Project Spotlight: Community Based Research Centre

Community Centred Responses to 2SLGBTQ+ COVID 19 Mental Health Impacts

Seeking to enhance mental health knowledge and capacity, and improve mental health outcomes for this population.

WHO
WHAT
HOW
WHERE
WHY

Open to all 2SLGBTQ+ populations, special roll out for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit populations

Objectives

Program takes the CBRC’s already existing “Investigaytors” program that builds capacity among the existing population to deliver mental health interventions. With consultation from Indigenous and Two Spirit community leaders and members, CBRC will incorporate Indigenous knowledge paradigms and the program will be rolled out with these adjustments in order to better suit the needs of this population.

Leverage CBRC’s national 2SLGBTQ+ COVID-19 Survey data, alongside other CBRC research assets, to identify key COVID-19 impacts on 2SLGBTQ+ mental health and well-being, including among sub-communities who bear a disproportionate burden of negative mental health outcomes.
Leverage CBRC’s engagement with 2SLGBTQ+ communities and knowledge mobilization infrastructure to develop new and scaled-up existing 2SLGBTQ+ mental health service provider resources to increase the knowledge and capacity of service providers to deliver culturally competent and safe care.

Settings

Virtual
Online
Community

Implementation sites

Toronto, ON
Montreal, ON
Winnipeg, MB
Vancouver, BC
Halifax, NS
Nationally

Impacts of societal stigma, discrimination, and minority stress, mean that Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (2SLGBTQ+) communities experience health inequities when compared to their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts
Even more true of mental health, where 2SLGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to experience mental health challenges and display different patterns of mental health service access
Additionally, mental health inequities are not only experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ people en masse but these disparities also exist within 2SLGBTQ+ communities, with Indigenous, racialized, trans, and gender-diverse individuals more likely to experience poorer mental health outcomes

In the words of the project team members

“One of the things that’s really exciting about this opportunity for this particular funding, is to be able to work with our young participants to have an opportunity to look at how COVID has impacted the mental health and wellness of them, of their communities, their friends, the people they love and care about, and to think about how we could build out different resources or opportunities to provide care for those who have been impacted by mental health”