Addictions Mental Health Services for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (AMHS – KFLA) and Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Kingston, are considering merging their services.
In December of last year, the South East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) named Karen Berti as AMHS – KFLA’s new supervisor after two of its top executives left their posts. The LHIN then unseated the board of directors so that Berti could take full control of the organization. This came after months of inspections by the LHIN, citing potential financial and clinical issues.
Under Berti’s supervision, AMHS has been going through significant restructuring, some of which has meant layoffs and changes to programming.
Now, Berti, and Sherry Lachine, board president at CMHA, say they are in formal discussions to explore integrating their two organizations. CMHA does not provide clinical care, whereas AMHS serves around 8,000 clients with “serious mental-health and addiction issues” each year.
As it stands now, AMHS is fully funded by the South East LHIN, while the CMHA is a not-for-profit that relies on volunteers and donations. A spokesperson for AMHS said the idea to merge the two organizations, which both offer mental health services in the city, is to make sure those who need those services don’t fall through the cracks.
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“AMHS-KFLA is going through a transformation and has been meeting with community health partners to explore opportunities that better serve clients. Over the past seven months AMHS-KFLA and CMHA Kingston have developed and enjoyed a high-trust, collaborative relationship,” said Ann-Marie Kungl, a spokesperson for AMHS.
When asked whether a potential merge would cut either of the organization’s budgets, Kungl said in an email, “there would be no budget cuts”
“An integration would support an enhancement of services in alignment to providing that full continuum of care. We would be combining agency resources and services together.”
The two organizations are currently in talks to see how a merger might take place, but have not made any decisions to officially blend both organizations.
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