Photo caption: Rob Desroches, Senior Vice-President, Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.
By: Travis Mealing, Communications Officer, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.
If Rob Desroches could offer one piece of advice to his younger self, it would be this: “Remind yourself why you’re here every day.”
That simple message has carried him through an extraordinary almost 37-year journey at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care — from summer student to Senior Vice-President, Clinical Services, and Chief Nursing Executive.
“It can be easy to forget when you’re facing significant challenges — like trying to run a hospital during the COVID pandemic — but the thing we do best is how we interact with and respect patients. And if you approach your work on a day-to-day basis in a caring and respectful way, that’s going to go a long way.”
Desroches started working at the Penetanguishene hospital’s former Oak Ridge facility during breaks from his nursing studies at McMaster University.
"By that third summer, I had a real good sense that I liked this work,” he recalled. “I found it fascinating — that intersection of mental health and the law, in particular for the forensic mental health side — so I decided this is where I wanted to work after graduation.”
In July 1992, he was hired part-time as a registered nurse for the regional programs. Just six weeks into orientation, he was offered a full-time contract. He returned to Oak Ridge in 1994, where he stayed until 1998 as a frontline nurse. From there, he steadily rose through the ranks — first as a nurse manager in the Forensic Assessment Program, then as nursing co-ordinator, and later as program director for what would become the Awenda program.
By 2007, he was director of forensic operations and, in 2010, he joined the Senior Leadership Team as Director of Patient Flow, leading the creation of the Central Intake Office. He became Interim Vice-President of Human Resources and Organizational Development in 2013 and Vice-President of Clinical Services in 2015, and added the Chief Operating Officer function to his responsibilities in 2021. In 2024, he assumed his current role.
“Working at Waypoint presents a lot of opportunities for people,” he said.
Throughout his career, Desroches continually pushed himself to learn and grow. From 2007-09, with tuition support from Waypoint, he completed a Master of Health Science in Health Administration at the University of Toronto while working full time — earning a Certified Health Executive designation from the Canadian College of Health Leaders along the way.
Despite so many years with one employer, Desroches said he never felt the urge to move on: “At the end of the day, mental health and forensic mental health is really where my passion is,” he said. “There can be significant challenges supporting some of the patients we serve, but the bigger the challenge, the bigger the reward.”
One highlight of his time at Waypoint was helping oversee the transition from the aging Oak Ridge facility into the modern Atrium Building. But the most rewarding part of the job, he said, has always been seeing patients improve and take the next step in their lives:
“When you’ve seen somebody at the most challenged state of their mental health, and then see them move on, that’s ultimately what it boils down to.”
Desroches also noted how fortunate he has been to work with so many skilled staff and leaders who are very committed to helping the people Waypoint serves.
Desroches is modest about his rise through the organization, noting he has been fortunate to have different roles and participate in numerous projects. Asked if there’s any part of Waypoint he doesn’t know, he laughed: “There’s not too many areas that I’m not familiar with.”
Though Rob Desroches is retiring this month after a nearly 37-year career at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, his legacy will continue to echo throughout Waypoint’s halls — in its systems, in its care and in the people he’s mentored along the way.