Culturally based ways of understanding and dealing with mental health problems play a central role in determining the use of mental health resources (or lack thereof) and in the stigma of mental health problems. Given the high levels of diversity in Canadian communities, it is not always possible to have sufficient local expertise in the form of bilingual, bicultural practitioners or culture brokers.
This project will develop information resources to help address the issues of cultural diversity as they pertain to stigma reduction, knowledge exchange and mental health policy in Canada. The overall aim is to improve the capacity of the Knowledge Exchange Centre of the Mental Health Commission to respond to the needs of Canada’s increasingly diverse population by providing up-to-date, evidence-based, culturally-appropriate information and materials for intercultural mental health work in community, primary care and specialty mental health settings.
The basic goals of the project are to:
(i) Evaluate existing resources for multicultural mental health care and identify significant gaps in tools and resources available in Canada;
(ii) Develop and evaluate the impact of specific resources, to address issues of cultural diversity in mental health care available to consumers, practitioners, policy-makers and community organizations.
Resources will address the impact of cultural diversity in four broad areas corresponding to major concerns of the MHC: the prevention of stigma; the diagnosis of mental health problems mobilizing and supporting cultural and community resources in recovery, and the cultural adaptation and delivery of preventive and treatment services in primary care and other clinical settings.