Dissemination activities and plans

The primary audiences for the findings from this project are:

• mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses) and primary care providers working with a culturally diverse clientele
• health planners and administrators involved in developing and implementing mental health services for cultural diverse populations
• educators of mental health professionals
• organizations and administrators responsible for quality assurance and accreditation of clinical services and institutions
• organizations responsible for setting standards and curricula for professional training and certification

The secondary audience includes community organizations and mental health consumers concerned with identified alternative models of care that can respond to cultural diversity.

The methods to be used to reach these target audiences and their timelines are as follows:

1. To promote awareness of the service, a brochure was prepared and sent to mental health practitioners throughout the region.
2. Members of the CCS team gave presentations to groups of clinicians and administrators at local hospitals, clinics and CLSCs. An ongoing seminar series for professionals takes place every 2-weeks alternating at the JGH and the MCH. Additional workshops and in-service training were provided for health professionals at CLSCs and hospitals (a list of activities is provided in Appendix F3). We will continue these seminars and workshops for local practitioners and institutions
3. We plan meetings with the regional health and social service board and the Jewish General Hospital administration in May 2001 to present the major findings and discuss possibilities for continued funding for the services. We will also arrange meetings with the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services.
4. We will present the results of the study at professional meetings including the Canadian Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, World Psychiatric Association, the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, and the American Anthropological Association.
5. Over the next year, we will conduct workshops on "Implementing and Assessing Cultural Consultation Services" at professional associations and at CME activities at the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill. It is our hope that this will lead to parallel projects being conducted at other sites.
6. We have organized a conference on models of training in culture and mental health to take place at McGill in May 2001.
7. The CCS web site disseminates information on our activities over the Internet. We will continue to update our website and e-mail listserv to provide the results of the research and resources useful for the development of consultation services.
8. Over the next 12 months, we plan to publish a series of articles on our work in psychiatric journals (Canadian Journal of Psychiatry; Canadian Medical Association Journal, American Journal of Psychiatry; Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry; Psychiatric Services; Social Science & Medicine, and Transcultural Psychiatry) and prepare an edited volume entitled "The Practice of Cultural Consultation," which will summarize the experience of the team in a form accessible to clinicians.
9. In conjunction with the conferences and training activities at the McGill Summer Program in Social & Cultural Psychiatry, we plan meetings with journalists to arrange for coverage of the key findings in newspapers and mass media.