International experts examine the causes of mental illness in African and Caribbean Communities in Canada

For Immediate Release – November 4, 2008 (TORONTO) – The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) will be presenting a conference to explore the causes of mental illness in the African and Caribbean Diaspora in Canada. The conference will take place on Monday, November 10, 2008 at 33 Russell Street, Toronto in room 2029 from 10am to 5pm.

Though a long-established visible minority in Canada, the African and Caribbean community is almost invisible when it comes to research into mental health and well-being. International experts from the Caribbean, the UK and the US will present their thoughts alongside specialists from Toronto to address the causes of mental illness in this population in Canada, and what can be done about them.

“Worldwide studies have shown that people of African and Caribbean descent have higher rates of mental illness, especially problems with depression and stress. What we need to know is whether this is true in Toronto and if so, why,” says Dr. Kwame McKenzie, Deputy Clinical Director of the Schizophrenia Program and a Senior Scientist in Social Equity and Health Research at CAMH. “We will start by identifying the problems and then move on to working out how to prevent them”.

A CAMH report found that many factors contribute to the mental health problems of African and Caribbean people in Canada, including inter-generational trauma, lack of cultural competent treatment and mistrust of mainstream organizations.

“In CAMH’s Substance Abuse Program for African Canadian and Caribbean Youth (SAPACCY) we understand the important role culture plays in our clients’ everyday lives,” says Lew Golding, Manager of SAPACCY. “Cultural differences and lived experiences must be taken into account in order to best meet the needs of the African Canadian and Caribbean community.”

Through speakers and interactive discussion, mental health workers, researchers and treatment providers will be able to learn more about these issues from an international context and contribute to finding possibilities for new research and service development.

Speakers

Dr. Carl Bell, President & CEO, Community Mental Health Council & Foundation, Inc. He is also the Director of Public and Community Psychiatry and a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Gerard Hutchinson, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.

Dr. Craig Morgan, Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.

Dr. Suzanne Archie, Associate Professor with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University.

Lew Golding, Manager of CAMH’s Substance Abuse Program for African Canadian and Caribbean Youth (SAPACCY).

Dr. Kwame McKenzie, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Toronto, Deputy Clinical Director of the Schizophrenia Program at CAMH and a Senior Scientist in Social Equity and Health Research, CAMH.

Professor Charmaine Williams, Department of Social Work University of Toronto

For full biographies on all the speakers, please visit: http://www.camh.net/News_events/CAMH_Events/diaspora_conference.html

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Michael Torres, Media Relations, CAMH at 416 595 6015

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The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.

CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre