Providence Care partners with Matthew Perry House and CAPSA to strengthen substance use health services in the region
KINGSTON, ON — People in southeastern Ontario living with substance use health challenges will soon have greater access to compassionate, evidence-informed support, thanks to a new partnership between Providence Care, Matthew Perry House and CAPSA.
As the first health care organization in southeastern Ontario to partner with Matthew Perry House, Providence Care is helping strengthen how substance use health is understood and supported, while giving staff new tools and training grounded in living and lived experience, supported by dignity-centred practices.
"This partnership marks an important shift in how Providence Care approaches substance use health," says Terry Landry, Providence Care Vice President, Patient and Client Care.
"While substance use has long been part of the care needs we see across our programs, it has not traditionally been a primary focus of our services. This partnership is helping us build the expertise, capacity and evidence-informed practices needed to make substance use health a greater focus of the care we provide while creating more opportunities for people to access support close to home."
Inspired by the legacy of late actor Matthew Perry, Matthew Perry House is helping change how substance use health is understood and supported in communities across Canada.
Through this partnership, Providence Care will implement the Matthew Perry Model of Care, which centres on dignity, meaningful relationships and the voices of people with lived and living experience of substance use. The approach reflects many of the same values that guide Providence Care's mission to instill hope, enhance quality of life and address the needs of the whole person through care, education and research. Together with CAPSA's leadership in reducing stigma and advancing more compassionate, equitable responses to substance use health, the partnership creates a shared foundation for strengthening supports across southeastern Ontario.
“In his own journey, Matthew experienced loss of access to care, lack of ongoing support, and approaches to care that left him feeling more hopeless after leaving services than when he arrived," says Caitlin Morrison, Executive Director of Matthew Perry House.
"Providence Care and CAPSA share Matthew Perry House’s commitment to supporting humans with compassion, dignity, and consistency. I believe that together, we can expand the kind of care that Matthew spent years trying to find for himself.”
Providence Care has already begun investing in training, education and stigma-reduction initiatives that will help strengthen substance use health services across the region. Recent initiatives have included a regional symposium that brought together health care providers, community agencies and first responders to strengthen collaboration, challenge stigma and improve understanding of substance use health. Community mental health staff are also receiving training in the Matthew Perry Model of Care, giving them new tools to better support individuals seeking help.
"This partnership will help address a long-standing gap in how substance use health is understood and supported across health care," says Gord Unsworth, Providence Care Regional Director, Community Mental Health Services.
"Substance use health today is where mental health was decades ago. Too many people still face stigma, judgment and silent shame when seeking support. Together with Matthew Perry House and CAPSA, we're helping change that by strengthening the support available to individuals in our community."
Providence Care's involvement builds on its longstanding relationship with CAPSA, an organization that works nationally to advance health-based approaches to substance use and reduce stigma through research, education and lived and living experience leadership.
“Integrating the knowledge base, that CAPSA has amassed over the last decade, into this novel approach to substance use health care, along with our stigma and discrimination informed practices, will enable the sector to deliver the best in class care to people in need of support,” says Anthony Esposti, CEO CAPSA.
“We are proud to partner with Providence Care in initiating these system changes that are poised to have far reaching, positive effects.”
“Reducing stigma begins with how we talk about substance use health. People's health needs, no matter what they may be, deserve compassion, respect and care, not judgment or exclusion,” says Shawn Fisk, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships, CAPSA Canada.
“We are proud to partner with Providence Care and Matthew Perry House to build a dignity-centred approach to substance use health in the region.”
Through training, education and a new model of care, Providence Care is expanding its capacity to support people experiencing substance use health challenges and making substance use health a greater focus of its services. Together with Matthew Perry House and CAPSA, the organization is strengthening care today while laying the foundation for future programming and expanded services across southeastern Ontario.