We curated the following resources with a special focus on the interconnectedness between culture, migration and mental health. We will update the information on a regular basis; however, we do not endorse any of the organizations.
Please use the resources at your own discretion. We also eager to hear from you; please feel free to contact us if you have feedback or suggestions.
Resources for Prevention and Treatment
Canadian Mental Health Association British Columbia branch manages the Here to Help website which is a great resource around mental health and mental ill health.
- Translated materials
- And very low-literacy English materials intended for adults learning English
- People also find the Q&A section very helpful
Multicultural Mental Health Resource Centre (national resource for clinicians and service users in more than 25 languages)
Hong Fook Mental Health Association has curated a rich body of multilingual information on their website.
Canada Suicide Prevention Service
- Hours: 24/7/365. Languages: English, French, 1-833-456-4566 SMS: Text START to 741741
Crisis Intervention & Suicide Prevention Centre of BC
- 1-800-784-2433 (1-800-SUICIDE)
- 1-800-784-2433 (1-800-SUICIDE)
Other relevant resources:
- The Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre for parents and youth has numerous materials in a range of languages
- Centre for Addiction and Mental health (Ontario based but a lot of the info there is universal)
- Mental Illness, Criminal Offences, & Deportation
- Transcultural Psychiatry
- International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Organizations & Institutions
- Canadian Mental Health Association
- Hong Fook Mental Health Association
- MOSAIC
- Immigrant Service Society of BC
- Community Mental Wellness Association of Canada
- VAST: Supporting Refugee Mental Health
- Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture
- McGill Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry
Research and Studies
- Culture, Mind, and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Models, and Applications (2020)
- Exploring the Impact of Health Care Provider Cultural Competence on New Immigrant Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study of Canadian Newcomers (2020)
- The Many Ways We’re Failing Our Children’s Mental Health (2020)
- Migration status, emotional engagement, and social exclusion in Chinese schools (2020)
- Canadian Immigrant Mental Health (2018)
- CAMH study finds possible chemical link between migration and psychosis (2017)
- Ethnic Differences in Mental Illness Severity: A Population-Based Study of Chinese and South Asian Patients in Ontario, Canada (2016)
- Deportation and the Confluence of Violence within Forensic Mental Health and Immigration Systems (2015)
- Double Jeopardy: Deportation of the Criminalized Mentally Ill (2010)
- The Globalization of Addiction (2010)
- Saving Face: Recognizing and Managing the Stigma of Mental Illness in Asian Americans (2008)
- Global Mental Health Assessment Database
Arts
- Surviving Samsara (a multimedia production by Vancouver-based artist Kagan Goh)
- The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family (a novel by Canadian writer Lindsay Wong)
- ‘Rat Park’ Director Shawney Cohen on Changing the Conversation About Drugs (2019)
- Rat Park Comic (2013)
Media
- How culture and religion affect mental health (2021)
- Why Taraji P. Henson is trying to shed light on the mental health crisis among Black youth (2021)
- Decolonizing mental health: The importance of an oppression-focused mental health system (2020)
- “My First Sessions” Explores the Relationship Between Therapy and Culture (2020)
- Undone: A Newcomer’s Story (2019)
- New mental health videos for newcomers (2019)
- ‘The unspoken ones’: How race and culture complicate Asian-Canadians’ access to mental health care (2018)
- Study reveals ethnic differences in mental illness severity when hospitalized (2016)
- Tailor immigrant and refugee mental health services for culture, language, report urges (2016)
- There isn’t a word for depression: immigrants and mental health (2013)
- NCR: Not Criminally Responsible (documentary, 2013)