It takes a team – Working together to improve mental health for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Heidi and Yona will share their perspectives on how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of people with developmental disabilities, and what has been helpful. Together, they will highlight some of their learnings from a virtual program that they co-led, reaching self advocates from across Canada.
Yona Lunsky – Director of the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, Toronto
Heidi Mallet – Advisor and Course Facilitator, Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, CAMH. Lived Experience, West Prince
Yona Lunsky
Yona is Director of the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre at CAMH (www.camh.ca) and the Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities Program (www.hcardd.ca). She is also a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and has published over 250 papers and book chapters on health and developmental disabilities.
She is passionate about the topic of mental health, and works in partnership with clinicians, community service providers, policy- makers, self advocates and families to identify key health care challenges and design innovative solutions. Last year, together with Vita Community Services in Toronto, her team developed a suite of tools for direct support professionals to help them in their role as health care advocates (www.nutsandboltstools.com).
She has also developed training curricula for staff on mental health and on supporting families, together with Open Futures Learning, and also with The Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK.
https://www.specialolympics.ca/news/word-chair-global-athlete-leadership-council-heidi-mallett
Heidi Mallet
Heidi Mallett has been a Special Olympics PEI athlete for 14 years. Heidi is an active participant in a variety of Special Olympics sports, including Golf, Snowshoe, Bocce, and 5-Pin Bowling. Heidi is no stranger to competition, having been a member of Team PEI as a member of both the Golf and 5-Pin Bowling teams. Most recently, Heidi was a member of Team PEI 2020’s 5-Pin Bowling team at the Special Olympics National Winter Games in Thunder Bay, ON. Off the fields of play, Heidi is the Athlete Representative on Special Olympics PEI’s Board of Directors, a Health Messenger, and Special Olympics PEI’s representative on the Canadian Athlete Leadership Council. Heidi is a strong advocate of the People First movement. She is the Chair / President of People First PEI. Additionally, Heidi has been Co-Chair of the Board of Community Inclusions.
Heidi is a Special Olympics athlete and a leader. She has been a key member of many leadership committees including People First of Canada, PEI People First, Special Olympics Canada’s Athlete Leadership Council, the Global Athlete Leadership Council, as well as the Athlete Representative for the Special Olympics PEI Board of Directors.