Ottawa Black Mental Health Coalition honours 5 volunteers with Volunteer Recognition Awards
by Michelle James
Wednesday 30 October 2024
While all our members and partners are volunteering their time, energy and resources to the work of the Coalition, these awards recognize those among us who have been extremely generous with their efforts to further our work. They have used their experiences and skills enhance our network, and expand our reach into our communities. They have endured challenging obstacles, precarious funding and a global pandemic to bring mental health and wellness support to those who need it. They have advocated tirelessly and spoke out time and again for families and individuals who are struggling with mental illness and all the challenges that come with it. This year OBMHC’s Executive Board would like to recognize and honour just a few of the people that make the work we do meaningful by adding their professional expertise, their passion and their personal touch to all they do.
The award for the Mental Health Supports goes to:
Cecile Kasongo is a mental health counsellor who speaks multiple languages and has been providing counselling sessions on the ACB Community Counselling Portal on Counselling Connect since 2021. She has been a dedicated member of the team and is our longest running counsellor on the portal. Cecile is always reliable, always ready to shift or provide support where it is needed. She is always ready to speak up for community members and advocate for some of the challenges that residents face. And while Britannia Woods Community House is the organization where Cecile sits, her being there benefits not only the residents in the neighbourhood, but across the city. Thank you for your unwavering dedication over the past three years!
The award for Mental Health Awareness goes to:
Myriam Georges-Estigène is a bilingual counsellor and entrepreneur who has worked and collaborated with several partners including Jaku Konbit, ACB Wellness Resource Centre. She has been an active participant in several Coalition collaborations including Black Mental Health Week. Myriam uses her skills in engaging with youth and adults, and her connections in the community, to help bring conversations about mental health out into the open. You can find her on YouTube discussing issues that impact our community in her podcast Shades of Black. She also works to bring mental health information and resources to a wider audience through her community engagement work under her Thoughtful Therapist enterprise. Whatever Myriam does, she does it with intention and a warm and disarming manner that resonates. Thank you for raising awareness and for creating spaces for people to talk about mental health.
The award for Advocacy and Systems Change goes to:
Amoy Jacques is a researcher with 15 years of experience leading the planning and evaluation of educational community-based projects within the health care and academic sectors. IN her current role at CO-CREATH Lab, guided by the leadership of Dr. Josephine etowa, Amoy and her team are advocating for racialized patients through community-based research and providing training to health care professionals. This training orients care providers to the social determinants of health and their impacts on patients. This training goes beyond clinical best practices to provide space for vulnerability and shared learning that builds capacity and empowers professionals to address racism and bias to better advocate for their patients. Thank you for advocating for BLack communities and creating opportunities for systems change.
Community Collaborator Award:
We have one final award that we’d like to give, that recognizes the special collaboration between a member of the Coalition and a community partner. This work is challenging at best. It’s also everyone’s responsibility, not just the responsibility of those from the community. We need strong, creative allies to collaborate with, and this is an opportunity to recognize those collaborations.
Kevin Patrick is no stranger to those who work in peer support. He takes his lived experience and professional expertise and brings it all together in his current role as Supervisor for The Royal Ottawa’s mental health peer support program. Last year, when he had an opportunity to connect funding with a training opportunity for Black peers, he reached out to OBMHC partners including the Community Development Framework and Canadian Women of Colour Leadership Network. He met with us, listened and learned what was needed to best support Black peer workers. Then he advanced our solutions creating space for us to advocate for ourselves. His efforts resulted in funding for 25 Black peer workers to be trained through the Canadian Women of Color Leadership Network.
Canadian Women of Colour Leadership Network (CWCLN) founder Sophia Jacob and her team also share this award with Kevin. Canadian Women of Colour Leadership Network is championing peer support in the Coalition and the community. Their team included dedicated peer support trainers who provided the training and were instrumental in developing the anti-racist, decolonized training program. CWCLN’s peer support workers provide facilitated peer support to adults and youth, both virtually and in person. The combined experience and knowledge of this group cannot be understated. This award recognizes their efforts in creating space for people to connect and heal.
Michelle James is Coordinator, Ottawa Black Mental Health Coalition
Congratulations to all the award winners, and the many teams out in community who are working to remove the stigma around mental health. Keep up the great work in 2025!