Objective To summarize the ongoing activities of the Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada regarding the 4 groups targeted (youth, health care providers, media, and workplaces), highlight some of the key methodological challenges, and review lessons learned. Method The approach used by OM is rooted in community development philosophy, with clearly defined target groups, contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and a strong evaluative component so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope. Results Results have been generally positive. Contact-based education has the capacity to reduce prejudicial attitudes and improve social acceptance of people with a mental illness across various target groups and sectors. Variations in program outcomes have contributed to our understanding of active ingredients. Conclusions Contact-based education has become a cornerstone of the OM approach to stigma reduction. A story of hope and recovery told by someone who has experienced a mental illness is powerful and engaging, and a critical ingredient in the fight against stigma. Building partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to our understanding of best practices in the field of anti-stigma programming. The next challenge will be to scale these up so that they may have a national impact.

Objective: To summarize the background and rationale of the approach taken by the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative. Method:The approach taken by OM incorporates a grassroots, community development philosophy, has clearly defined target groups, uses contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and has a strong evaluative component, so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope.Results: OM has acted as a catalyst to develop partnerships between community groups who are undertaking anti-stigma work and an interdisciplinary team of academic researchers in 5 universities who are evaluating the results of these programs. Conclusions:Building partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to our understanding of best practices in the field of anti-stigma programming.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a contact-based educational symposium designed to reduce mental healthrelated stigma in journalism students. Repeated surveys conducted before (n = 89) and again after the intervention (n = 53) were used to assess change. The estimated average response rate for each survey was 90%. The instrument, adapted from prior research, contained items pertaining to stereotypical content, attitudes toward social distance and feelings of social responsibility (Cronbach's alpha =.74).There was a statistically significant reduction in stigma (reflecting a 5% reduction in the aggregated scale score). A large, item-specific change was noted pertaining to attributions of dangerousness and unpredictability (reflecting a 26% improvement). The majority of students reported that the symposium had changed their views of people with a mental illness. Half of these students considered that they would change the way they would report stories involving someone with a mental illness. A potential unexpected negative side effect was that 14% fewer students reported post-test a willingness to go to a doctor if they experienced a mental illness.Though it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from an uncontrolled study, it would appear that this relatively brief, contact-based intervention changed journalism students' views of people with a mental illness. More controlled investigation is needed to rule out alternative explanations that could account for this change.

Background and ObjectiveCanada is in the midst of an opioid crisis. Given the sheer magnitude of the crisis and escalating death toll, the mobilization of harm reduction interventions is an important priority. Currently, little is known about the role played by stigmatization, particularly in terms of how this may impact the endorsement and uptake of harm reduction strategies and initiatives among frontline providers. Materials and MethodsOpening Minds, the anti-stigma initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, undertook a oneand-a-half-year research project to understand the qualities, characteristics, sources, consequences, and solutions to the problem of stigmatization on the front-lines of the opioid crisis. A qualitative key informant design was selected. Participants included various first responder and health provider groups, people with lived experience of opioid or other drug use, and people in key policy or programming roles. Eight focus groups were held across Canada, and 15 one-on-one key informant interviews were completed. ResultsAnalysis of focus group and key informant interviews revealed three main ways in which stigma shows up on the front lines of the opioid crisis among providers. These themes coalesced around a central main problem, that of low compassion satisfaction. Suggestions for how these concerns can be addressed were also identified. ConclusionThe findings from this research revealed several key ways that stigma shows up in the experiences and perceptions of frontline providers and provide several promising avenues for combating stigmatization related to opioid use and harm reduction. An important avenue for future research is to develop and elaborate on the theoretical connections between the concepts of stigmatization and compassion satisfaction as a way to better understand the problem of stigmatization in helping environments.