What an incredible year it’s been since I became President and CEO of Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in June 2022. I’m more inspired, energized (and yes, challenged) than ever. As a 315 bed specialized hospital serving central Ontario and the province, Waypoint provides mental health, addictions and specialized geriatric services.  This past year I have been deeply moved by the care and compassion the Waypoint team has shown our patients, families, and each other. I appreciate everyone’s commitment, ingenuity and servant leadership in the important work we do at the hospital and in the system. I’m humbled to be at Waypoint’s helm, and grateful for our amazing staff, physicians, leaders, and volunteers. In particular, our board members and Chair have been generous with their wisdom, support and energy to help me and our whole organization learn, grow, and thrive.

It’s been a year of remarkable accomplishments and tremendous effort to move the needle on our priorities to Serve, Discover and Lead. The most recent is the June achievement of Accreditation with Exemplary Standing from Accreditation Canada. This is the highest possible rating an organization can achieve and it is due to the collective commitment to excellence, teamwork and perseverance of our staff, physicians and volunteers.

It’s been a year of remarkable accomplishments and tremendous effort to move the needle on our priorities to Serve, Discover and Lead.

In February, we launched five ambitious and energizing Enabling Plans. These integrated plans are inspiring us and ensuring our efforts are focused and impactful. The plans also commit us to take action on four cross cutting themes: partnerships and servant leadership, Waypoint without walls, becoming a learning health system, and equity, diversity and inclusion.

One of the major projects embedded in the Enabling Plans is a multi-year model of care transformation we embarked last year. With participation from across the hospital including patients and families, this new model of care will ensure we continue to foster and sustain a therapeutic environment, actively engage and include patients and families in care, and support staff to provide the safest and best possible care, achieving the intended outcomes for and with patients. 

With acute mental health-related hospitalizations in Simcoe Muskoka rapidly growing, a 21 per cent increase from 2017 to 2021, Waypoint continues to support the broader health care system as a regional centre. Waypoint has temporarily operated an additional 14-25 acute mental health beds in addition to our permanent 20 beds. We have proposed to the Ministry of Health to make 20 of these additional beds permanent, including five psychiatric ICU beds, which would be the first of their kind in the region leveraging Waypoint’s unique expertise. 

We also expanded the neurostimulation electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) program to five days a week, launched an urgent psychiatric consultation service to support rapid outpatient follow-up after emergency department visits, supported new LOFT supportive housing, and helped to launch 16 beds at County of Simcoe long-term care homes and through the North Simcoe Muskoka Specialized Geriatric Services. 

The Central Ontario Specialized Health (COSH) Network launched 1door.ca, providing convenient online appointment booking for several free, no/low barrier counseling and other mental health services. COSH aims to improve access to excellent care for people with complex needs, through delivering regional specialized services and building capacity throughout our region. Working with partners and primary care providers, we are transforming how the system is organized so that care is more integrated and connected. In addition to 1door.ca, we are collaboratively developing integrated care pathways for children, youth, adults and seniors with depression and anxiety, to ensure people receive high quality care no matter where they are and to smooth out the bumps and gaps people otherwise experience with a more coordinated and timely care experience. The launch of the myDAWN pathway for children and youth with the South Georgian Bay OHT is a great example of what we have accomplished together.

With these and many other clinical innovations underway, it is more important than ever that we engage clinicians in research and evaluation. Waypoint’s new research and scholarship award program for health professionals is increasing the integration of research across the hospital. The impactful research underway sees us co-designing and launching a youth resiliency program, collaborating with patients to conduct research in the forensic mental health context, guiding law enforcement in assessing and responding to intimate partner violence, leveraging artificial intelligence to make inpatient mental healthcare safer, and engaging people who use opioids in advising on the impacts of COVID and how public policy can support better care. We have been thrilled to see significant growth in major competitive grants to support these projects. 

With a strengthened focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, we are participating in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Pursuing Equity Learning Network. This is a learning collaborative with teams from across North America who are coming together to learn, build and practice skills, and develop a deep understanding of equity and racial justice. It’s been inspiring to see frontline staff across Waypoint raise their hands to play a leadership role in advancing EDI across our organization, and I personally look forward to learning from and walking alongside them in this critically important work.

In this vein, the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program received an Award of Excellence in Mental Health and Addictions Quality Improvement from the Canadian College of Health Leaders for their efforts to increase the cultural sensitivity, accessibility and effectiveness of services for people from priority populations that are underserved.

Collaborating with people and partners who are Indigenous, Francophone, and members of the2S-LGBTQ+ community was paramount to our collective success.

Of course, none of this would be possible without our staff, who are at the heart of everything we do. Their compassion, dedication and expertise inspire and deepen my own commitment to our cause. I am so grateful to our staff and honoured to lead such a remarkable team. This year we prioritized launching (and in some cases relaunching) leadership development programs for emerging, front line leaders, and seasoned leaders as part of our investment in ensuring every Waypoint staff has opportunities to learn and grow within the organization. The combined impacts of demographic shifts and the pandemic have further highlighted the critical nature of these efforts. Enabling our staff to continuously improve and develop is essential to maintain our commitment to delivering evidence-based, compassionate mental health, addictions, and specialized geriatric care that our patients, clients, and their families expect and deserve.

We were humbled to have achieved a Mental Health at Work^® Certificate of Merit from Excellence Canada in recognition of many years of commitment to workplace mental health, psychological safety and wellness. Given our unique role in Ontario Central region, we’ve been pleased to be leading a strategy for organizational health and staff well-being on behalf of hospitals across our region, that is now expanding to the Community Support Services sector. 

Looking back at the past year, I am grateful for and inspired by the unwavering dedication of our team who have been so mission driven and collaborative in providing exemplary care to those in need. We are steadfast in our commitment to continue to overcome obstacles and learn and grow together. With our strategic plan and enabling plans guiding us, we continue to Serve, Discover and Lead in the collaborative #WaypointWay, strengthening partnerships to improve care and shape the transforming healthcare system, engaging in meaningful research and co-design with those we serve, and investing in leaders and efforts to improve the staff and patient experience. The future really is bright at Waypoint.

As I said last summer, these are challenging but exciting times – I can’t wait to see what new adventures year two brings. When I look at those around me, I have full confidence we will rise to the challenges, continue to innovate and grow, and be servant leaders in our communities and in a transforming health system.

Dr. Nadiya Sunderji

Dr. Nadiya Sunderji became Waypoint President and CEO on June 13, 2022. She is a psychiatrist with nearly 20 years of leadership experience. She is also an Associate Professor in the Division of Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems in the Department of Psychiatry at University of Toronto.