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Ontario Psychiatric Association

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Ontario Psychiatric Association

The Ontario Psychiatric Association is the provincial voice of Ontario's Psychiatrists.

The OPA serves to:

- Facilitate the exchange of scientific information
- Promote the optimal level of professional development and practice
- Advocate for the mentally ill and their families
- Represent members to governments, universities, and other medical associations
- Promote the prevention of mental disorders in the province of Ontario

07/11/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Jasmine Gandhi, who is this year's winner of the OPA Breakout Community Advocacy Award!

Dr. Gandhi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa and works out of the Ottawa Hospital. She is an expert in Perinatal Psychiatry and founded "Ask Masi," Canada's first Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program. This program provides important continuing professional development for health providers through phone-based coaching, accredited courses and in-service education to individual clinics.

The program's success has meant better mental health care for many patients. Additionally, her advocacy for perinatal mental health has led her to advocate to government for improvements in care and public policy. Congratulations, once again, to Dr. Gandhi!

06/15/2026

Our annual OPA Psychotherapy Day was a great success! What an engaging day of learning, connecting, and celebrating with colleagues from across Ontario.

Thank you again to our incredible speakers, Drs. Clare Pain, Sakina Rizvi, Venkat Bhat, and Ingrid Pacey, as well as each of our wonderful sponsors and attendees.

If you're interested in joining the OPA and want to contribute to planning future educational events, don't forget to register to be an OPA member here: https://eopa.ca/membership/become-a-member

05/14/2026

Did you know? OPA Psychotherapy Day is now also approved for Section 1 and Section 3 of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada's Maintenance of Certification Program!

Don't miss your chance to register: https://eopa.ca/events/opa-psychotherapy-2026/registration

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada – Section 1
This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by Continuing Professional Development, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. You may claim up to a maximum of 6.0 hours (credits are automatically calculated).

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Section 3: Self-Assessment
This activity is an Accredited Self-Assessment Program (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by Continuing Professional Development, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. You may claim a maximum of 1.0 hours (credits are automatically calculated).

04/30/2026

Come learn more about experimental and emerging psychotherapy treatments for cPTSD at our OPA Psychotherapy Day on June 6th!

Early bird registration ends TODAY - sign up here: https://eopa.ca/events/opa-psychotherapy-2026/registration

Dr Ingrid Pacey MBBS, FRCP(C) is a retired psychiatrist whose work in private practice for nearly 50 years became focussed on working with women trauma survivors, PTSD and complex PTSD, most often from early sexual abuse. She has worked with many modalities of psychotherapy including long-term psychotherapy, EMDR, bioenergetics, art therapy, group therapy.

She began working with expanded states of consciousness after training with Dr Stan Grof and Christina Grof 1987-1990 in Holotropic Breathwork. She ran Holotropic Breathwork groups for the next 15 years and saw the benefits of adding this dimension to trauma therapy. Starting in 2009 she was instrumental in bringing the MAPS research trial into M**A assisted psychotherapy for PTSD to Vancouver. This phase 2 study ran from 2013-2016, showing positive outcomes.

She joined TheraPsil in 2021 as a trainer, first training therapists in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy and in 2024 started M**A-assisted psychotherapy training. She mentors and supervises therapists in this work. She is a member of Grof Legacy Training and teaches on the theory and practice of Holotropic Breathwork in her trainings with TheraPsil.

Learning Objectives:
1. Compare traditional and emerging approaches to treating CPTSD
2. Define components of Holotropic Breathwork
3. Evaluate the evidence-base for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy

04/12/2026

We look forward to learning more about Integrated Su***de and Trauma Therapy at our upcoming OPA Psychotherapy Day!

Our early bird deadline (April 30th) to register is fast approaching! Register here: https://eopa.ca/events/opa-psychotherapy-2026/registration

Dr. Sakina Rizvi is the Chair of the Arthur Sommer Rotenberg (ASR) Su***de and Depression Studies Program at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on understanding the neurobiology underlying su***de risk and treatment-resistant depression (TRD) through advanced neuroimaging techniques like fMRI and PET.

In addition to her neuroimaging work, Dr. Rizvi develops and evaluates novel psychotherapies for su***de prevention, depression, and trauma resilience with the aim of translating these therapies for use in hospital and community settings. She is also deeply engaged in participant-centered research, collaborating with persons with lived experience of su***de risk and national partners to develop effective su***de prevention strategies.

Her advocacy extends to mental health education, often using the creative arts to raise awareness. She led the Storybook Project, a lived experience short story collection on the impact of su***de published in September 2021 as “What it Takes to Make it Through: Stories of Su***de Loss and Resilience”.

Learning Objectives:
1. Evaluate the evidence of existing trauma therapies in the context of su***de risk
2. Recognize the factors at play when treating su***de risk in the context of trauma
3. Describe the core elements of ISTT and its theoretical rationale.
Interpret preliminary findings from quantitative and qualitative evaluation of ISTT.
4. Apply the ISTT framework to a sample clinical case.

