Back to SearchThe Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Project (IRMHP) was developed by CAMH’s Office of Health Equity, with funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and in collaboration with experts in the field. This bilingual project aims to strengthen the settlement, social and health sectors’ capacity to effectively address the mental health needs of immigrants and refugees. The project gives participants five different avenues to gain new knowledge, skills, and networks to apply to their work. Service providers have the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas and experiences with hundreds of service providers across Canada and obtain advice from experts in the field. The project builds on the award-winning Refugee Mental Health Project (RMHP), which provided essential knowledge, skills, and networks to over 7,000 settlement, social, and health service providers.
Target audience
Health, settlement and social services providers supporting the mental health of immigrants and refugees.
Location
This is a national project, freely available to service providers across Canada.
Services offered
- An online course, accredited by the University of Toronto. The course is offered nationally and has two streams: one for health care practitioners and one for settlement and social services providers. Each stream has seven modules and the course which is offered in both French and English is self-directed over a six week period, taking approximately 20-25 hours.
- Monthly webinars open to anyone working with newcomers.
- A monthly newsletter to help service providers stay informed of webinars and other activities available. Separate English and French newsletters are produced.
- An online community of practice (discussion board), which allows service providers to network with others and share information/practices. The CoP is open to any service providers in the health or settlement sectors.
- A toolkit of resources containing practical information, tools and promising practices to expand service providers’ knowledge and skills for supporting immigrant and refugee mental health.
The impact of the project/program/organization on the health and well-being of immigrants and refugees or on their immigration experience
This project provides an indirect service to immigrants and refugees by building the capacity of providers to effectively address newcomers’ mental health needs during the settlement process. It contributes to the Government of Canada’s goal of successfully integrated and settled immigrants. Course evaluation results over the years have consistently shown the majority of learners agree or strongly agree that the course enhanced their knowledge, was relevant to their work and the content will alter their practice.
Upcoming event / resources to share
A pre-course module on supporting the mental health of Yazidi refugees was recently developed. This module is a precursor to the full course which will be offered in the fall for service providers supporting the mental health of Yazidi refugees in Canada.
Additional information about IRMHP
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