Wednesday 30 October 2024
Over 50 mental health professionals, Black community leaders, social justice advocates, public servants and volunteers, were at the Baccanalle Community Space on Gaspe Avenue on Wednesday to participate in the 2024 Strategic Planning session hosted by the Ottawa Black Mental Health Coalition (OBMHC). This coalition of Black leaders comprises of key stakeholders, community members, academics, health and social service providers, and other partners who are embedded within the mental health and social service sector, all of whom are committed to dismantling the systemic barriers that exist within our health system. It is working towards the development of a Regional Mental Health strategy for the African, Caribbean, Black community in Ottawa. Their goal is to achieve a more equitable mental health system by improving access to culturally appropriate mental health supports and resources offering healthier outcomes for Black residents in Ottawa.
The discussions were led by OBMHC Coordinator, Michelle James, Project Facilitator Basant Mohamed, Clinical Supervisor, Papa-Ladjike Diof among others. The goal was: To achieve increased mental health and well-being for Ottawa’s Black residents through advocating for systems change, increasing equitable access, and fostering stigma reduction. Three significant strategic pillars were identified for discussion by the participants wo were divided into small groups for this purpose:
(1) Black residents have been disproportionally impacted by anti-Black racism in the mental health system; (2) Individuals and organizations in the community need to be aware of mental health and the issues that impact well-being; and (3) Black residents and Black clinicians face unique challenges due to systemic racism in various forms.
Among the attendees were: Bo Turpin, Executive Director, Upstream Ottawa Mental Health; Hodan Aden, Ottawa Public Health; Sharon Roberts, Royal Ottawa Mental health Centre; Chuks Onwuachi, ISED/Brotherhood Coalition; Rasheedaat Sulaiman, Pine crest-Queensway Community Health Centre; Sibylle Tsayem, African Caribbean Association of Ottawa; Sahada Alolo, Ottawa Guiding Council for Mental Health and Addictions; Fatima Andad, Community Development Framework; Dania Versailles, Canadian Mental Health Association; Kevin Patrick, Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre; Nagad Hersi, Somerset West Community Health; Michael Tay, Catholic Centre for Immigrants; Godwin Ifedi, Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization;