Sharing Together is an initiative of Evidence Exchange Network (EENet) that aims to promote the use of evidence by service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders across the province. The ultimate goal: to improve the health experience, quality of care, and overall health and wellbeing of all Ontarians.

Through Sharing Together, stakeholders shared their perspectives and identified the evidence that needs to be made available and made easier to understand, so they can better do their work and navigate the mental health, substance use, and addictions system.

The objectives of Sharing Together are to:

• identify priority evidence needs related to mental health, substance use, and addictions in the areas of health promotion and prevention, early identification, treatment, and recovery across the lifespan;
• engage stakeholders to co-create an evidence priority agenda for Ontario’s mental health, substance use, and addictions system;
• inform EENet’s and partners’ knowledge exchange activities; and
• support transformation of Ontario’s mental health, substance use, and addictions system.

Sharing Together participants identified the evidence they need relating to 10 evidence themes, presented in the list below. To access related resources click on each evidence theme or scroll down to the cards section below to see the resources developed by EEnet:

• access to services
• children and youth, including transition-aged youth
• continuum of housing and homelessness
• culturally safe and competent care that reflects cultural knowledge
• effectiveness of services
• harm reduction
• integrated healthcare
• prevention and promotion, including suicide prevention
• standardized care
• supporting the voices of persons with lived experience, family members, and caregivers

The Sharing Together evidence priority agenda aligns with current policy priorities and momentum in the system, and identifies areas that can drive new priorities. Read the full Sharing Together evidence priority agenda or download the Sharing Together Report in Short.

What is an evidence priority agenda?

An evidence priority agenda identifies areas of opportunity and need that can be addressed by providing access to evidence or creating evidence. The Sharing Together evidence priority agenda includes both evidence themes and evidence needs. Evidence themes are general categories that group together related evidence needs. Evidence needs are specific areas within each evidence theme that require the collection of, access to, or creation of different sources of information.

Sharing Together builds on the work of a 2011 EENet initiative, Creating Together, which identified research priorities needed to improve the mental health, substance use, and addictions system with the participation of diverse stakeholders and sectors.

The Sharing Together initiative looks beyond research and considers all forms of evidence. EENet’s definition of evidence includes research evidence; practice-based evidence; the voices of people with lived experience, family members, and caregivers; and cultural knowledge.

What is the process of Sharing Together?

Sharing Together used a co-creation process to develop the evidence priority agenda. In total, over 550 individuals from different stakeholder groups and sectors came together to share their experiences and knowledge, and prioritize their evidence needs.

Participants included persons with lived experience, family members, caregivers, direct service providers, agency leaders, policymakers, researchers, and system planners from diverse sectors.  A range of stakeholders identified as being from, or working with, marginalized populations (for example, individuals experiencing homelessness and individuals from ethno-cultural and racialized groups) also participated.

The Sharing Together team first scanned policy and planning documents related to Ontario’s mental health, substance use, and addictions system.  The findings from this scan helped to frame discussions at dialogues across the province. Read more about the environmental scan.

Eight dialogues were held with diverse stakeholders between January and April 2017. Read about the dialogues and download the regional dialogue reports.

An online survey was then conducted to prioritize the evidence needs identified during the dialogues, and to obtain input from stakeholders who were not able to attend these events.

Next steps

The Sharing Together evidence priority agenda is an opportunity for EENet and interested stakeholders to directly respond to the evidence that stakeholders need to better do their work and navigate the mental health, substance use, and addictions system, in order to support ongoing system transformation. EENet and other stakeholders across the province will work together to address the identified evidence needs in Sharing Together.