In this section you will find frameworks, coalitions, best practices, and techniques to support your work in mental health promotion and developing partnerships.
Resources
Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion identifies five action areas that are essential for health promotion strategies.
Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care
Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care is a group of physicians and other health service providers who united to share resources, do research and advocate for health coverage for refugees.
Simplifying the Journey Project
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), through their Simplifying the Journey project, developed a framework that organizations can use to improve equity of access to services for marginalized populations.
Here to Help
This website, developed by a coalition of seven agencies, provides information about mental health promotion initiatives.
The Opening Doors Project
The Opening Doors Project uses unique story-telling techniques in presenting workshops to agencies and the community, which are aimed at strengthening, fostering and cultivating healthier communities in Ontario.
The Journey to Promote Mental Health
This training aims to enhance the capacity of community workers from the settlement service sector in addressing and dealing with mental health issues presented by the individuals they serve. The overarching goal is to enhance participants’ knowledge, awareness, and skills of cultural understanding and to review their practices in order to improve their services for refugees coming from the diverse background.
Publicly viewable database of support services and agencies for newcomers
This database provides a list of free services based on your location (postal code, city or full address).
Kids new to Canada – Community resources
This list will help health professionals become familiar with services, relevant to immigrant and refugee families, in their province/territory or region.
Peel Newcomer Strategy Group (PNSG) – Interactive maps
PNSG, in partnership with the Region of Peel, has created interactive maps indicating the location of services across the region. The services available include schools, settlement services, hospitals, faith-based institutions and early year services.
Abundant Community Edmonton project
This project uses neighbourhood leaders and connectors to better engage neighbours to build relationships, reduce social isolation, share their vision and increase safety.
Action for Neighbourhood Change
This was a partnership and learning initiative that explored and assessed approaches to locally-driven neighbourhood revitalization that can enhance the capacity of individuals and families to build and sustain strong and healthy communities.
Peel collaborative – Holistic crisis planning
These videos for service providers demonstrate counterproductive and productive approaches to engaging youth and families in crisis and safety planning. You'll see re-enactments in three different settings where youth and families may go to receive support for a mental health issue.
Reports
The Mental Health Strategy for Canada (2012)
The Mental Health Strategy for Canada offers recommendations to improve the mental health and well-being of immigrants and refugees in Canada with its Strategic Direction 4, Priority 4.2: Improve mental health services and supports by and for immigrants, refugees, ethno-cultural and racialized groups.
Guides
Culture Counts: A roadmap to health promotion best practices for developing health promotion initiatives in mental health and substance use with ethno-cultural communities
This guide identifies a best practices approach to health promotion in mental health and substance use with ethno-cultural communities. It aims to address how programs can address the needs of people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Framework for Mental Health Promotion – OCASI
This provides a framework for mental health promotion to facilitate a more standardized level of service delivery for the settlement sector.
Summary and tip sheet of mental health promotion guidelines – OCASI
These are 8 mental health promotion guidelines for agencies serving immigrants and refugees.
Promising Practices
The REACH Multicultural Family Centre
The REACH Multicultural Family Centre employs frontline workers who are trusted members of the communities they serve. The workers deliver culturally responsive programs. In addition, the centre hosts a number of culturally diverse community groups aimed at enhancing the social ties of newcomers.
Muslim Food Bank and Community
This is a faith-based program that uses volunteer mental health case workers to address mental health and addiction issues within the Muslim community in the Greater Vancouver area.
Ottawa Newcomer Health Centre (ONHC)
This community-based health centre provides culturally relevant health and mental health services to Government Assisted Refugees. The ONHC recently expanded services to Privately Sponsored Refugees and claimants, and is operated under a partnership between Somerset West Community Health Centre and the Catholic Centre for Immigrants.
Tools
Partnership Self-Assessment Tool
This questionnaire asks questions about different aspects of partnerships.
Impact-MPI Assessment Tool
This is a tool to measure individual and organizational motivation and capacity to engage in collaboration. The ultimate purpose in measuring partnerships is to build a strong and functional foundation in the partnership/collaborative to help groups reach their impact goals.