Newcomer Community Wellness Project’s Mental Health Report

Today we launch our Newcomer Community Wellness Project’s Mental Health Report.

MentalHealth_FullReport_2014_finalThe Newcomer Community Wellness Project is a three-year initiative led by ISANS and funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness in the framework of the Nova Scotia Mental Health Strategy. The project aims to develop a model to provide equitable and culturally competent mental health services to im/migrants (immigrants/migrants) and to help communities increase their ability to respond to issues of mental, health, wellness and addictions.

During the first year of its implementation the project built partnerships with settlement and social services providing support to im/migrants, mental health programs and members of the im/migrant communities in Halifax. The first stage of consultation laid the groundwork for the development of the assessment process which was carried out from October 2013 to March 2014.

This report presents the information gathered during ten community consultations with 94 members of diverse im/migrant communities and 14 individual interviews carried out from October 2013 to March 2014 in Halifax. Close to 100 settlement and social services staff were interviewed in groups and individually.

This report is a working document/work in progress that will be completed during the different phases of the project implementation. It contains a brief narrative summary and illustrates through detailed charts each of the components covered: social determinants of health, mental illness and recommendations. A wellness wheel emerged at the end of the analysis to offer a more holistic and integrative perspective of this complex reality.

Read or download the full report here.