03/28/2026

The OPA is pleased to endorse the work of Unplugged Canada, a grassroots, parent-led organization raising awareness across the country about the impacts of smartphones and social media on children's mental health, social development, and education.

Given the growing body of research highlighting the concerning effects of early and excessive device use, Unplugged Canada has built a non-judgmental community that unites and empowers caregivers to prioritize youth wellbeing. They achieve this by inviting parents to pledge to delay smartphones until at least age 14. To date, more than 8,200 parents in over 1,100 schools across Canada have joined this collective movement, driving a meaningful shift in societal norms around children, smartphones, and social media.

To learn more or get involved, please visit the website for Unplugged Canada: https://www.unpluggedcanada.com/

03/24/2026

We are excited to learn more about the intersection of AI and mental health care at our upcoming OPA Psychotherapy Day on June 6th in Toronto!

Registration link below, and don't miss our early bird deadline April 30th!
https://eopa.ca/events/opa-psychotherapy-2026/registration

Dr. Şerife Tekin is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Her work examines the intersections of mental health, selfhood, and emerging technologies in clinical practice.

Her recent book, Reclaiming the Self in Psychiatry: Centering Personal Narratives for a Humanist Science (Routledge, 2025), develops the Multitudinous Self Model, a framework for integrating patient testimony with scientific and clinical reasoning. Tekin has published widely on AI and mental health, including “Beyond Doomsday Fears: Why We Need to Consider the Potential Harms of AI Psychotherapy” (American Journal of Bioethics, 2025), and “Unintended Harms of Novel Predictive Technologies in Mental Disorder Treatment” (AJOB Neuroscience, 2024). Her work has been featured in Wired, Salon, Prevention, The Guardian, and NPR.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the emerging role of artificial intelligence in mental healthcare and its potential to address (or exacerbate) disparities in access and quality of care.
2. Critically assess the self-awareness assumption underlying AI-powered psychotherapy and discuss how it affects the accuracy and therapeutic value of user self-reports.
3. Analyze how WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) cultural assumptions shape AI mental health tools and limit their global and cross-cultural applicability.
4. Evaluate the ethical and regulatory challenges surrounding the rapid integration of AI into mental healthcare, including issues of safety, bias, and the need for interdisciplinary oversight.

03/21/2026

Hoping to recognize someone for their contributions to the field of mental health this year? Nominate them for an OPA award!

The OPA Mental Health Advocate of the Year Award is presented annually to a non-physician member of the public who has made a major contribution to the understanding of mental illness and its impact on individuals in society.

The OPA Breakout Community Psychiatry Advocacy Award recognizes contributions to the profession of psychiatry and to the public by a community psychiatrist engaging in grassroots advocacy in their local area. Nominees may be working in the community or affiliated with academic hospital sites, however, the advocacy must be community-facing.

Nominations are open until May 1, 2026. https://lnkd.in/eyjUTVUa

Awards will be presented on June 6 during the OPA Psychotherapy Conference.

03/18/2026

Introducing our first session and presenter of our OPA Psychotherapy Day, taking place on Sat, June 6th in Toronto!

Clare Pain, MD, MSc, FRCPC, D.Sc (Hon) Addis Ababa University (AAU), is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto (UofT) and a psychoanalyst. She is a staff psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, and with others provides mental health services to the Cree Nations of James Bay through the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority. She also works with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture and Wanasah, a Black youth and trauma agency in Regent Park.

Dr. Pain is co-founder and senior strategist of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC), a partnership between AAU and UofT, supporting graduate educational capacity in Ethiopia since 2003. She received an honorary doctorate from AAU for her contributions to psychiatry in Ethiopia. Her clinical and academic focus is unresolved traumatic experience, refugee mental health, and global mental health, and she has published widely, including Ogden P, Minton K, & Pain C. Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy. New York, United States: W. W. Norton & Company.

Learning objectives of the session will include:
1. Identify the psychological and somatic effects of unresolved trauma and how they challenge conventional psychotherapeutic approaches.
2. Explain how trauma can disrupt symbolization, affect regulation, and reflective functioning within a psychodynamic framework.
3. Describe the role of implicit bodily processes and procedural memory in maintaining unmentalized traumatic experiences.
4. List three sensorimotor concepts and techniques applicable within a psychodynamic framework.

Register here by our early bird deadline, April 30th: https://eopa.ca/events/opa-psychotherapy-2026/registration

02/09/2026

Registration for the 2026 OPA Psychotherapy Day is officially open!

Join us to learn from 4 expert speakers on psychotherapeutic strategies for people with complex trauma.

Link to register: https://eopa.ca/events/opa-psychotherapy-2026/registration

Early bird ends April 30, 2026!

Address

7145 West Credit Avenue
Mississauga, ON
L5N6J7

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19058130105

Website

https://eopa.ca/events/events-list

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