Free Event for Patients and Families // Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health

Join panelists Caroline Kwok, Aamna Ashraf, and Maria Lo for a conversation about immigrant and refugee mental health. Informed by their lived and professional experiences, our panelists will discuss some of the shared journeys people have as immigrants and refugees as well as some of the common causes of their mental health challenges. Our panelists will focus on the importance of mental health literacy and how to create supportive pathways to recovery by having honest conversations about mental health with friends, families, and mental health professionals. Participants will learn about The Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Project at CAMH and how they can apply the most current knowledge, tools, and resources to support people in their communities.

Our Presenters:

Aamna Ashraf is the Manager of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She holds a Master’s Degree in Education (Counselling Psychology) and has worked in the not for profit sector for over 25 years.

As an advocate for health equity, Aamna leads the award winning IRCC funded Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Project and serves as one of Ontario's Health Equity Impact Assessment Champions.

Aamna has also held funder positions United Way Peel/York Region as well with the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and was Director of the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, the Local Immigration Partnership for Peel Region.

In her role at CAMH she manages staff whose portfolios address disparities in health outcomes by providing equitable care through interpretation services, education, research and evaluation. Currently, her focus has been on the implementation of a hospital-wide initiative to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion and the creation of an anti-Black racism strategy.

Caroline Fei-Yeng Kwok, originally from Hong Kong, was diagnosed many years ago with bipolar disorder. She is now the recipient of mental health advocacy awards: CAMH’s 2001 Courage to Come Back Award and CAMH’s 2017 Difference Makers Award, and, in 2020, was named the Face of Mental Illness by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health.

She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Education degree from the University of Toronto. She has attended creative writing courses at Yale University and at the New York State Summer Writers’ Institute.

She has published two books: Free to Fly: A Story of Manic Depression and Journeys of Renewed Hope. Several of her articles have appeared in psychiatric journals.

She has also given presentations/workshops at various national/international conferences, at universities, and at hospitals in North America and Asia. She was an English as a Second Language teacher at the Toronto District School Board and at an immigrant mental health centre in Toronto. Her website is: Carolinerecovery.com

Maria Lo has over 28 years’ of experiences working with immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds. She has substantial knowledge on the myriads of obstacles, challenges and stresses derived from the migration process and how these impact on immigrants’ mental health, and ultimately on the overall health. Maria has worked with victims of family violence, isolated seniors and newcomer youths as well as possessed over 20 years’ of experiences in implementing, organizing and facilitating groups with diverse purposes, e.g. stress reduction group for consumers, women’s support group, develop curriculum of the mental health training series as well as delivering trainings for settlement sectors etc. Maria obtained her bachelor degree in Social Sciences at University of Western Ontario and other certifications include Certified Crisis intervention Instructor; Mental Health First Aid, ASIST (applied suicide intervention skills training), Narrative Exposure Therapy, Defusing anger, Resistance and Hostility, and WRAP (wellness recovery action plan).

Maria is currently working at Hong Fook Mental Health Association as the training coordinator since Oct. 2008.

Register for this event here: Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Tickets, Wed, 17 May 2023 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

More information about the RBC Patient and Family Learning Space: The RBC Patient and Family Learning Space | CAMH

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