Growth in the time of pandemic
I am honoured to present The Royal’s 2020-2021 annual report. Our theme is Co-creating access, hope and new possibilities. This is aligned with the strategy we recently released. It also felt like the best way to define such an unprecedented year. While our world grappled with managing COVID-19, The Royal worked shoulder-to-shoulder with clients, families and community partners to develop tools that inspired hope and enabled access resulting in new possibilities for clients and our community. Even in the most challenging environment, our clinicians, scientists, staff, physicians, volunteers, clients, caregivers and community partners collaborated to nimbly solve pressing issues and ensure that continuity of care was maintained regardless of restrictions and barriers.
Our ability to deliver on our mission is so dependent on our relationships. The support from our stakeholders allowed us to forge ahead thoughtfully with key initiatives, programs and services, particularly the development of our strategy. The Royal is a resilient entity, but the extra support gave us the lift needed to achieve more than we thought possible. From our clients and families to our donors and board members, the community that empowers The Royal is strong and rich in expertise. Together, we are serving more clients, in more ways. And, we couldn’t achieve even half of that without the support of our community.
Times of unrest have often been times of great transformation. And, I wonder if it has something to do with an increase in hope. This year, hope led us to innovate new ways to deliver mental health and addictions care. Hope drove us to continue forward with the strategic planning process. Hope inspired our researchers and powered our clients and their families through the journey of recovery. At The Royal, we leveraged it like a powerful asset and saw the return pay off in tremendous ways reminding us that in our pursuit of delivering modern, impactful care, we can’t discount the power of hope.
As I look ahead to 2021-2022, I am excited to see our strategy at work. We will continue the process of engagement and co-design to ensure that our transformation is inclusive of the expertise available to us through our community. No organization will be the same as it was before COVID-19 hit, because the world is irrevocably different. The Royal, and our partners in the mental health and addictions space, will be called to support an ever growing demand for services. This year has taught us that we are well positioned to take on the challenges of the future. Our power is in our people and together, we will rise to the occasion, just as we did so many times this year, remaining a beacon of light that inspires hope and the possibility of brighter tomorrows.