Annual
Report
2023/24
Message from our CEO and President
We are thankful for the opportunity to once again be addressing our community in this year’s annual report. We have experienced another positive year of growth and change, supported by our incredible staff and funders, and are pleased to be able to share our progress with you here.
Reconnect Health Services opened its doors as a small agency almost forty years ago, aimed at providing mental health services to clients in Etobicoke. Our budget, staffing complement and client base was small, but even then, there was a sense that more people needed help than we were supporting, and that we needed to be able to increase our ability to provide that care. Over the next four decades we learned and evolved, recognizing that our clients’ needs went beyond mental healthcare, and in time we brought under our roof sister community service and healthcare providers who could expand our offerings to include addictions services, seniors services, as well as one of the most comprehensive support programs for caregivers in the GTA.
We are deeply proud of what we are now able to offer to our clients in-house, and how we have molded ourselves around the needs of many individuals, all of whom are unique and all of whom are deserving of person-centred care that is seamless, easy to access, flexible and, when traditional methods don’t work, innovative. We know that our clients are also accessing other parts of the healthcare system, which are often not set up to support these qualities, and so we have also developed our capacity to support and influence system-level initiatives as well, which will improve healthcare for everyone, and we are very proud of this work too.
In all situations, our clients are always, always at the centre of our focus. This means we work very hard to ensure we have no wait times for service, that we will reorganize and restructure ourselves to support better care, and that we ultimately want our community to see us as the help they need.
Once a client is in our doors, we commit to doing the navigating, the problem solving and the coordinating on their
behalf. We want to treat people as though they were our family, and coming to us should feel like coming home.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the board of directors for their support in helping steer Reconnect as an organization, our staff who are the backbone of our services, our volunteers who take time out of their day to support our clients in so many different ways, and our funders for their trust in us to allow us to do the work we do.
Thank you all.
Mohamed Badsha
Chief Executive Officer
Brian Shiller
Board President
Programs and Services
Reconnect is amalgamation of a handful of community services organizations, all established in Toronto and all dedicated to supporting the health and wellbeing of their communities. Over the years we have evolved to become a multi-service provider, offering services to seniors and to those experiencing mental health and addictions concerns, as well as support programs for caregivers.
Once someone is a Reconnect client, they have access to our full breadth of services, which include clinical and therapeutic services like occupational therapy, behavioural therapy, mindfulness groups, drama and music therapy, as well as our health and wellness programming and smart recovery groups, just to name a few.
Client Programming
Services for Seniors
Our services for seniors are aimed at supporting those 55+ to age at home safely and with continuing independence. These services address the needs of seniors and adults with disabilities at various points along the continuum of care, including assisted living, home help, social and exercise programs, meals on wheels, and supervised programming for individuals with dementia.
Mental Health and Addictions Services
Our mental health and addictions services provide a range of community-based supports for adults, seniors and youth. Services vary in intensity based on client needs and are designed to allow for clients to be able to move across programs as their needs change over time.
Family and Caregiver Support Services
Reconnect’s FAME Family and Caregiver Support Services program offers a range of supports to family members and caregivers who have a loved one experiencing a mental health concern, as well as for those who are caregiving for someone who is aging. Services include peer support groups, one-on-one counselling, and specialized programming for children and youth.
Sector Services
Academy of Professional Development
The Reconnect Academy of Professional Development was launched this year, offering quality, practical and affordable training opportunities for staff working in the not-for-profit sector. Training sessions are offered at our bright and inviting learning space at 700 Lawrence Ave W, virtually, as well as on-site for organizations wanting private trainings. We were thrilled to welcome almost 700 learners over the past twelve months, and look forward to seeing even more in the coming year.
Community Shared Services
Community health organizations have unique needs when it comes to purchasing goods and services. Our Shared Services program supports community health services providers with small, medium, or large purchases and in navigating the principles and standards of the broader public service sector procurement directive. Shared Services can provide templates and guidance that will prepare internal evaluation teams to evaluate vendor proposals and can offer specialized procurement knowledge and assistance for organizations that may not have that capacity in-house.
Hospital Partnerships
Reconnect has developed partnerships with local hospitals to ensure clients who are transitioning between the two settings experience a smooth, seamless transfer of care. Changes in setting are often a pain point in our healthcare system and as part of our commitment to excellent client experience, we have made it a priority to support our clients, and the healthcare system, in this way. These partnerships ensure warm handoffs, effective communication between all parties, as well as rapid access to services. Over the past twelve months we have worked with UHN, Sinai Health, Humber River Hospital and CAMH to welcome more than 200 clients via these pathways.
Volunteer Program
We could not do all that we do without the support of our 150 dedicated volunteers, who freely share their time, skills and spirit with our clients. We are immensely appreciative for their ongoing support.
Adult Day Program
Adult Day Services
The Adult Day Program provides activities, food, and social connection in a secure environment for seniors who are unable to take part in regular community day programs due to physical and or cognitive impairment.
Health and Wellness Centre
The Health and Wellness Centre provides free social, recreational and exercise-based groups throughout the day ensuring access to much needed opportunities for physical, mental, and social engagement for our clients.
Reconnect Sites
Reconnect has several program sites across the GTA, with a focus on services in the west end of Toronto. Not shown here are the 20+ Toronto Seniors and Toronto Community Housing buildings in which we also provide services.
Academy of Professional Development
Administrative Office
FAME
Head Office/Services for Seniors Site
Mental Health and Services Site
Safe Bed Site
Services for Seniors Site
Transitional Care Unit
Evolution of
Client Care
Reconnect has made big strides since it first started working with clients in 1981. We have gone through multiple integrations and grown both our service offerings and catchment area. With every change our goal is to give our clients the best care possible.
The Etobicoke Mental Health Centre opened in 1981.
The organization broadened its catchment area and changed its name to Reconnect Mental Health Services to reflect that growth.
Signaling a desire to provide more services to more people, Reconnect updated its name to Reconnect Community Health Services.
In 2015 we welcomed Community Outreach Programs in Addiction into Reconnect, gaining seniors focused addiction programming.
Two years later, St. Clair West Services for Seniors joined Reconnect adding six more seniors-focused services for our clients.
With the addition of FAME Family and Caregiver Services Reconnect was able to provide much needed support for families.
The integration of West Toronto Support Services made Reconnect one of the largest providers of seniors services in the west end of Toronto.
In 2023, the Academy of Professional Development was launched to provide quality, affordable training opportunities for staff in the not-for-profit sector.
Every change and evolution of Reconnect was inspired by the goal of providing excellent health care for our clients. To better reflect who we are now in 2024, and the services we provide, we rebranded as Reconnect Health Services.
By the Numbers
7434
2214
3041
2179
Staff List
Our staff are our greatest asset. We thank each of them for their compassion and commitment to our clients. Click the button below for the full staff list.
Staff Years of Service Awards
Reconnect has the great privilege of working with staff who have dedicated many years to this organization. Thank you for sharing your experience with us and congratulations on this milestone.
Board of Directors
Brian Shiller
President
Leo Bisharat
Vice President and Treasurer
Julia Brown
Secretary
Trisha Ball
Director
Harold Keller
Director
Janet Pause
Director
Douglas Crawford
Director
Peter Mueller
Director
Patrick Tannahill
Director
Bruce Keleher
Director
Sonia Nijjar
Director
Jennifer Zosky
Director
Financial Statements
Contact
Information
90 Tycos Drive
Toronto, ON
M6B 1V9
Phone: 416-248-2050
Email: contact@reconnect.on.ca
Fax: 416-248-6557
