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Services & Programs

Dual Diagnosis Brokerage Service

The Brokerage Service is a bilingual service for people with a dual diagnosis (a developmental disability and a mental illness) and other complex needs who live in Ottawa. The service is comprised of 4 staff called “Brokers”, two of whom are designated to work with individuals involved in the justice system. This service is funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services, and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

The service promotes a rehabilitative person-centred approach that responds to the breakdown of a person’s support system. Brokers develop individualized long-term plans of support. The service promotes collaborative efforts that integrate partnerships among families, agencies, services and ministries.

The service provides training to Developmental and Mental Health Professionals to increase their awareness of the needs of clients and their families. As well, the service monitors and assesses service gaps and reports this to the relevant ministries.

What Brokers do:

Navigate:

Brokers provide information and referral, assessment, and contact with various community resources on behalf of its clients. The Brokerage Service has formal collaborative processes established with access points for developmental and mental health community support services to effectively triage its referrals toward community supports.

Technical Support and Expertise:

Brokers communicate and assist in the implementation of best practice applications within the support networks.

Wraparound:

Brokers focus on an individual’s strengths and needs, and develop plans that build and enhance a person’s network of services. The goal is to develop the person’s support circle to the point of self-management through assistance with applied learning and offering expertise in specialized support-structure.

Train:

Brokers provide tailored in-service training to a person’s support network on a variety of mental health and developmental diagnosis issues affecting the individual.

Community Development:

Brokers participate on committees and task forces to improve the Ottawa community’s capacity to support people with a dual diagnosis. These committees include the Asbergers Committee, Community Support Planning Table (Anglophone and francophone), Dual Diagnosis Action Group, and Research and Practice Committee for Dual Diagnosis.

Dual Diagnosis Ottawa Community Clinic

In partnership with Solution-s, CMHA Ottawa Dual Diagnosis Brokerage Service operates five psychiatric clinics, one located at CMHA and four with developmental community partners. The Clinic uses a collaborative shared care model to integrate clinical psychiatric services with a person’s support network. It enriches the care each can offer and uses a bio-psychosocial approach to improve the well-being of individuals and communities. It also encourages a more efficient and effective use of increasingly limited resources and heightens the skills and satisfaction of family physicians and psychiatrists alike.

Who Do I contact?

Karen Shipman
Program Manager
613-737-7791, extension 117