ADJUSTING THE SPOTLIGHT
“BIPOC youth are not a to-do list. We are much more than that.”
In early 2020, the Youth Action Committee (YAC) discussed the different kinds of challenges that youth face with respect to their mental health, and in accessing and using mental health services across Ontario. After much discussion and investigation, the YAC felt that there were many groups of people that were facing inequitable treatment within the mental health system, and had inequitable access to such services. The YAC decided to focus the conversation around race and mental health in March of 2020. The topic of equity was initially chosen, however as this term can encompass a multitude of issues, it was decided that the topic of equity be further narrowed down to racial equity. This was primarily based on the lived experiences of YAC members, what they have seen in their communities with respect to publicly funded mental health services, and what was happening more broadly in their communities, in Ontario, and across the world with respect to systemic racism and oppression.
Youth Action Commitee’s
vision
In order for Ontario’s mental health system to provide equitable services for BIPOC youth, service providers must understand the unique barriers and challenges that they face. Racism, discrimination, cultural insensitivity, internalized stigma, inadequate access to economic resources and social exclusion are experiences that are not understood and that prevent effective mental healthcare. BIPOC youth’s voices have not been listened to and have not been treated with the compassion, trust and respect that they rightfully deserve. Every youth has the right to effective mental health treatment and care, which is currently lacking for racialized youth across the province. This policy paper provides policy recommendations to establish racial equity within mental health services across the province, and to ensure that BIPOC youth are prioritized in a system that has neglected them for far too long. While change within the mental health system can not be immediate, the short-term goals provided throughout this paper are a realistic place to start before progressing into the long-term goals. The system must recognize racism, discrimination, internal bias and racial stereotyping and create an inclusive, equitable and diverse environment. It is imperative that these policy recommendations be executed and the appropriate funding be allocated for this to occur.
ADJUSTING THE SPOTLIGHT - REFLECTION
In 2022, The New Mentality and Children’s Mental Health Ontario’s Youth Action Committee released their policy paper, Adjusting the Spotlight: Re-Centering Neglected BIPOC Youth Voices Surrounding Mental Health. Now in 2023, the YAC is releasing the following reflection questions as an additional resource to their policy paper, that will serve as a guide for organizations and individuals to reflect on their anti-racism work.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Information on the topic of race and mental health is crucial, because children and youth from marginalized communities are the most at risk of developing serious mental health conditions, and the least represented in care and treatment. BIPOC youth face unique challenges and barriers such as racism, discrimination and cultural insensitivity. This policy paper recognizes the importance of addressing the unique yet neglected needs of BIPOC youth, in order to provide more equitable and appropriate mental healthcare.
Three key findings were derived from the YAC survey and youth-led consultations in the broad areas of cultural insensitivity, economic challenges, and social exclusion, which were then combined with other external research and data sources to inform recommendations in this report. Six key recommendations are presented as per the findings and YAC input, which include relevant anti-racist training, hiring more diverse service providers, providing effective anti-racist training in schools, implementing more types of mental health services, ensuring effective navigation of services, and mandating race-based data collection.
Learn More About Race & Mental Health
Currently, there is minimal research on general racial disparities within Canada and Ontario, and much less catered towards the mental health system. There also isn’t much data available on the experiences of racialized youth in mental health, and much of what is available lacks direct input from these communities.
A misguided understanding of these experiences can undermine honest efforts to improve access to mental health services, and risks further alienating racialized youth. Thus, the results of the survey and consultations have informed this policy paper in order to amplify the voices and unique stories of BIPOC youth across Ontario.
BIPOC youth are placed in a unique position where they face racism, but also dually experience discrimination from their unique intersecting identities. Intersectionality plays an important role in this policy paper. It must be recognized that race is not the only part of a BIPOC youth’s identity, rather they may also identify with other equity-seeking groups, such as belonging to LGBTQ2S+, disabilities, and low-income communities. Thus, they suffer from mental health issues, face barriers and have negative experiences within the system that are unique to their identities while also experiencing existing barriers felt by the general population.
Research has shown that such racism and discrimination risks further perpetuating existing stereotypes [Loh & Chau, 2020] and causing health inequities [Mahabir et al., 2021]. As a result, it does not come as a surprise that an investigation and analysis of the YAC survey and consultations discovered that BIPOC youth are disproportionately affected by the social determinants of health and subjected to culturally insensitive and culturally incompetent environments when engaging with the mental health system.
Not only do BIPOC communities lack equitable access to economic resources that pose financial barriers when trying to access services, but they are also disproportionately, socially excluded within schools and their communities, which can negatively impact their well-being and perpetuate existing cultural stigma.
Youth have reported experiencing racial bias and racial stereotyping, effectively damaging their trust with mental health services and service providers in the process. When this occurs, a one-size-fits-all approach is likely to be used for all BIPOC youth, which in reality can be irrelevant to their needs and can further deter them from seeking care.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was shaped, developed, and executed by the passionate and brilliant leaders of Children’s Mental Health Ontario and The New Mentality’s joint Youth Action Committee.
This policy paper is written by 2021 Youth Action Committee member Alisha Sharma, with the combined support, effort and brilliant ideas of the outstanding team of advocates who formed the 2021 YAC. Without the help of the adult allies, Mary-Anne Leahy, Fizza Abbas, Reshem Khan, and Evelyn Ascencio, as well as the CMHO policy team, Christal Huang and Jide Alaga, this policy paper would not have been possible. Their knowledge and expertise about developing policy and understanding racial issues within the mental health system was imperative in informing and creating this paper. Facilitated and led by the YAC Co-chair Hodan Mohamud, the committee was responsible for the two primary sources of data used: the province-wide survey and consultations, both specifically for youth from Black and Indigenous communities, and who identify as people of colour (BIPOC). Thank you to Nicole D’Souza for offering clinical support throughout the consultations.
A huge thank you to all the youth who participated in the YAC survey and YAC consultations. Your contributions, experiences, stories and voices matter.
Funding for this project was provided generously by Children’s Mental Health Ontario, the Government of Ontario and the Cowan Foundation. The views expressed in the publication are a summary of project findings.
2020 YAC Members
Hodan Mohamud, Co-Chair
Lewis Han, Co-Chair
Victoria Kaulback
Victoria Corbett
Eric Hendrick
Nneoma Grace Achioso
Madison Suh
Gregory Doucet
Nourin Ali
2021 YAC MEMBERS
Hodan Mohamud, Chair
Eric Hendrick
Lewis Han
Nneoma Grace Achioso
Madison Suh
Gregory Doucet
Erin Park
Aditya Thakur
Alisha Sharma
Diya Mohan
Murphy-Issac Boyse
Chy (Gin) Phillips
2020 YAC Members
Hodan Mohamud, Co-Chair
Lewis Han, Co-Chair
Victoria Kaulback
Victoria Corbett
Eric Hendrick
Nneoma Grace Achioso
Madison Suh
Gregory Doucet
Nourin Ali
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