WOMEN-CENTRED MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH IN BC

A new action research project on women’s mental health has been
developed by researchers and community members at the BC Centre of Excellence
for
Women’s Health in Vancouver. Commencing in September 1998, the research is
designed to provide a critical analysis of the impact of mental health reform on

women and to offer analyses and guidance regarding the execution of the 1998
Mental Health Plan of British Columbia. From the research a framework for
women-centred mental health care will be developed which will, hopefully, be
useable by other provinces.

All phases of the project will be carried out under the guidance of the
British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, Women and Mental
Health Project Advisory Group. The Project Advisory Group has fifteen members
with representation from consumers, service providers, mental health
planners, researchers and policy makers. Both rural and urban concerns are
represented on the Advisory Group as well as the concerns of Aboriginal women,
immigrant women, lesbians, and women with disabilities.

Through interviews and focus groups with consumers, ex-psychiatric
patients, families, caregivers, health care workers, mental health planners,
researchers and policy makers in British Columbia, the views of a wide-range of
stakeholders. The concerns of women consumers who differ widely in their needs
according to their particular social positioning (e.g., race, culture,
ethnicity,
class, ability, sexual orientation, age) and life experiences will provide the
groundwork for a policy framework. This framework will be accompanied by
recommendations about how it can be used to assist in local, regional,
provincial and federal policy development.

Funders for the project include the BC Ministry of Health, the BC Ministry of
Women’s Equality, the BC Minister’s Advisory Council on Women’s Health, and the
BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health.

Policy-oriented research in many areas of women’s health is currently
underway at the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, a research and
policy
organisation co-sponsored by Health Canada’s Centres of Excellence for
Women’s Health Program & Children & Women’s Health Centre of BC. For more
information, visit www.bccewh.bc.ca, phone 604.875.2633, fax 604.875.3716, or
e-mail
[log in to unmask] (for mental health); [log in to unmask] (general).

--
Celeste Wincapaw
Communications and Networking Strategist
BC Centre of Excellence for Women's Health
E311-4500 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC  V6H 3N1
http://www.bccewh.bc.ca