Mental health Roundtable adamant on changing the current system Special

Mental health workers and practitioners working with South Asian community are urging CASSA to look into the impact of current mental health system on various South Asian communities in Greater Toronto Area.

Use your authority to bring about changes in way services is provided in diverse South Asian communities - Cassa told. The pressing recommendations to the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) came about at the recent South Asians & Mental Health Roundtable, organized by the council. Suggestions from mental health workers at the roundtable conference echo that of a recent study on the South Asian Community in Metropolitan Toronto. The study, The Need for Community Services, recommended that community services and funding from the government tailor services according to each community’s needs. The current system funds mainstream mental health agencies, such as Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to provide services to ethnospecific communities. However, participants in the roundtable conference strongly feel that ethnospecific agencies are better equipped to ease difficulties navigating the mental health system. And can put local health dollars where they are most needed. Making it more cost efficient, eliminating barriers such as language, transportation and stigmatization. They claim their structured service models are less stigmatizing and less psychologically scarring. CASSA, a social justice umbrella organization working with Ontario’s diverse South Asian communities, wanted to hear directly from agencies, mental health frontline workers and practitioners on challenges, barriers and opportunities for people with mental health challenges in the community. Neethan Shan, Executive Director of Cassa commented on the purpose of the roundtable conference. “Cassa wants to identify 2-3 things that it can focus on in the year or two with respect to mental health issues in South Asian community,” Shan said. “Now that we have heard from people what they want CASSA to focus on, next time we meet with the LHIN, we will give them this information.”