Sanjeev Sockalingam is Senior Vice President, Education and Chief Medical Officer at CAMH, and a longtime partner and champion of SRCHC’s community-centred approach to care.
What first brought you into contact with SRCHC, and how has your relationship with the organization evolved over time?
My relationship with SRCHC began during my psychiatry residency at UHN, when I was working to create an integrated mental health clinic within hepatology. Through that work, I was introduced to the Toronto Hep C Program and the people at SRCHC.
I was immediately struck by their values: seeing the whole person, understanding the circumstances of people’s lives, and meeting people where they are. It was practical, compassionate care grounded in reality.
That experience stayed with me — and shaped how I thought about the value of community health centres and hospitals working together.
What did you learn from that early experience?
I learned more through that program than I did through many of my other integrated-care experiences.
I saw what becomes possible when community health centres bring care to people where they are — sometimes literally on the streets — and do so without judgement or stigma. It showed me that care can be both clinically excellent and deeply human.
CAMH partners closely with SRCHC and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre through Primary CONNECT. Why is that work important?
Our primary care system was not designed for people who face significant barriers or have complex health needs.
SRCHC has a model that personalizes care. Because clinicians can take the time to really know a person — not just their diagnosis — they can understand the realities of their life. Peer support workers, care coordinators, broader healthcare providers, and other supports add to that circle of care.
Primary CONNECT builds on that philosophy by connecting people to primary care, mental health, and other supports through a low-barrier, integrated approach.
What does that look like for someone seeking care?
It means there is no wrong door.
People can connect through CAMH, SRCHC, Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre or community outreach. The partnership brings together primary care, psychiatry, nursing, social work, community health workers, and others.
We also have navigators and care connectors — including people with lived experience — who can help build trust and make the system easier for patients to navigate.
The goal is simple: to be a health home for people who have struggled to find one.
What has been most meaningful about working with community health centres?
The people.
We’ve seen patients in our hospital’s emergency department and ACT teams who have struggled for years to find a primary care provider. Suddenly, through Primary CONNECT, there is a point of connection.
For someone who has been trying to navigate the system without a family doctor or the right primary care supports, that connection can be incredibly important.
And sometimes, our role is simply to be there at just the right moment.
Looking ahead, where do you see opportunities to deepen the relationship between CAMH and SRCHC and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre?
Our health system is evolving, with a growing recognition that health is about much more than treatment. Housing, food security, poverty, stigma, and other social realities all affect people’s health.
Who better to partner with than organizations like SRCHC and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre?
There are opportunities to build on Primary CONNECT, particularly in substance use and addiction care, and to work together around emerging models such as HART hubs. We can define clearer pathways, learn from what works, and evaluate our approach so others can learn from it too.
When you think about the next 50 years, what gives you hope?
I’m hopeful about what happens when we stop thinking of healthcare as separate pieces and start thinking about the whole person.
The future is about building care around people’s lives — not asking people to fit themselves into our systems. It’s about hospitals, community health centres, and community partners sharing responsibility and learning from one another.
That’s what I see in the partnership with SRCHC and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre: a willingness to dream about something better, but also to roll up our sleeves and build it.
That combination of imagination and action is what will carry us forward.