A CMHA Ontario paper on the intersection of racial and mental health profiling and the impact on racialized persons with mental health and addictions issues is now available online.
The experiences of racialized persons with mental health and addictions issues when they come into contact with the justice system or the health care system are not adequately documented by way of data collection. There is therefore a lack of reliable information on how racial and mental health profiling may present itself in either setting, and how the two might intersect.
This is an important issue that requires further examination in order to ensure that racialized communities experiencing mental health concerns are not further marginalized when seeking assistance in mental health crises or during medical treatment. This paper examines some of the available data in both the justice and health care sectors as a starting point for further exploration.
CMHA Ontario contributed the report to the Canadian Diversity Journal earlier this year, sponsored by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). Our paper, Racial and Mental Health Profiling in Ontario: Exploring the Links, is now available on the OHRC website.