The Partnership Program is a unified effort. It consists of people living with mental illness, their family members, and mental health advocates. Each member shares important information in a one-hour, anti-stigma, public awareness presentation. The program has been studied by the Mental Health Commission of Canada to be a best practice in reducing stigma. What sets us apart is the contact-based education in our presentations. People with the lived experience of mental illness get to share their story of recovery.

History of the Partnership Program

The Partnership Program was initially developed by the Schizophrenia Society in Vancouver B.C. in the mid-1990s and eventually spread across Canada.  The provincial office of the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan in Regina developed a Partnership Program in early 1998.  A Partnership Program team was formed in Saskatoon in early 1999.  An official rural Partnership Program team was started in 2017. Presentations given digitally via Webex began as a further option for presenting in 2019.  The Partnership Program is a public awareness program designed to inform people about schizophrenia and related psychosis and provide hope and resources.

Our motto is a reason to hope and the means to cope. We hope to provide this to each person who attends a Partnership Program presentation.