Message to our Friends

Dear Friends,

We hope this finds you and your family safe and in good health.

It has been a few months since we were last in touch and we wanted to share an update and some of the plans we have over the course of the next few months. Even amid this pandemic, we are moving forward, remaining focused and committed to our community—not just in a crisis—but every day.

And thanks to you, we continue to adjust, to innovate and to look for new and better ways to give our clients the support and strength they need.

A Focus on Mental Health

In Canada, October is recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month, and at Ometz, we are well aware of the increase in mental health issues that have arisen over the course of this pandemic. While this period has put a strain on so many, new research is suggesting that young adults are more likely to experience moderate-to-severe anxiety, feel lonely, isolated and depressed. As an agency, how are we responding?


Two timely “Openings”

Our ability to come together and take care of each other is central to our success as a community—in good times and challenging ones. Ometz has proudly served as a vital point of entry and sustainability for the most vulnerable among us and now more than ever, we are focused on addressing the mental and emotional health of our clients. We’d like to share two such examples with you.

First, we are very pleased to announce that L’Annexe, our brand new state-of-the-art centre has been providing psychosocial support to our at-risk and vulnerable youth and young adults. Despite a short delay in the opening, our staff were able to pivot all individual and group services to an online and remote mode and meet the needs of their increasingly vulnerable clientele, responding to a stunning 111% increase in the number of interventions during a short period. L’Annexe staff continues working with increased workloads and responding to the needs of our younger population, in the areas of mental health, social support, life skills and job training.

In other important news, we are poised to launch our new clinic located at The Children’s Centre (TCC), next to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Clinique entourfamille™, supports children and their families by providing guidance and solutions around developmental, social and academic growth.

The centre is currently under construction and we plan on being ready to open our doors this month. However, like L’Annexe, we are ready now with several virtual services, including online speech therapy, behavioural support services, family/child therapy, occupational therapy, group social skills and anxiety/emotional regulation workshops. Whether online or onsite, our services are delivered in a secure environment and are always confidential. As families of school-aged children face new obstacles since returning to the classroom, access to these professional services is more important than ever.


Thinking of you

To that end, we are pleased to share this illuminating talk on pandemic parenting, recently given by our Chief Clinical Officer, Barbara Victor, regarding an unprecedented back-to-school season and the tools families need to adjust effectively.

Right now, during this pandemic, there’s much uncertainty. It’s not yet clear how long it’s going to last. But two things are certain: throughout the last six months, your support, hope and encouragement have been unparalleled, and for that we cannot thank you enough; and second, Ometz will continue to be that open door whether physical or virtual, addressing the most pressing needs of our community.

Ometz is the Hebrew word for courage and together, we will make it through this.


With our best wishes,

Michael Aronovici
President, Ometz

Dominique McCaughey
Chief Executive Officer, Ometz

For Media Inquiries:

[email protected]

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