Case Management Services - Rehabilitation Action Program (see Case Management Services)
Newcomer Women's Wellness Program
Healthy Living Groups
Working Together: Across Cultures

In our Cross-Cultural Initiatives department, we have the Rehabilitation Action Program Case Management Service that works with the Tamil, Somali, Afghan and other newcomer communities in Scarborough and the following mental health promotion programs

Newcomer Women's Wellness Program

Women's support groups in partnership with settlement and community agencies in the Afghan, Greek, Hindi, Jamaican, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Tamil and Italian communities.

The goal of the women's groups, through a supportive group environment, is to promote the mental health of women who are

• Socially isolated and
• Experiencing cultural and linguistic barriers, and/or are
• At risk of mental health problems due to difficult life circumstances.

Most of the groups are language-specific and women discuss, in their own languages, topics they feel are important to their wellness.

The groups cover wellness topics and community resources, and support women to develop leadership skills.

Supervised childcare is provided in some groups.
Newcomer Women's Wellness Program is funded in part by the United Way of Greater Toronto and by the City of Toronto.

Contact Information:

This project is a partnership between CMHA Toronto, West Hill Community Services and The Toronto Community Housing Corporation. Two mental health promotion groups have been created for residents of a TCHC building in Scarborough to promote the mental health of residents who are socially isolated and experiencing mental health and coping difficulties, including resettlement stress. The key languages in this building are Tamil and Somali. Our co-facilitator is Somali and we seek volunteers with language-bridging skills from within the groups. CMHA Toronto Markham Road site offers mental health assessments and referral to participants who may have a serious mental illness.

For more information please call 416-289-6285 ext. 301

Working Together: Across Cultures

This is a partnership between CMHA Toronto and agencies working with communities such as the Arab, Carribean and Ethiopian.

The collaboration will increase the capacity and competence of workers in the partnership in areas of mental health as related to cross-cultural needs through: recognition and awareness, navigation of the mental health system and the development of culturally sensitive services.

For more information contact Gulshan Allibhai at 416-289-6285 ext. 307