CURA Toronto Latin American Community Forum. Taking Culture Seriously in Community Mental Health -

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Angela Blair
5 years ago
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1 CURA Toronto Latin American Community Forum

2 Purpose To create awareness about the Taking Culture Seriously study To talk about mental health and opportunities for pilot projects To think about partnerships for pilot projects

3 Agenda CURA project Focus group findings Cultural empowerment model Small group discussions Reporting back and next steps

4 Taking Culture Seriously In Community Mental Health 5-year research initiative bringing together university and community partners in Toronto and Waterloo Region To explore, develop, pilot and evaluate mental health services and supports that are culturally effective for the multicultural Canada funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF)

5 Why this Research Study? Changing cultural face of Canadian society Mainstream service providers and program planners often don t understand cultural meanings and potential stigma related to mental health Lack of access to effective mental health services for people from diverse cultural backgrounds

6 Intended Outcomes This CURA hopes to provide real opportunities for: mental health practice and policy to be shaped in terms of cultural diversity diverse meanings of mental health and mental illness to be better understood through collaboration among communities, academic institutions, practitioners, service providers and policymakers

7 CURA Partners Partnership growing from 17 to 43 individuals: - 5 cultural linguistic communities: India (Sikh Punjabi), Somalia (Somali), Latin America (Spanish), China (Mandarin-speaking), and Poland (Polish) - Service providers from mental health organizations (hospitals, CMHAs, CHC, Counseling Services, etc.) and from 2 provincial umbrella organizations (OCASI, OPDI) - Multidisciplinary academics from universities/research centres (WLU, UoW, UoT, CAMH, CREHS)

8 How We Structure Ourselves Partnership Group Partners to oversee the study Community Researchers 10 researchers/facilitators representing cultural-linguistic communities Steering Committees Cross-stakeholders including culturallinguistic communities to guide this research study

9 Three Phases Phase I: Exploring Conceptualizations of Mental Health Problems and Practice ( ) Product: Research findings, cultural empowerment framework and 1 st CURA conference. Phase II: Developing Culturally Effective Practice ( ) Product: Funding proposals Phase III: Researching Demonstration Projects ( ) Product: Evaluation results and final conference

10 Community Voices Who did we talk with? 21 focus groups (193 participants) 4 focus groups for each community (2 each in Waterloo, 2 in Toronto) Many split by gender at communities request One youth focus group

11 Toronto Latin American Forum Findings Main themes Information, education, awareness through the media Need for prevention rather than focusing on crisis More programs for youth: recreation centres, entertainment for the young ones, help programs in schools Programs for families and children More flexibility of programs for people who work all day Immediate services vs. long waiting lists Offer more opportunities to receive help; reduce marginalization More Spanish-speaking professionals Help to foster community identity

12 Toronto Latin American Forum Findings Suggested Actions Increase free access programs and improve advertising of programs Centralization of services; a community centre/ mental health centre Cultural training for professionals in issues specific to Latin American community Help with credential recognition for Spanishspeaking mental health professionals Empowerment in the community from within the community

14 Discussion Questions What ideas for solutions do you have, in addition to the themes of focus group? Is there a special group or concern that we should focus on as a community? (youth, seniors, or single mothers, for example) Given these ideas (or focus areas), what do we need to do as a community to make things happen? What steps do we need to take? Who are the people in our community who should be involved in these steps?

15 Some Toronto Mental Health Services Canadian Mental Health Association McLaughlin Addiction and Mental Health Information Centre Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Black Creek Community Health Centre Family Services Association University Health Network (Toronto Western hospital) West End Walk-in Counselling Services

16 Next Steps Toronto service providers and the culturallinguistic communities discuss and develop ideas for pilot projects March 28 CURA Partnership Group meeting to discuss pilot project ideas across Toronto and Waterloo May 23 Waterloo Steering Committee meeting to discuss Waterloo pilot project ideas May-June 2007 Proposals developed and submitted to funders End 2007 Demonstration projects funded Pilot projects implemented and evaluated

From the Margins to the Core : A Case Example of a Cultural Community Leading Innovative Practice in Ontario

From the Margins to the Core : A Case Example of a Cultural Community Leading Innovative Practice in Ontario Mutta,B., Nelson, G., & Ochocka, J. (2009). From the Margins to the Core: A case example of a cultural community leading innovative practice in Ontario. Presented at the Making Gains Conference, Toronto,