Article(s) 26 May 2014

One Room, Many Voices, One Conversation

Communities support our growth, action and change, both personally and professionally. In the mental health system, communities of dedicated, passionate and motivated collaborators often act as catalysts for knowledge exchange and action.

Our community came together around a shared understanding that mental health experiences are informed by experiences of race and racism, and that mental health policy, planning and service delivery must consider the needs and realities of racialized groups.

How we can work together to help mothers with mental health problems in the SIPPE program?

Over the past year, the FEJ and mental health teams of the CSSS Dorval-Lachine-Lasalle wrote a document entitled, “Connecting the FEJ-DI-TED-DP, Psycho-social and Mental Health Services”. This document was a response to concerns the SIPPE program felt regarding its collaboration with the mental health team. It presents a framework for practice aiming to increase teamwork and collaboration between various services. Since implementing this framework last fall, we have noticed improvements in communication between health care providers on the FEJ and mental health teams. Because we are dealing with two programs with two distinct mandates, collaboration remains complex and great challenges lie ahead.