Monday, April 04, 2005

Racial Discrimination and Mental Health: Racialized and Aboriginal Communities (Canada) Article by the Director for Corporate Diversity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the Ontario Human Rights Commission web site, called to our attention by CMHA/Ontario's Mental Health Notes - "Many studies confirm that one of the cumulative outcomes of social inequities, systemic racial discrimination, sexism, poverty and marginalization of Aboriginal peoples and members of racialized groups (including immigrants and refugees) is the debilitating impact on the mental health prospects for members of these communities, including the multidimensional impact of intersections of poverty, race, gender and sexual orientation..."  
  

Race equality in mental health initiative marks best practice (UK) Personnel Today story - "Seventeen sites across the England will pioneer best practice in eliminating discrimination in mental health care, health minister Rosie Winterton has announced. The sites will support the implementation of 'Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care, an action plan for reform both inside and outside NHS mental health services over the next five years, published in January this year..." See also the full action plan, available in Adobe Acrobat format.  
  

Mental health officials sued (North Carolina) Charlotte Observer story - "A federally funded watchdog group is suing state and local mental health officials, accusing them of failing to protect mentally ill children in group homes. The Governor's Advocacy Council for People with Disabilities filed suit Friday in state court in Wake County. The civil rights protection agency seeks a court order that would force mental health officials to hire more monitors and issue stiffer punishment when they find problems in the more than 1,000 N.C. group homes serving mentally ill children. If the lawsuit succeeds, public agencies could be ordered to spend millions to improve the state's oversight of group homes..."