Recipient of the 2014

Chantelle Grant

Nominated For: 2014

Chantelle Grant holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Social Work and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo. She has over ten years of experience providing support services to adults, youth, and families in various settings, including hospitals, community agencies, and private practice. She also has extensive training and experience providing education, support, advocacy and treatment to individuals and families impacted by a wide variety of challenges.

Chantelle is the full-time social worker at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) Child and Youth Mental Health (CYMH) Inpatient Unit. Since 2016 Chantelle has assisted RVH in developing its CYMH programs while also providing exceptional care to the children and families accessing the inpatient mental health unit. Her role includes providing emotional support and education to youth and their families while simultaneously planning for ongoing care in the community following their discharge from the hospital. The 8-bed unit she works on assists children and youth suffering from severe mental illnesses and mental health crises that have led to suicidal thoughts or attempts. The nature of her work is complex and is a much-needed resource in the Simcoe Muskoka region. See (rvh.on.ca)

Chantelle is recognized as a valuable team member of the CYMH inpatient unit at RVH. She is well known as an advocate for child and youth mental health and is frequently asked to provide education and training to hospitals, school boards, community agencies, university students, and child welfare services.

In addition to her role at RVH, Chantelle joined the multidisciplinary team at Abilities Rehabilitation in 2019. Her role as a social worker provides the opportunity to assist adults, youth, and families impacted by motor vehicle accidents (MVA). Much like her role at RVH, Chantelle helps her MVA clients work through the social, emotional, and psychological challenges impacting their quality of life. She also strives to assist her clients in connecting to additional services, resources, and leisure activities to enhance their overall well-being. See (habilitiesrehab.ca)

During the COVID-19 public health crisis, mental health challenges increased drastically. The various difficulties individuals experienced because of the pandemic either exacerbated previous conditions and vulnerabilities or created new ones that health care systems were not prepared for. Chantelle dedicated her free time to learning about the adapted practices of treatment providers in the community to reduce disruption in services to those who need it the most. She wanted to understand how to support both her MVA clients with virtual services and prepare the children, youth, and families at the hospital with the realities of accessing treatment in the community following their discharge. In addition to helping her clients at Abilities Rehabilitation, Chantelle has been able to help hundreds of children and youth who accessed mental health services at RVH over the past year.

Chantelle is honoured to be nominated for the Ontario Brain Injury Association award of excellence in hospital social work. She would like to express her gratitude to all those who took the time to vote and recognize her dedication and hard work in the field of social work.