Racialized Populations and Mental Health & Addictions Community of Interest ( CoI) · 2019. 6. 26. · Overview of today’s presentation • Overview of the Racialized Populations

Community of Interest for Racialized Populations and Mental Health & Addictionsinvites you to a think tank exploring:

Racialized Populations and Mental Health & Addictions Community of Interest (CoI)

CMHA ON – Quality Culture Conference

April 1, 2019 Toronto

Presented by: Candace Vena, CMHA Ontario

Christine Conrad, CMHA OntarioDeqa Farah, Fred Victor

Angela Yip, CAMH

Overview of today’s presentation• Overview of the Racialized Populations and Mental Health and

Addictions Community of Interest (CoI)

• Racialized Populations and Mental Health Court Diversion project background

• Project findings:• Literature search findings• Focus group findings• Think tank findings

• Discussion:• Do these findings resonate with you?• How can we using these findings in practice?• Who can we share this with to continue momentum?

• Next Steps

Outline/CoI Background/Project Background/Findings/Discussion/Next Steps


Before we begin…

A little about your presenters



ABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS TODAY

CMHA Ontario


Contribute knowledge, resources and skills to provincial policy development and implementation

Promote mental health with collaboration with others

Further equitable access to mental health services and champion disparities

Work closely with our 30 branches across the province –building their governance and leadership capacities


ABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS TODAY

Fred Victor


Fred Victor is a not-for-profit, multi-service community-based organization that has assisted people living on low incomes in Toronto for close to 120 years.

Fred Victor works with a highly diverse population of people and upholds the values of respect, choice and inclusion.

Please see our website at www.fredvictor.org.

EvidenceExchangeNetwork

Province-wide knowledge exchange network, supported by knowledge brokers.

Connects stakeholders with each other and with the evidence they need to make decisions.

Located in CAMH’s Provincial System Support Program.

EENet.ca


PSSP’s provincial office is in Toronto with nine regional offices located throughout Ontario.

PSSP provides capacity and expertise in:– Knowledge exchange– Implementation – Coaching– Equity and engagement– Evaluation and data management



Overview of the Racialized Populations Mental Health and

Addictions Community of Interest


CoI’s Overall Goals


CoI Partners


http://www.addictionsandmentalhealthontario.ca/

http://ontario.cmha.ca/

http://www.opdi.org/

http://workingforchange.ca/

Background• COI’s goal is to improve policy, planning and practice for

racialized populations in mental health & addiction.

• Previous work:

• Explored how racialized individuals and communities in Ontario accessed hospital emergency departments for mental health and addictions related reasons

• 2-year work project looking into exploring OCAN use to advance health equity.

• Held series of webinars to share knowledge & promising practices.


Racialized Populations and Mental Health Court Diversion

Project Overview

#mhjusticeandrace


Background In 2017, the COI shifted its focus to criminal

court diversion programs and practices to examine racialized populations’ experiencewithin the mental health court services.

This involved focusing on formal mental health diversion programs as well as informal diversion practices for racialized persons with mental health and addictions issues in the criminal justice system.

#mhjusticeandrace


Project Objectives Increase understanding of how diversion is generally applied,

specifically to racialized populations.

Raise awareness about the need for standardization of race-based data collection throughout the criminal justice system, in order for issues of equity to be properly addressed through evidence-based policies and practices.

Contribute to existing strategies to improve the overall wellbeing of racialized populations moving through the criminal justice system.

Examine perceptions of race in the justice system and how those perceptions impact the outcomes, as well as what is needed to effectively address systemic racial inequities.


Overview of Activities Information/Literature scan

Focus groups held in Toronto: Mental Health Case Managers Mental Health Court Workers PWLE – Mental Health Court Diversion PWLE – Non Court Diversion

Backgrounder report – released December 2018

Think tank – took place January 7, 2019

#mhjusticeandrace


Project Findings

#mhjusticeandrace


What does the Literature say?

#mhjusticeandrace


In the United States, there is an overrepresentation of Caucasian males in mental health courts.

Racialized immigrant populations and Indigenous populations have a higher prevalence of mental distress and/or risk of suicide than the average Canadian

Statistics show that there is an over-representation of racialized populations, particularly Indigenous and Black populations, in frequency of arrests and incarcerations in Canada

There is a pressing need for further research on the treatment of racialized populations in the Canadian criminal justice system.

Focus Group Results

#mhjusticeandrace


Purpose of focus groups was exploratory Shed light on the experiences and needs of racialized individuals

interacting with mental health court support services and diversion in Toronto

Targeted focus group participants included: Service providers: mental health case managers & mental health

court workers Service users: PWLE who received mental health court diversion

and PWLE who did receive formal diversion

20 participants shared their experiences and perspectives; 3 through individual interviews and 17 through focus groups

Highlighted Themes

#mhjusticeandrace


Most service users reported a lack of awareness and transparency around diversion and mental health court support services

Both service users and service providers felt that race affects how an individual is treated in the criminal justice system

Some service users expressed distrust and a loss of hope in the justice system

Other factors including class, immigration and citizenship were identified as intersecting issues that affected how racialized populations were treated in the criminal justice system

Results from the Think Tank Day

#mhjusticeandrace


Overview of Think Tank Day

#mhjusticeandraceOutline/CoI Background/Project Background/Findings/Discussion/Next Steps

Brought together over 100 participants in person and 50 more via webinar

Representatives from the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care, Community Safety and Correctional Services, and the Attorney General; duty counsel; police officers; probation officers; court support workers and managers; mental health and addiction services providers; and persons with lived experience.

Keynote speeches from experts Dr. Akwasi Owusu-Bempah and Anthony Morgan

Panel made up of lawyers, mental health court workers and a person with lived experience who shared personal experiences and observations of racism in the justice system

Discussion on how to improve experiences and outcomes for racialized persons in the justice system

Discussion Questions for Think Tank Participants

#mhjusticeandraceOutline/CoI Background/Project Background/Findings/Discussion/Next Steps

1. What supports, services or resources are needed before charges are laid to prevent racialized individuals with mental health or addictions-related issues from interacting with the justice system?

2. How can racialized individuals going through the justice system be made more aware of the process and what’s happening?

3. Who should be promoting/recommending mental health court diversion?

4. How can mental health court diversion be more accessible for racialized individuals and how can those who are not eligible receive the supports they need?

5. Where in the criminal justice system pathway should race-based data be collected?

Key Recommendations

#mhjusticeandrace


1. Race-based data should be collected throughout the criminal justice system to better facilitate access to mental health court diversion for racialized individuals.

2. More culturally competent and trauma-informed services within the justice system, including specialized training for police officers, are needed.

3. Every member of the justice system, including judges, police officers, and mental health court support workers should be responsible for promoting mental health court diversion.

4. Culturally-specific system navigators are needed to share information and resources with justice-involved individuals.

5. Mental health court locations and hours of operation should be expanded across the province.


Discussion


#mhjusticeandrace

Questions for Participants

Do these findings resonate with you?

Do you have anything to add to our findings?

How can we using these findings in practice?

Who can we share this with to continue momentum?


#mhjusticeandrace

#mhjusticeandrace


Thanks for attending!

For more information, visit: http://www.eenet.ca/node/1263#about

Stay tuned for our webinar taking place May 15, 2019 12pm – 1pm

Final report to be released soon!

http://www.eenet.ca/node/1263#about

Documents

Racialized Populations and Mental Health & Addictions Community of Interest ( CoI) · 2019. 6. 26. · Overview of today’s presentation • Overview of the Racialized Populations