Media Advisory: Trauma experts hold webinar on mental health care for patients, health-care providers and first responders in COVID-19 pandemic

What: Leading Canadian and U.S. experts in disaster psychiatry will lead a webinar for health-care providers on how to manage and prevent COVID-19-related mental-health trauma. This is the second year in a row that Disaster Psychiatry Canada will focus its annual Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters training on the impact of COVID-19.  

When: Friday, June 11, 2020, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Media are invited to listen to the webinar. Individual interviews can also be arranged in advance or on Friday. View the full program.

Where: Register for the webinar. Contact media@oma.org to arrange an interview.

Health-care professionals from across Canada and around the world will take part in this annual training. The webinar will examine the enduring grief, exposed inequities and new modes for delivering mental health care that persist as the pandemic continues. Speakers include:

• Dr. Kwame McKenzie – An expert on the social causes of mental illness, suicide and the development of effective, equitable health systems. He is the CEO of the Wellesley Institute and Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

• Dr. M. Katherine Shear – The Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry and the founding director of the Centre of Complicated Grief at Columbia University School of Social Work in New York. A pioneer in developing treatments for prolonged grief disorder, she works with the Mobilizing Preachers and Communities organization to support leaders battling the emotional toll of the pandemic on their community.

Following the presentations, a panel of experts on telepsychiatry, health workers’ mental health, traumatic stress and disaster psychiatry education will discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric care and those who provide it.

About the OMA

The Ontario Medical Association represents Ontario’s 43,000-plus physicians, medical students and retired physicians, advocating for and supporting doctors while strengthening the leadership role of doctors in caring for patients. Our vision is to be the trusted voice in transforming Ontario’s health-care system.

For more information, please contact:
OMA Media Relations
media@oma.org