'Stuck in a cycle': Providers say disjointed mental health care failing to meet needs of Black youth
CBC
As a young Black person, the more mental health help you need, the harder a time you seem to have getting it.
At least, that's what Mary, a mental health clinician, told researchers with the Black Health Alliance (BHA), whose study of the state of mental health services for Black youth in Toronto was published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed Journal of Recovery in Mental Health.
"There's so many issues, no one wants to take ownership of that person and say, 'yeah, I will treat them,'" said Mary, whose comments were published in the study.
"It's like, 'no you're too complex for me.'"
The pandemic exposed and worsened long-standing health inequities that research has shown to disproportionately impact communities of colour, specifically Black ones. Newer, local research has also shown many ways in which everyday experiences with racism can hurt a person's chances at stable employment, a better income, and improved mental health.
Despite increased public awareness, mental health-care practitioners, as well as the study's authors, told CBC Toronto that anti-Black racism remains a barrier, and organizations are not doing enough to address it.
BHA researchers concluded that systemic racism is preventing young Black people from receiving proper mental health care, and that mental health organizations are not facilitating enough connections with Black-led care groups — making it more difficult for the youth in those groups to access timely and relevant care.
The study was conducted by the University of Toronto and Pathways to Care — a five-year collaborative project built by the BHA along with the TAIBU Community Health Centre, Wellesley Institute, the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH), and Strides Toronto.
From May through December 2020, researchers held seven focus groups involving 37 people.
The groups of Black youth, caregivers, community members, and clinicians began meeting shortly after the city of Toronto declared March 2, 2020 to be Black Mental Health Day. And shortly before the city declared anti-Black racism to be a public health crisis.
"I wonder if this whole awakening when it comes to anti-Black racism is going to, I guess, happen?" said one youth named Jalisa.
"Because even just going through the different systems and programs available in regard to mental health in Toronto, my race is always seen as an afterthought," she said.
"Even though being Black is not all who I am, it is a significant part of me."
The study included a social network analysis to understand which agencies the participants worked for, which connections exist between organizations, and how all of that impacts care for Black youth.
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.