World Mental Health Day:
Mental health is a universal human right
Nafissa Ismail (English and French)
University Research Chair in Stress and Mental Health and Full Professor, School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Director of LIFE Research Institute
Professor Ismail can comment on the effects of long-term stress on brain health.
“We all need to take care of our mental health, just as we need to take care of our physical health, and to have a good quality of life, we need universal access to mental health care.”
Pavna Sodhi (English only)
Psychotherapist, Part Time Professor, Faculty of Education
Professor Sodhi has interacted with a multitude of populations in various clinical, academic, and supervisory spaces. Her professional background and personal narrative offer a unique research perspective regarding culturally responsive trauma-informed work, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) communities, and immigrant mental health. She is the author of Exploring Immigrant and Sexual Minority Mental Health: Reconsidering Multiculturalism.
“Now more than ever our therapeutic spaces are filled with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). It is necessary to understand and mirror the cultural needs of our clients who are accessing our services. Even though graduate school programs in psychology lean into more Western psychotherapeutic strategies, current and future mental health practitioners have the ability to unlearn and relearn more culturally responsive approaches, which would resonate better with BIPOC clients. Additionally, mental health practitioners should actively listen to their BIPOC clients’ narratives and consider offering decolonized practices such as fee reduction, accessible services, meeting the client where they are, normalizing therapy, and not abiding to psychiatric labelling.”
Ivy Lynn Bourgeault (English only)
Full Professor, Sociological and Anthropological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences
Professor Bourgeault is uOttawa’s Research Chair in Gender, Diversity and the Professions. She can comment on mental health from a gender lens, as well as on diversity (or the lack of it) in academic and health leadership.