Humber College and the SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health (CCMH) Learning Institute have partnered on two new micro-credentials designed to provide leadership skills and knowledge for those in community mental health services.

Neill Carson, one of the program facilitators and senior director, clinical and operations at The Garry Hurvitz Centre for Community Mental Health at SickKids, said the need for a well-led community mental health sector has never been greater.

“Since the start of the pandemic, stresses on families and individuals have increased and, with them, so have mental health needs,” said Carson. “At the same time, community-based service providers are facing unprecedented levels of staff turnover. Organizations are responding and are seeking to serve more people and to do so in new ways, while also working to address serious recruitment and retention challenges. To do this effectively, there is an identified need for professional development support.”

The new Excellence in Mental Health Leadership program aims to help address the increased demand for services and strengthen the leadership pipeline with the five-day Excellence in Mental Health Organization and People Management micro-credential as well as the three-day Excellence in Mental Health Data, Communication and Influence micro-credential. Both offerings are open for registration and will have their first cohorts start this September and November, respectively.

The programs are offered by the SickKids CCMH Learning Institute with micro-credential recognition and certification from Humber. There is a fee for the courses as well as an additional cost for the micro-credential certification.
 
They are open to anyone but are designed for new mental health managers and supervisors, those working in community health who are aspiring or transitioning to a managerial or supervisorial role, individuals in a leadership role with limited training on leading teams and mental health professionals seeking to upskill.

"The Excellence in Mental Health Leadership program was developed in consultation with mental health leaders from across Ontario," said Carson. "It offers prospective leaders the kinds of skills they need to be effective in this challenging environment and to adapt and grow as it continues to change.”
 
The program is designed to help develop qualified leadership skills in order to effectively provide inclusive, equitable and anti-racist services, navigate sector and funding changes and support succession planning capacity within Ontario’s mental health sector.
 
“I’m extraordinarily proud of the efforts that went into bringing the Excellence in Mental Health Leadership micro-credentials to life,” said Frank Cappadocia, dean, Continuous Professional Learning, Humber College. “This program will better equip current mental health professionals with the knowledge, skills, and tools to emerge as leaders in Ontario’s community mental health sector.”
 
Both micro-credential programs are delivered online to reach as many potential learners in the province as possible. Those interested can register for either program or both – taking the first is not a pre-requisite for the second.
 
Humber and the SickKids CCMH Learning Institute partnered to create the programs after receiving funding from the Ontario government’s Micro-credentials Challenge Fund in 2021 to conduct a needs analysis and develop the content.
 
The programs will be facilitated by instructors from Continuous Professional Learning at Humber, seasoned academics, SickKids practitioners and external subject matter experts.  

Register by visiting the Excellence in Mental Health Leadership page.