There is a gap between the current state of intensive services and the goals of the OITP. The activities, tools, and resources in the Toolbelt are optional and are provided for consideration and use at your discretion. They are intended to support, not prescribe, how regions prepare for implementation.
This Toolbelt:
Questions about the Toolbelt? E-mail us at info@oitp.ca.
Regional child and youth mental health providers, partner organizations, and prospective RITN leaders work collaboratively to build an understanding of the OITP and the Clinical and Operational Standards, assess their current state, and identify priorities for implementation.
Reminder: The OITP Clinical and Operational Standards are intended to be implemented through a phased approach. RITNs will not be expected to meet all standards on Day 1 (beginning to deliver services) but will be supported through a process of continuous improvement as they work toward full implementation over time.
Begin to interpret what the model means in your region, including how roles, pathways, and expectations could be applied across partners. Establish a shared view of the future-state clinical model, including hub-and-spoke roles and expected outcomes.
At the end of this stage, you should understand the OITP model and be able to describe what it could mean for your region.
The OITP Clinical and Operational Standards define what high-quality intensive live-in treatment should look like across Ontario. They set a common, province-wide expectation for care, outlining how services should be delivered to ensure they are safe, effective, equitable, and accountable. Organized into four interconnected domains—principles, leadership and accountability; clinical model; workforce composition and management; and operations, quality and safety—these standards describe the core processes and practices required at maturity within RITNs, including the roles of hubs and spokes.
Guidance documents provide additional details to support OITP Clinical and Operational Standards implementation. These appendices cover topics such as eligibility, priority populations, core competencies, hub staffing, and more.
The OITP Landscape Report provides a point-in-time snapshot of Ontario’s live-in treatment system, outlining current capacity, service delivery, and resources. It identifies key gaps and inconsistencies across the system, creating a baseline to inform a more standardized, coordinated, and effective model of intensive services moving forward.
A re-issued landscape report is being shared with CYMH providers, which breaks out data related to the North into North East and North West to correspond to OH regions. If you have questions about the report, please contact info@oitp.ca.
Building on the Clinical Populations Report, this paper translates research findings into practical guidance for Ontario’s providers. It describes the characteristics of children and youth who may be most appropriately supported by live-in treatment through the OITP.
Continue to check our newsletter and website for upcoming events and webinars.
Identify and engage organizations and key contacts across your Ontario Health region to build a shared understanding of how partners can contribute to an RITN and support coordinated care pathways aligned with the Clinical and Operational Standards. Ensure youth, family, and community partners are meaningfully involved to inform the development of your network and to reflect local needs.
At the end of this stage, you will have identified RITN partners and have started building the relationships needed for a collaborative and comprehensive network to support service delivery.
In the context of planning to implement the OITP Clinical and Operational Standards, this tool can help you to identify, prioritize, and align partners. Consider including key organizations and individuals with a role in intensive service provision or interest, including Indigenous, youth, and family groups. The information gathered through this activity can serve as a foundation for later work to define network roles, develop pathways, and visualize relationships within a hub-and-spoke model.
This framework outlines the key clinical and operational roles, disciplines, and areas of expertise needed to support high-quality intensive services within a hub. It can be used to identify potential partners and build relationships by highlighting where specialized expertise may already exist across organizations.
Assess organizational and regional preparedness for OITP implementation by understanding the current intensive service landscape, capacity for change, service infrastructure, and existing partnerships. Collaborate with partners to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for implementation.
At the end of this stage, there is a shared understanding of current regional readiness, strengths, gaps, and priority areas for implementation.
This tool can help map and visualize the current continuum of care within your region, showing how services connect, overlap, and where gaps exist. It can support a shared understanding of the current service landscape to inform the design of your vision for a hub-and-spoke model. It also provides guidance on process mapping and digital platforms to support collaborative and ongoing use.
Originally released to the sector in March 2026, this tool can support you to assess your current practice against key readiness domains. It can be used individually to reflect on internal readiness, or collectively with partners to inform regional planning and priorities for implementation.
This tool is provided for reference only, as the survey period has closed.
This framework establishes population-specific guidance for serving priority populations within the OITP. It can be used to consider which priority populations are important and relevant in your region and how they are currently served.
Establish a proposed regional model (RITN) for coordinating services across the intensive services continuum. Map the clinical pathways (from referral to transition) to reflect future-state flows that align with the OITP Clinical and Operational Standards. Consider developing a schematic or visual of your RITN to show the various roles, drawing on information gathered from mapping your partnerships and current services. Collaborate with partners to identify priority gaps in services and infrastructure that may affect what it takes to begin delivering services as a network.
At the end of this stage, you will have a proposed RITN with organizations identified as hubs and spokes. There is a shared picture of how youth and families will move through services across the network.
Use this supplementary information to consider how your model can manage out-of-region placements, transitions across geographic boundaries, access cross-regional specialists, and coordinate with culturally specific programs. Where there are gaps in your current model, consider revisiting which partners you may need to engage.
Use this standard to define the future-state clinical model for your RITN, ensuring all key transitions into, through, and out of treatment are addressed in your hub-and-spoke design. Review this to help identify which organization(s) are best positioned to act as the hub; identify spoke partners that will provide direct care and ongoing support in community settings; and consider how specialized clinical roles and services can be shared or distributed across the network to support continuity and equitable access.
Compare your current practices to the Clinical and Operational Standards to identify and prioritize implementation needs (for instance, what requires significant clinical change). Develop an implementation plan that supports developmental-level service delivery and outlines progression towards mature implementation.
At the end of this stage, you will have identified implementation priorities and can communicate a plan for your proposed RITN and implementation approach.
This goal planning worksheet can help your proposed RITN decide how to begin implementation by focusing efforts, resources, and timelines. To use this worksheet, work through these steps to set, score, and prioritize goals aligned with the OITP Clinical and Operational Standards.
This implementation planning worksheet can be used to record which key activities need to happen, when, and by whom.
This risk and mitigation planning worksheet can be used to support proactive identification and management of risks that may impact your ability to follow through on your implementation plan.
Additional information is anticipated in Fall 2026.
Regional partners work together to put the structures, roles, processes, and resources in place to operationalize the RITN. This phase focuses on preparing to implement the standards and support coordinated service delivery across the network.
This phase is in development. Check back for updates.
This phase begins with “Day 1,” when RITNs start providing intensive services and applying the standards in practice. New or revised workflows, processes, and partnerships are tested, refined, and embedded into day-to-day operations.
This phase is in development. Check back for updates.
At maturity, RITNs focus on sustaining and strengthening high-quality service delivery. Partners monitor outcomes, promote equitable access, and use data and continuous improvement processes to refine services over time. The standards are fully embedded across the network.
This phase is in development. Check back for updates.
Get the latest information about the OITP through the Pathway Pulse newsletter and regular email updates.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. To learn more, read our privacy policy (coming soon).