Tom Kelly joined the Council on Aging of Ottawa (COA) in January 2023 as the Director of Education. Prior to joining the COA, Tom was the Training Administrator for Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa (PSO). He brings more than 20 years of experience working with diverse age groups in the mental health and addictions systems of care.
Throughout his career, Tom has had the opportunity to work with many CEO’s, Senior Management staff, front-line staff, community members and other stakeholders.
As the Director of Education, Tom will focus primarily on the development, organization, and delivery of the Smart Aging Program as well as providing support to other educational and advocacy events. Such programming will be directed to older adults throughout the city of Ottawa including isolated older adults and other older adults at risk in both official languages.
With over 20 years of experience in the public mental health and addictions field and having worked with private companies and government agencies, Tom was responsible for providing technical assistance to different agencies and organizations across different systems of care. His experience includes coaching and training staff in the use of strength-based and person-centered planning principles.
He has designed and developed training and presentations for national, regional and local conferences on topics including mental health, wellness, suicide prevention, peer support, resiliency, recovery and trauma informed care speaking to over 500 audiences across North America reaching more than 15,000 people.
Tom is a Certified Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Trainer and a Certified Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator.
