CMHA Alberta and Centre for Suicide Prevention to amalgamate September 1, 2024

CMHA Alberta and Centre for Suicide Prevention to amalgamate September 1, 2024   We are excited to announce that the memberships of both Centre for Suicide Prevention and Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta Division voted unanimously to amalgamate at the recent Special General Meetings of each organization. We’re looking forward to this next chapter in advancing community mental health and suicide prevention in Alberta.

The new organization, Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta and Centre for Suicide Prevention, will begin operations September 1, 2024.

Planning for the amalgamation began over a year ago and involved significant collaboration and consultation with all CMHA Alberta regions.

“CMHA Alberta and Centre for Suicide Prevention (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,” said CMHA Alberta Board Chair Brent Korte.

“CMHA Alberta’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 Alberta so combining our efforts provides an opportunity to extend and deepen the work of both organizations,” added Carmelle Hunka, CSP Board President.

There will be no fundamental change to the role of the seven CMHA Alberta regions and no interruption in the delivery of community mental health and suicide prevention services in Alberta. The new organization plans to increase community engagement to better understand the needs and issues and to truly be a voice for community mental health care and suicide prevention.

A transition board will be in place from September 1, 2024 until the first Annual General Meeting of the new organization in 2025. The new organization will have a closed membership consisting of up to 32 members, including community agency partners. Further details can be found here.

Mara Grunau, who has served as Executive Director of CSP since 2014 and interim CEO of CMHA Alberta since June 2023 has been appointed CEO for the new organization.  

More information on the amalgamation can be found here.   LEARN MORE