The Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Care Conference aims to advance collaborative practice in mental health care in primary care and community settings. Our scope includes intra- and interprofessional collaboration, as well as collaboration with clients and caregivers. We value multiple forms of knowledge and ‘evidence’ including scientific knowledge, pragmatic knowledge of front line healthcare providers and administrators, and experiential knowledge of people using mental health services, and throughout the conference we seek to promote dialogue between these different perspectives.

This year our conference theme addresses concurrent disorders and working collaboratively to enhance care for people living with mental health challenges & addictions . A concurrent disorder is defined as having both a mental health issue and an addiction issue at the same time. Traditionally our health systems have separated mental illness and addiction and therefore two treatment streams have emerged. We now recognize that these two “streams” are intimately tied together and we need to address our clients and families in a holistic way seamlessly collaborating across disciplines, organizations and cultures. North America is facing an opioid crisis and more than ever, we need to work together to understand the underpinnings of concurrent disorders and their impacts on patients, families and communities, create collaborative health care systems and embrace innovation. We invite you to submit an abstract and attend the conference to share the work you and your team have been doing in collaborative care.