Moving Forward Through Partnerships
OUR MISSION
Distress Centres Ontario is a provincial network that leads, promotes and builds the capacity of community-based agencies engaged in activities related to suicide prevention and improving the emotional quality of life for Ontarians.
OUR ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES
Our work will be guided by the following values:
Accountability: to our funder(s) and a range of other interested parties, but most especially to the member agencies of DCO. Our Board and staff are committed to transparency in decision-making.
Collaboration and Empowerment: it is critical that we work diligently to meet the needs of our members and help them to develop the Distress Centre movement in Ontario. Our success will be measured by our ability to forge and sustain new partnerships with agencies and organizations who share a similar interest in improving the lives of those who face significant emotional and mental health issues.
Inclusion: we welcome and celebrate the unique and distinct talents that each member agency brings to DCO. We are committed to dealing with our current and future members with dignity and respect.
Integrity: DCO is a credible and fair organization that can always be trusted to successfully represent the needs of its members.
Leadership: we are passionately committed to being the tireless central voice for the distress centre movement within Ontario.
2008 &ndash 2011 Strategic Priorities::
1. Significantly increase awareness of Distress Centre access points and of the value of DCO amongst key groups that need our services or can help us strategically in realizing our social objectives.
2. Strengthen and expand training, education and information-sharing opportunities for DCO and association member staff and volunteers.
3. Establish integrated help lines province-wide and use new technologies to increase the number of service access points for Ontarians.
4. Launch a Distress Centre Accreditation Process in order to accredit all member centres by 2011.
5. Continue to expand the resource capacity of the Distress Centre network; with the emphasis on strengthening financial support, organizational development and human resources.
6. Increase and solidify the membership of Distress Centres Ontario and the support provided to that membership.