David O’Brien
Director of Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health, Yorktown Family Services
2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
David O’Brien is the Director of Mental Health at Yorktown Family Services. He has spent over 25 years working in the field of mental health within various settings, including hospitals, shelters, and residential treatment centres. David has held different frontline and managerial positions along with co-developing several system access networks and services for people seeking mental and social health supports, including; What’s up walk-in, Canada’s first 6-day-a-week mental health walk-in clinic, HIPS (Human, Trafficking Prevention Strategy), youth wellness hubs, and recently Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) a program that uses an interdisciplinary behavioral health approach to redirect people away from hate groups and acts of terrorism. David is also a media resource for some of Canada’s major media networks, including CBC, CTV, Global News, amongst others.
At the Summit
The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.
