The Community-Centred Responses to 2S/LGBTQIA+ COVID-19 Mental Health Impacts project, otherwise known as the Mental Health (MH) COVID project, leverages existing interventions, networks, and knowledge mobilization approaches to enhance the knowledge, capacity, skills, and protective factors of 2S/LGBTQIA+ people to promote mental health, and enhances the knowledge and capacity of service providers to implement more effective and culturally competent mental health services, programs, and policies for 2S/LGBTQIA+ people. Using a collaborative approach, CBRC worked alongside partners to build knowledge, capacity, and protective factors amongst 2S/LGBTQIA+ community members, and healthcare/service providers to develop and deliver a range of initiatives including knowledge exchange resources, community programming, and policy that focus on addressing mental health inequities impacting 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities across Canada. Recognizing the diverse factors that contribute to the mental health and well-being for 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities, we extend our focus beyond mental health challenges to address topics such as coping and connection, the importance of affirming and culturally competent mental health care, and how our communities demonstrate resilience and express collective care in the face of challenges to our well-being.

To further our goal of improving the mental health of 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities, we have expanded CBRC’s existing community-based research and capacity-building program, Investigaytors, to include new community partners, to create meaningful opportunities for the broader and diverse 2S/LGBTQIA+ community to gain hands-on research experience and build relationships with other folks interested in 2S/LGBTQIA+ health. Specific knowledge resources for Two-Spirit, queer, and trans Indigenous folks is a key focus of this project, and the Two-Spirit team at CBRC leads the coordination and delivery of a national Two-Spirit research learning program that aims to explore specific topics related to Two-Spirit and Indigenous research, such as Indigenous methodologies in research, data sovereignty, and navigating research spaces as Indigenous people.

Our overall approach to building the capacity, knowledge, and skills of mental health service providers include opportunities for online training, health promotion resources, and policy initiatives that focus on addressing gaps in 2S/LGBTQIA+ mental health and mental health care. This multi-faceted approach leverages CBRC’s research expertise alongside the lived and professional experiences of 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities, community-based organizations, and mental health service providers. 

Without involving community, efforts to improve 2S/LGBTQ+ mental health and wellbeing could be limited, misguided, or potentially harmful. Nothing about us, without us. With this spirit in mind, CBRC has developed a number of initiatives focussed on improving 2S/LGBTQ+ people’s mental health:

Projects

• 2S/LGBTQ+ Mental Health Primers: This set of primers offers insights for service providers and community organizations on 2S/LGBTQ+ experiences in mental health. What makes our mental health different, and how can we better support 2S/LGBTQ+ communities to thrive?
  
  • Primer 1: Coping with Minority Stress
  • Primer 2: Barriers in Mental Health Care
  • Primer 3: We’re Stronger Together
  • Primer 4: Marginalization and Mental Health
    
    
• Data Highlights from Our Health 2022:
  
  • Coping with Minority Stress
  • Barriers in Mental Health Care
  • Social Isolation and Connection
  • Experiences of Trans and Gender Expansive Folks in Communities and Care
     
• From Awareness to Action: Strengthening Mental Health Policy for 2S/LGBTQ+ People in Canada
  
  
• Do You Mind: Do You Mind? is a community mental health leadership program for gender and sexual minority youth interested in being mental health-savvy knowledge holders and advocates. Throughout Do You Mind?, participants gain the health literacy, practical skills, and community networks needed to identify and collectively respond to the systemic and structural challenges impacting their health and that of their peers.

Additional Resources

• Masculine Norms and Mental Health Outcomes Among GBT2Q People in Canada
  
• Documenting Resilience at the Intersection of LBTQ Mental Health and Cannabis Use
  
• Addressing Mental Health Issues and Problematic Substance Use among GBMSM in BC
  
• Transformative Approaches to Mental Health & Well Being - Summit 2022
  
• Promoting Mental Health and Enhancing Belonging with the Sex Worker Community - Summit 2018
  
• The Imprint of Shame - Summit 2018

Funding:

This project is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada as part of the Supporting the Mental Health of Those Most Affected by COVID-19 (MH COVID) initiative. Data included in this project are from the Our Health study, which is funded by Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and the Public Health Agency of Canada, with testing support provided by the National Microbiology Laboratory.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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