Frequently Asked Questions

Amalgamation of Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta Division (CMHA-AB) and the Centre for Suicide Prevention (CSP)

Amalgamation

1. Why are the CMHA-AB and CSP amalgamating?

• CMHA-AB’s focus is community mental health care, emphasizing education, training, advocacy, peer and family support, and crisis response. CSP provides this same leadership in suicide prevention. CSP has always been a regional office of CMHA-AB so combining our efforts provides an opportunity to extend and deepen the work of both organizations.
• The amalgamation of the two organizations is a tremendous opportunity to build a stronger, higher-performing new organization that will drive a coordinated, cohesive system of community mental health and suicide prevention care in Alberta.
• CMHA-AB and CSP share a common goal and for many years we have worked in parallel. By coming together, we can build out a broader network of partners, leverage donor and funder investment and reduce operational duplication.
• Province-wide, the demand for mental health and suicide prevention care greatly exceeds current capacity, and the provincial government (and other funders) are looking for leadership and consolidation to help scale and spread programs and services.
• There are more than 170,000 non-profit organizations in Canada. Non-profit umbrella organizations such as Imagine Canada are encouraging amalgamations and mergers so that organizations can leverage donor and funder investment and reduce operational duplication. The Canadian non-profit sector is seeing an increase in amalgamation activity.

2. Does CMHA-National support the amalgamation?

• Yes, CMHA National believes an amalgamated organization with merged operations will provide more capacity to deliver on its role in the province.

3. What are some of the benefits of amalgamating?

• Our two organizations share a clear alignment in mission, vision, and values. Both embrace community mental health principles and operate similarly, implementing our work through a network of partnerships with the CMHA Regions and various other agencies and groups. It makes sense to do this as one organization.
• We will be able to further embed suicide prevention in community mental health, expanding and amplifying this critical issue that affects so many Albertans and their families.

4. When will the amalgamation take place?

• The Boards of both CMHA-AB and CSP have invested significant effort over the last 12 months to prepare for the amalgamation.
• A Special General Meeting (SGM) of the CMHA-AB membership will take place on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. An SGM of the CSP membership will take place on Monday, August 26, 2024. If the resolution to amalgamate passes at each SGM, work will begin to fully integrate the two organizations into one organization “CMHA Alberta and Centre for Suicide Prevention” with an effective date of [September 1, 2024].

5. Is this a good time to amalgamate given there is some uncertainty with Alberta Health Services and the changes being made by the provincial government to health care delivery in Alberta?

• The Government of Alberta is currently seeking a trusted partner to coordinate community mental health across the province. The new amalgamated organization can be that partner. The Government of Alberta sees this amalgamation as a positive step.
• We want the government to know that we are ready to lead, consolidate, and coordinate mental health services in Alberta in anticipation of the next provincial budget in 2025. CSP already coordinates the vast majority of the community suicide prevention work across the province.

Governance

6. What will governance of the new organization look like?

• A Transition Board will be in place from the effective date of the amalgamation until the first Annual General Meeting, planned for Q2 2025.
• The Transition Board will be co-chaired by the current chairs of CMHA-AB and CSP, and will be comprised of:
  • 7 Regional representatives (one current appointed regional representative from each CMHA Region)
  • 4 current directors from CSP
  • 3 current at-large directors from CMHA-AB
• Following the transition (AGM 2025 and beyond), the Board of the new amalgamated organization will:
  • be comprised of 11-14 Directors nominated based on defined criteria and elected by members at each Annual General Meeting
  • have a Chair and other officers elected by the Board
• This governance structure was determined based upon recommendations from an independent governance consultant and benchmarking of other CMHA provincial divisions.
• Please note, at the time of writing, the corporation that represented the Medicine Hat Region is no longer operating so they are not included. At a time when a new corporate entity is constituted and enters into an affiliation agreement they could become part of CMHA.

7. How will the Board of Directors for the new organization be selected?

• A Nominations Committee will be established to develop a skills matrix and to recommend a slate of Directors at the first AGM of the new organization in Q2 2025.
• CMHA Regions will be engaged by the Nominations Committee to recommend prospective Directors. The skills matrix will include a variety of factors including, but not limited to skills, capabilities, mindsets, diversity, lived experience and geographic location.
• At each subsequent AGM, the Nominations Committee will bring forward recommendations for Directors to the members for election.
• It is important to note that the amalgamation will not affect Regional Board of Directors appointments or regional governance and structure. Regions are independent organizations who chose to be part of the federation of CMHAs both in Alberta and across Canada, sharing both brand and mission.

Moving Forward

8. Will the role of the Regions change with the amalgamation?

• There will be no fundamental change to the role of the Regions.
• The roles of Divisions, Regions and the National Office have been defined by CMHA-National as follows:
  • Branches/Regions exist to serve communities across Canada to increase access, create awareness and deliver community-based mental health and substance use programs and services so that people and communities have improved mental health and wellbeing.
  • Divisions exist to strengthen the work of Branches/Regions in their province or territory. Divisions build and steward community-based provincial and territorial mental health and substance use systems and resources so that people living within the province or territory have access to the mental health and substance use health resources they need.
  • The National office exists to strengthen the federation’s work in mental health and substance use care. It advocates for nationwide change, incubates and scales innovation, and creates the conditions and resources to support accessible care for all so that transformative ideas can flourish and communities can thrive.

9. How will the amalgamation affect CMHA-AB and CSP’s community partners or those who fund the services provided by both organizations?

• If you hold a contract with or fund either organization, nothing will change as a result of the amalgamation, other than you will be working with the combined new organization “CMHA Alberta and Centre for Suicide Prevention”.   

10. What will the newly amalgamated organization’s immediate priorities be?

• There will be many tasks that will need to be completed over the first year of the new organization to position it for success. That work needs to be balanced with the critical task of providing solid ongoing governance oversight for the evolving operational changes.
• A key priority will be working collaboratively with the Regions to develop and implement a new affiliation agreement by summer of 2025.
• The new organization will need to develop a strategic plan as well as build a shared vision for the future in conjunction with the Regions.
• We also need to increase our community engagement to better understand the needs and issues of our community to truly be a voice for community mental health and suicide prevention care for those we serve.