CMHA Ontario's Your Health Space 2025 Symposium
Call for Abstracts

Your Health Space invites you to submit an abstract for presentation at the 2025 in-person symposium Leaders Advancing Wellness: Sharing Strategies for a Flourishing Health Care Workplace taking place on April 29 and 30, 2025 in downtown Toronto.

The Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Division (CMHA Ontario) has supported the province’s health care workplaces through the Your Health Space program since May 2022. YHS has delivered over 2000 workplace trainings to over 340 unique health care organizations across Ontario and reached 60,000+ health care workers and leaders. Funded by the Ministry of Health, the program is able to support workplace wellness and retention efforts at no cost to health care organizations. Your Health Space has worked with hospitals, long-term care, primary care, public health, mental health and addictions, and community organizations across the province.

This inaugural symposium will bring together nearly 300 health leaders from across Ontario to discuss psychological health and safety in the workplace, promote collaboration, and explore actionable steps to improve workplace mental health within their organizations and the health care sector. Health care organizations will benefit from hearing about the successes and challenges of their counterparts and have opportunities to bring back learnings to their own teams.

The Symposium Planning Committee is seeking abstracts from individuals or organizations who can share solutions-focused knowledge, expertise, and innovation in this area, and welcome a spectrum of perspectives from health care organizations across Ontario.

THEME CATEGORIES

Groups or individuals interested in presenting are invited to submit abstracts reflecting one of the following category themes:

1. Recruitment/Retention Strategies

• Innovative approaches to attracting and retaining health care staff
•  Mental health-friendly policies
•  Work-life balance
•  Creating supportive work environments to address burnout and high turnover
•  Incentive programs for new staff

2. Employee/Staff Wellness (Health Care Providers and Support Staff)

• Innovative programs or initiatives that improve the mental and/or physical well-being of health care staff
•  Stress management, work-life integration, comprehensive wellness offerings to support health care professionals as well as support staff in your organization
•  Creative solutions tailored to the unique challenges faced by health care professionals
•  Evidence-based practices for resilience training, stress reduction, and workload management to help staff maintain well-being in high-pressure environments

3. Physician Wellness

• Strategies, programs, or research aimed at improving physician mental health
•  Addressing stress and burnout, and supporting sustainable well-being practices in medical professionals
•  Unique challenges of supporting physicians in the Canadian health care sector

4. Leaders and Workplace Wellness

• Wellness strategies tailored to health care leaders
•  Unique pressures faced by leaders and solutions to foster their resilience and well-being while leading others
•  Leaders modeling self-care
•  Promoting peer support
•  Managing work-life integration
•  Reducing the mental health strain of high-stakes decision-making

5. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Anti-Racism in Workplace Wellness

• Wellness programs that have considered and implemented a clear EDIA(A) lens in their development
•  Addressing the unique challenges faced by BIPOC individuals in the health care sector
•  Mental health disparities, workplace inclusion, culturally responsive wellness supports
•  Identifying and addressing mental health disparities among health care workers, particularly those affecting marginalized groups
•  Encouraging discussions on inclusive practices, diversity training, and targeted support programs that ensure equitable access to mental health resources

6. Other

• Data, evaluation and monitoring of workplace wellness initiatives
• Organizational policies prioritizing psychological health and safety

Please choose your preferred presentation format:
• Concurrent Session (e.g. information sharing, case study presentation, workshops)
• Poster Presentation (Display space for posters will be offered)

All applicants will be notified of their submission status in mid-January 2025.

All submissions will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Relevance to the conference theme
• Clarity and coherence of submission
• Relevance and value to participants
• Evidence that the submission will encourage interaction with conference participants
• Evidence of clear learning objectives and actionable insights.

Acceptance as a Presenter

• Key dates and details for presenters will be provided after applicants receive notice of acceptance.
• Presenters must be paid registrants of the conference.
• Presenters will be asked to submit an electronic version of their presentation.
• Presentation time slots will be 60 minutes in length.
• Presenters will be provided with a designated time to present by the conference committee.

For further information please contact Sherry Sim, Event Manager at sherry@innovative4you.com
or by phone at 1-866-655-8548.

Abstract Submission Deadline: December 16, 2024

Please provide presenter names as you would like them to appear in the conference program:

Please note: Based on the number of presentations we receive, we may have to combine presentations. If your abstract is not accepted, you may have an opportunity to present a poster presentation.

Please note: The presenter may submit multiple abstracts for the conference. One submission for each presentation.

The presenter may submit multiple abstracts for the conference. One submission for each presentation. If your abstract is accepted, we will reach out for your full abstract and your AV/Tech needs.