In this issue:

• Message from the Co-Chairs
  » Resilience in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic
  » Priorities for Fiscal Year 2020-21
  » Changes in our Team
  » New Approach to General Network Meetings»
  » 2021-2024 EPION Strategic Plan
• Metabolic Monitoring
• Transitions in Care
• Partnerships, Education, Access and Knowledge Translation PEAK
• Standards Implementation Steering Committee SISC
• Research Working Group
• Peer Support Worker Community of Practice

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EPION’s PEAK Working Group is presenting a virtual poster titled, “Increasing collaboration and conversations between Ontario’s EPI programs and primary care providers” at the 2020 Integrated Care Conference, hosted by the CFHA (Collaborative Family Healthcare Association). This virtual conference is taking place from October 7th  – 10th, 2020.

The EPION Executive team encourages you to explore an exciting new resource: the Cannabis Knowledge Exchange Hub. The Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health developed the Hub, which is designed to connect policy-makers and professionals working in primary care, mental health and addictions, public health, education and social services with valuable information on non-medical cannabis.

The EPION Research Working Group is excited to share the first in a series of new research bites that will feature and summarize emerging evidence of interest to EPI staff. The first Research Bite is about a study of antipsychotic medication versus psychological intervention versus a combination of both in adolescents with first-episode psychosis.

EPION’s Metabolic Monitoring working group developed an interactive web tool to promote metabolic monitoring for people with mental illness. This issue of EENet’s Promising Practice highlights how the EPI program at CMHA Thunder Bay has been using EPION’s Metabolic Monitoring tool in their practice.

The Schizophrenia Society of Canada has recently launched a bilingual online resource for youth, parents, and educators, which aims to increase informed decision making about cannabis use for youth. 

Donations made in memory of a client at the Heads Up! Program in Southeastern Ontario has led to new beginnings for both EPI clients and shelter animals in a new partnership with the Quinte Humane Society. See below for an excerpt from the original story by Kingston Health Sciences Centre.

EPION’s Standards Implementation Steering Committee is happy to announce that its latest report is now available. “Quality of care in Ontario Early Psychosis Intervention programs: An update after the second round of EPI fidelity assessments” describes the next phase of the Fidelity Pilot project conducted by the Standards Implementation Steering Committee (SISC).

On behalf of the EPION Network , thank you for being part of the EPION 2019 Conference: Partners in Practice & Progress. 

We celebrate with you the rich opportunities for learning through the four plenary sessions, four symposia, twenty-one oral presentations, sixteen posters and three sets of video postcards.

Transitions in care, including clients leaving the program, transferring or re-entering, are consistently identified as challenges for Early Psychosis Intervention programs. In response to this concern, EPION led a consultation process among interested members and other stakeholders over the 2018-2019 fiscal year.