Scott Mitchell, Director of Knowledge Transfer at CMHA Ontario, recently delivered two oral poster presentations at the annual Dietitians of Canada conference, which took place in Toronto on June 13-16, 2012.

The first presentation provided a high-level overview the Minding Our Bodies project, highlighting the importance of nutrition and food security for people with mental illness and the role dietitians can play in supporting recovery. Take a look at the poster.

Scott also presented the results of a literature review conducted as part of a research project on mental health literacy among nutrition students. Dietitian and MOB staff member Eric Ng worked with Ryerson University professor Jacqui Gingras and nutrition student Joy Okafo to study the possible benefits of educating nutrition students about mental health and illness. Findings from the study will be submitted for journal publication. See the results of the literature review.

Other sessions of interest at this conference included management of metabolic side-effects of psychiatric medication, food security, and counselling skills workshops.