The Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team
The Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team is a group of healthcare providers, peer workers, and community members who believe that health is political and aspire to remove barriers to clinical care by addressing the social determinants of health.
About Us
HAMSMaRT (Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team) emerged from grassroots, street-based work in Hamilton done by Keeping Six. Keeping Six began with a group of people with lived experience of drug use and/or homelessness. They came together to protect one another and support their community with substance use or homelessness. From this deep commitment to mutual care, dignity, and collective survival, HAMSMaRT was created to address the health inequities they were facing.
Originally founded by Dr. Tim O'Shea and Dr. Christian Kraeker in 2016, HAMSMaRT recognized the importance of a client-led healthcare space that focused on addressing the social determinants of health and creating a space that is compassionate, equitable, and truly accessible. Today, HAMSMaRT and Keeping Six remain closely connected and deeply intertwined. Physicians and other healthcare providers continue to see clients through HAMSMaRT, working alongside peer workers who lead advocacy, art, and community support initiatives. Together, they continue to build a model of care grounded in lived experience, trust, and a shared commitment to more equitable healthcare for all.
Over time, HAMSMaRT has developed programs, clinical services, and partnerships. We are now a registered non-profit with a board of directors. However, we try to intentionally maintain a non-hierarchical, community-grounded structure that reflects our grassroots origins and aligns with our core values.
Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter to stay up to date on what we do!
Click to read our Annual Reports!
Our Principles
Harm Reduction
Centring the Social Determinants of Health
Building the Community We Want to Live in
Reciprocal Learning
Community-Centred Care
Our Pillars of Work
Community Organizing
Clinical Care & Frontline Work
Ongoing
Research
Health & Social
Worker Education
Our Mission
To address the social determinents of health through integrated community centred care, education, research, and community organizing.
Our Vision
Healthcare that is a liberatory force for patients, practitioners, and communities alike.
THANK YOU
Thank You to our donors, partners, supporters, and funders who helped to make all of this work possible!