ASI 2020 President’s Report
2020 was a challenging year for the Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities as we continue to promote child and youth mental health in Atlantic Canada, in the face of scarce resources for upstream investment and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2020, we organized a series of virtual consultations in the Atlantic region – one in each province, one Atlantic Indigenous and one Atlantic Francophone – with the support of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, to identify upstream policies and programs that promote mental health – beginning in the early years – identifying best practices, gaps and areas for potential action. Over 100 people participated in the consultations. The results were summarized and distributed to consultation participants, ASI 2020 Policy Forum participants, and the four Atlantic Premiers. The Mental Health Commission of Canada served as sponsor for all the consultations and presented on their work on the early years and mental health.
We decided that we would proceed with plans for the ASI 2020 Policy Forum on Mental Health Promotion – Upstream Investment in Mental Health Promotion: The Answer to the Mental Health Crisis! – as a virtual event, using the WHOVA conferencing platform…