BMO Centre of Innovation

The BMO Centre of Innovation is Wellspring’s way of realizing its commitment to those who seek support. It is an investment in research and development to create programs that are based on current knowledge, with defined goals, expert leadership and high quality outcomes.

Program Development and Testing

The engine of the BMO Centre of Innovation is a rigorous process of development and testing that seeks input from experts in their fields, new knowledge from the psychosocial literature and, most importantly, patients and their family members who participate in programs at Wellspring. 

All new programs are subjected to a full and rigorous development and ongoing development process. 

View some of our specially developed programs:

Quality Assurance

Wellspring’s program model includes quality assurance features such as: 

• Minimum credentials of leaders 
• Where applicable, credentials and areas of expertise from guest experts 
• Required training for new leaders 
• Reference and police checks 
• Ongoing evaluation 

The System Performance Review (SPR) 

Wellspring is an affiliation of network organizations across Canada, which began in 1992 in Toronto by Anne Armstrong-Gibson who was determined to fill the void for others that she experienced living with cancer. As part of the network, all affiliate organizations are subject to regular and rigorous external evaluation by Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation to ensure all affiliate staff, volunteers, and Program Leaders are fulfilling their commitments to the Wellspring brand in delivering high quality, evidence-informed programs and services for people living with cancer. 

SPR is a comprehensive, multi-modal evaluation strategy to assess the strength and efficacy of all key components that comprise a Wellspring organization. It is a means to objectively and rigorously assess each key area and, from those findings, identify ways of improving the organization’s working strategies to maximize mission impact, system efficiencies, reach, growth, and long-term sustainability. 

The primary objective of the SPR is to create, and support, a continual and shared learning process that strengthens the inner workings of individual Wellspring organizations that are affiliates of the Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation, and also the Wellspring network as a whole. 

Annual Mission Surveys 

In addition to the SPR, all Wellspring organizations participate in an annual Mission Survey. This survey is sent to all Wellspring members and asks a range of questions, from service quality to broader quality of life measures.

Results from our most recent Mission Survey can be found under Our Impact.

Research 

Wellspring welcomes the opportunity to acquire knowledge about the efficacy of everything we do beyond our evaluation efforts at Wellspring. 

Research protocols complement Wellspring’s standard data collection and aim to acquire new knowledge that deepens understanding of supportive care needs or program outcomes. This knowledge supports Wellspring’s program development process and provides a presentation and publication platform to share the knowledge and enhance Wellspring’s reputation. Research projects can be constructed by Wellspring for its own purposes, or be conducted in collaboration with a credible academic or institutional research organization.