Opening minds in Canada: background and rationale.

ObjectiveTo summarize the background and rationale of the approach taken by the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative.MethodThe approach taken by OM incorporates a grassroots, community development philosophy, has clearly defined target groups, uses contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and has a strong evaluative component, so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope.ResultsOM has acted as a catalyst to develop partnerships between community groups who are undertaking anti-stigma work and an interdisciplinary team of academic researchers in 5 universities who are evaluating the results of these programs.ConclusionsBuilding partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to ...