When it comes to settling in a new country, topics arising usually include housing, employment and schooling, among others. Last on that list, likely, is gaining access to mental health services.
Partnering with Western, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) looks to meet those mental health needs with a new initiative to help children and their families who have experienced fear, violence and trauma in a forced migration from their former country, and who now need to cope with the added stress of settling into a new community.
Beth Mitchell, director of LHSC’s Mental Health Care Program and a Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry faculty member (Paediatrics/Psychiatry), said a $1.3 million donation from the Royal Bank of Canada will create the RBC Centre for At-Risk Children and Families and begin to make a marked difference in the transition for new Canadians in London.
“In looking at the rising number of newcomers to London, some of the issues we see in our referrals are children and families who have been through pretty horrendous situations in their home country or in their route to get to Canada,” Mitchell said. “While we provide services, we want to determine how we can do it better, how we start to connect all the services that are here and pilot some new opportunities.”
According to the 2006 census, London is home to people from more than 140 distinct ethno-cultural backgrounds and approximately 22 per cent of Londoners are new Canadians. Studies show these groups face additional barriers in seeking and accessing mental health care.
Mitchell said the initial phase of the initiative will address the barriers between newcomers and the mental health services offered.
“You think broadly about mental health in Canada, there remains a stigma attached to mental health issues and mental illness. People are reluctant to get help, and we know that,” she said. “With this population, it is sometimes greater. In some cultures, when you have a mental illness, it could mean you’re locked up for life; in some cultures it could mean you lose your children. Is it the fear of a hospital? Fear of the police? What is it that creates that barrier?
“But the number one concern about health services when they come to Canada is mental health support. What’s out there? How do they get it? The challenge, of course, is always in language, but it’s also being culturally sensitive to what it means to seek mental health services in this population.”
There are no plans to market this idea as a business model, but rather go directly to the people who are in need of service.
“There are some fragment services (in London) and there are people who do try to help, but it’s partially that it’s not as coordinated and may not be as accessible as it needs to be,” she said. “What we want to do is build on what’s already there, talk to people in various communities and perhaps have focus groups to seek needs and what would be easier for them.”
Mitchell also wants to educate and build capacity across the system, perhaps helping teachers or nurses better recognize symptoms, and not brush it off simply because of a language barrier, for example.
“We’re an academic hospital affiliated with Schulich, with a number of students from nursing and applied health doing their training here,” Mitchell said. “We think that’s another way to have a much greater impact on the project as they (students) are coming in learning how to assess and recognize and learning more effective, cutting-edge treatment options and taking that to wherever they may end up going. There will also be an evaluation component where there will be an opportunity for faculty and students to do research as part of this.”
Mitchell hopes this latest push to better understand mental health issues will pull back the curtain of discussion on what continues to be a taboo subject for many.
“We’re a long way away from it just being as comfortable as saying ‘my dad was just diagnosed with cancer.’ It tends to be that kind of thing we’re embarrassed to talk about,” Mitchell said. “Every time something like this happens, I think we start to chip away at that stigma. It’s starting to change.”