Meet our Client Advisory Council

Glenda O’Hara (chair)

Glenda O’Hara is the Chair of the Client Advisory Council at The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Care Centre where the Chair position has a seat at the table of the Board of Trustees. Glenda sits on many committees at The Royal including the Advocacy, Quality and Innovation Committees of the Board. She also volunteers as a peer facilitator in Women’s Mental Health and a visitor at The Royal’s long term care facility. Glenda was diagnosed with mental illness several years ago and became a patient of the Forensic unit at The Royal. It was during her recovery that Glenda discovered her artistic side and became a published poet and eventually became the editor of the council’s newsletter “The Client’s Voice”. She has shared her recovery story at Peer Support and Women’s conferences in Calgary and Ottawa. Glenda shares her story with group members, staff, students and the public with the hope of reducing the double stigma of living with a mental illness and being a forensic client. In 2020, Glenda was honoured to be one of The Royal’s Inspiration Award recipients.

Randy Walsh (vice-chair)

We welcomed Randy as a new member of our Client Advisory Council in April 2021.

He brings over 30 years working in the areas of addiction, employee assistance programs, disability management return-to-work and stress management programs.

He feels fortunate to have contributed services to a wide variety of resources providing health programs to individuals within government and private industry.

Randy first came to the Royal in 1971 to get help with personal problems with alcohol and since then has returned periodically for care and support.

He began as an active volunteer at The Royal nine years ago, volunteering in the areas of Geriatric, Mood Disorder and the Chrysalis Programs. You may have purchased a coffee from Randy early on a Wednesday morning at the Winter Garden Café on the second floor. Through the volunteer centre, Randy has also facilitated stress-reduction courses using mindfulness for volunteers and patients.

He looks forward to his new venture as a member of the Client Advisory Council.

Marlene McEwen

Marlene has joined the Client Advisory Council (CAC) to offer her assistance by speaking on behalf of clients. She has been both an inpatient and outpatient of the Royal over a 40 year span and has experienced vast improvements in care. She manages her bipolar disorder with a focus on self-awareness combined with the invaluable help of clinical staff at the Royal, family and some very special friends. She values the peer support gained from attending the Women’s Wellness Group and Journalling as a Wellness Tool offered at the Royal.

Marlene retired from The Canadian Medical Protective Assocation (CMPA) after 20 years in member services where she provided assistance to Canadian physicians who joined the Assocation for malpractice protection. It gave her a unique insight into the medical profession. She also has many years of teaching experience predominantly working in adult literacy and alternative education programs. Upon retirement she has been a volunteer literacy tutor and trainer with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. She plans to bring these skills to her role as a member of the CAC.

Marlene will make every effort to promote client-centred care at the Royal. To that end she joined the Integrated Ethics Committee and the MAID Committee as the CAC representative.

After many years of hiding her mental illness Marlene is aiming to tell her story in the hope that others will be encouraged to speak freely about their own illness and lessen the societal stigma of mental illness.

Laurean Reynolds

Laurean Reynolds welcomes clients in the Shirley E. Greenberg Resource Centre for Women, where she provides information about various workshops and programs. She is also part of a group of women who meet each week at The Royal to continue their wellness journey and provide support for each other. She also volunteers outside The Royal with various not-for-profit organizations. Laurean was employed for more than 40 years in the legal profession as a legal secretary/assistant/bookkeeper, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Her last hospitalization was at The Royal for several months and she received care and support for her lifetime mental illnesses, which are still a work in progress. Laurean is a strong advocate for seniors who have mental illness and wishes to give back even more than she received.

Sharon Roberts

Sharon Roberts is passionate about personal growth and wellness, and welcomes opportunities to support and encourage individuals who are experiencing mental health challenges and to advocate on their behalf whenever the opportunity arises.

She has been working as a Peer Supporter for the past 8 years with Mood Disorders Ottawa and Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa in various capacities. These include facilitating recovery programs such as Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), Tell Your Story Workshop, Peer Support groups and serving on their boards.

She has shared her story about her journey with chronic depression and generalized anxiety at the Royal Ottawa hospital, in churches and Ontario Disability Support Program and other events to testify that recovery is possible.

Currently she is serving on the Client Advisory Council at The Royal.