplaces
and ever striving for healthy work-life balance for all.
Externally we have been actively engaged with our community partners making improvements to our
Care and Treatment Classroom, strengthening our system of school-based services in collaboration
with our school board Mental Health Leads and community partners and strengthening our service
responses to youth who are vulnerable and in serious mental health crisis. We are proud of the
efforts of our strong youth leaders who have been actively working within their schools to cultivate
supportive school environments and help youth at risk connect into services. Alone, each of these
efforts would have limited impact. Together these efforts help to create a local system of care that
offer the right service at the right time.
Amid all of this work our Board, staff and volunteers shared in the achievement of re-accreditation in
the fall of 2015. This accomplishment is evidence of the shared commitment to organizational
excellence at every level.
As I personally mark 25 years with the Centre, 19 of which I have led the role of Chief Executive
Officer, I continue to love what we achieve together and am proud to be associated with all of you. It
is an honour to work with such dedicated professionals who share the belief that relationships are the
foundation of healing and who are committed to work in collaboration with children, youth, families
and community.