CMHA Ontario is pleased to announce that our Advancing Equity in Ontario: Understanding Key Concepts framework is now available in French. Titled Promouvoir l’équité en Ontario: comprendre les concepts clés, this framework notes the dynamic and overlapping relationships between equity and mental health:
- Equity matters for mental health – Due to decreased access to the social determinants of health, inequities negatively impact the mental health of individuals and communities. Marginalized groups are more likely to experience poor mental health and in some cases, mental health conditions. In addition, marginalized groups have also decreased access to the social determinants of health, which are essential to recovery and positive mental health.
- Mental health matters for equity – Poor mental health and mental health conditions have a negative impact on equity. And while mental health is a key resource for accessing the social determinants of health, historical and ongoing stigma has resulted in discrimination and social exclusion of people with lived experience of mental health issues or conditions.
- Equity and mental health intersect – People often experience both mental health issues and additional inequities (such as poverty, racialization, or homophobia) simultaneously. Intersectionality creates unique experiences of inequity and mental health that poses added challenges at the individual, community and health systems levels.
Visit the Qualaxia website to read a blog post by our Director of Public Policy on how equity impacts our mental health, which was also released today through the Qualaxia Network, a Montreal-based publication that caters to decision-makers, managers, clinicians and other public health professionals interested in improving mental health. To learn more about CMHA Ontario’s work on equity issues in mental health, visit: www.ontario.cmha.ca/equity.