Owen Sound, ON- April 19, 2022- Keystone, Child, Youth & Family Services is pleased to announce the hiring of our new Executive Director, David Willis.
David Willis comes to Keystone as Executive Director with over 25 years of leadership within children’s mental health. In his past role at Strides Toronto, David was the Senior Director of Toronto’s Lead Agency for Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health with a focus on System Transformation. David led a team in supporting 26 Children’s Mental Health agencies across Toronto in building pathways of care that reduce barriers, increase access and promote the continuum of mental health care and services across the lifespan. He led the organization and the sector in transformational work re-imaging Intensive Services, Centralized Intake and most recently developing the new provincial One Stop Talk Virtual Walk-In program. He holds many years of experience developing relationships with funders, donors, stakeholders, and others who want to partner in building a sustainable, effective, and accessible Children’s Mental Health sector.
He was also responsible for key sector wide initiatives such as the What’s Up Walk-in Clinics, Mental Health Toronto – a single point of access for youth and families into the mental health sector, Urban Tele-Mental Health – a sector city wide program providing access to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in partnership with SickKids. David was also the Director of the Provincial Youth Outreach Worker program connecting at risk youth to over 165 outreach workers across the province.
Prior to the Lead Agency, David was at The Hospital for Sick Children within the leadership team of the Brain and Mental Health Program. David provided clinical leadership to the Tele-Link Mental Health program, Ambulatory Psychiatry, Urgent Care Clinic, Collaborative and Transitional Care, Mental Health Access Program, Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, and the Division of Adolescent Medicine, which includes Substance Abuse, Eating Disorders, Young Families, Good 2 Go, the SITY Clinic and Transgender Program.
His career in children’s mental health started with The Hincks Dellcrest Centre where he was part of the front-line leadership team providing programming and front-line support to the child and adolescent mental health experts within their rural treatment centre located in Clarksburg within Grey County.
Willis sits on over 20 national and international committees and boards related to Children’s Mental Health and has been recognized at the organizational, provincial and territorial levels for his work on reducing the barriers to service for vulnerable populations with a focus on Indigenous, Inuit and Metis youth. For 14 years, he has partnered with Indigenous leaders, clinicians, and communities from northern and north-western Ontario to support pathways to mental health services that were culturally safe and equitable. He has been recognized by the Premier of Nunavut for his work in establishing Child and Youth Telepsychiatry across Nunavut in partnership with the Nunavut department of health.
David has served as President of the Board of Directors of the South Riverdale Community Health Centre and the Call a Service Seniors Transportation service (CAS). He was also the Chair of East Metro Health Group and currently sits as a board member of the Canadian Centre for Accreditation.
David has a long relationship with Keystone Child, Youth & Family Services through his work in the Telepsychiatry Program at the Hospital for Sick Children and through his work within the provincial Lead Agency Consortium. He has been a resident of Grey County for over thirty years where he has been active in the skiing and racing programs on the escarpment, fundraising and volunteering.
On behalf of the Keystone Child, Youth, & Family Services Board, we are pleased to welcome David to our Keystone Team as our new Executive Director, effective July 1, 2022. We look forward to working with him and benefitting from the knowledge and experiences that he brings to our organization.
Rosanne Gallinger
Board Chair
Keystone Child, Youth & Family Services
