Keyword: ontario

Racialized and Indigenous communities are often faced with systemic barriers that impact every social determinant of health. They must face these barriers to gain access to the labour market, health care and educational opportunities. Furthermore, they are often unable to find services offered in their first language, are over-represented in our justice system, and also face discrimination in interactions with police services and the courts. The result is a negative impact on mental health…

This past year, the CAMH Health Promotion Resource Centre (CAMH HPRC) launched a new report that outlines the substantial amount of mental health promotion (MHP) work being done across the province of Ontario. CAMH HPRC is part of the Evidence Exchange Network (EENet) in the Provincial System Support Program (PSSP) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). EENet is a provincial knowledge exchange network that brings together mental health and addiction stakeholders from across Ontario.

If tackling a complex issue is like building a puzzle, the most important step is to find all the pieces. How to start? Listen to people with experience. In my last blog, I began to share findings from the work of the Community of Interest (COI) for Racialized Populations and Mental Health and Addiction.

Tackling a complex issue can be like building a puzzle. Sometimes the first step is to find the pieces.

In my last blog, I introduced you to the Community of Interest (COI) for Racialized Populations and Mental Health and Addiction. Last year, the COI’s goal was to better understand how and why racialized communities in Ontario use the emergency department (ED) for mental health and addictions services. We also wanted to showcase promising and innovative practices that benefited racialized communities, service providers and the health system. To learn more about the COI and this work, please read my previous blog here: One Room, Many Voices, One Conversation.

A research report released in Ontario last summer entitled Connecting the Dots indicated that local public health units are doing a substantial amount of mental health promotion for children and youth without having a specific mandate to do so. In Ontario, illness prevention and health promotion are at the heart of public health, yet the role of public health in the mental health of Ontarians has not been well defined. For instance, the Ontario Public Health Standards, which guides the work of public health units, lacks an explicit mandate to address mental health.

A province as large as Ontario poses significant challenges to anyone trying to get a handle on the policy landscape for mental health and addictions. Nevertheless, it’s an honour to have an opportunity to contribute to Qualaxia, and over the course of my next few blogs, I hope to offer an overview of some of the key documents informing the Ontario context.