Mental health

Feature
by: Anonymous authors, Kimberley Kearsey
Members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community experience high rates of stigma and discrimination both outside and inside the health system. According to John Edwards, an RN and member of the community, secretary of RNAO’s Rainbow Nursing Interest Group (RNIG), and a researcher who focused on this for his master’s degree (read more in our R...
Feature
by: Madison Scaini
As RNAO’s first practising nurse practitioner (NP) president, Lhamo Dolkar recalls what RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun once said to her: “There is always a right president at the right time.” At this juncture, and with the current challenges facing NPs and the broader health system, Dolkar believes it’s the right time for her RNAO ...
Column
by: Dr. Doris Grinspun

On May 28, we marched to Queen’s Park with a large and vocal group of care providers, families and concerned Ontarians to demand funding for supervised consumption services (SCS) sites across Ontario. Many of those involved were driven by first-hand personal and/or professional experiences that prove SCS saves lives.

News
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Sudbury’s only sanctioned supervised consumption site (SCS) – formally called Minoogawbi, La Place, The Spot and informally known as The Spot – was forced to close its doors at the end of March. The city terminated its funding of the site at the end of December 2023, suggesting the province step in.

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RN Jorge Santos has the unique experience of getting to work alongside one of his former patients at Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Santos’ colleague is Emily Chan, a social worker who, until the age of six, underwent physical rehab at the hospital.

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NP Beth Hayhoe has been volunteering with Toronto’s Yonge Street Mission for nearly 30 years. The organization recently spent $3 million to expand its health and dental centre for youth in the city’s downtown neighbourhood.

Feature
by: Victoria Alarcon
For Lori Zozzolotto, racism has been an obstacle throughout her nursing career. While in school to earn her RPN designation in 2007, she had the opportunity to apply for a clinical placement in an emergency department. Competition for the position was tough, and when she went to her instructor for advice, she was discouraged. “(...
Feature
by: Madison Scaini
Imagine you’ve applied to work at a long-term care (LTC) home and have been invited for an in-person interview. You enter the home – excited and nervous. As you enter the building, you see a big sign: Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO). Do you smile knowing what this means and feel confident? Or do you become more nervo...
Feature
by: Anne Wojtak, Austin White, Jhanvi Kothary, Kimberley Kearsey, Nena Pendevska, Thaaniya Theivendiran
RNAO’s 18th annual Best Practice Spotlight Organization® (BPSO®) Symposium in September 2023 saw more than 235 representatives from local, national and international BPSOs gather in Toronto for three days of knowledge sharing and networking. Whether providing in-person or virtual concurrent sessions, or chatting with colleagues ...
Feature
by: Tanya Smith
In March 2020, when the pandemic shut the world down, I had just completed orientation for the first clinical placement of my first year of nursing school. I never got to work at the long-term care home I selected, and I was forced to finish the term from my home computer. Over the next two years, the pandemic would continue to ...