All 4 major parties in June 2 election have reported hateful incidents Warning: Readers may find some of the content disturbing. Marjorie Knight used to knock on doors alone. This Ontario election, her campaign team has decided to always have her canvassing with someone else. “I had people call the police on me because I was ‘casing’ homes…
Category: Community News
The COVID pandemic is ‘most certainly not over’: WHO chief
BERLIN – The COVID-19 pandemic is “most certainly not over,” the head of the World Health Organization warned Sunday, despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the Omicron wave. He told governments that “we lower our guard at our peril.” The UN health agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told officials gathered in Geneva…
Omicron COVID-19 variant likely to re-infect ‘over and over again,’ experts say
Although COVID-19 cases are declining across the country, chances of getting re-infected with the virus are still possible — especially from the omicron variant — experts say. “As long as it’s transmitting in the community, there’s always a possibility,” Stephen Hoption Cann, clinical professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of population and public health, told Global…
Mental health matters to young Ontarians. Here’s what it could mean at the ballot box
Young voters account for over 30% of Ontario electorate Meshall Awan has seen first-hand how people reaching out for mental health support often don’t get the help they need. Awan, 22, was completing a degree in social work when she noticed providers sometimes didn’t have the capacity to help and had to turn people away. Since then,…
Mental health pandemic may possibly continue for years to come
COVID-19 has left Canadians in uncharted territory, with the alarming news a mental health pandemic possibly continuing for several years to come, according to new research by Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC). Despite waning fears of contracting the virus, anxiety lingers. Almost a quarter of Canadians report still struggling with high anxiety related to the pandemic. “Levels…
As COVID-19 begins to diminish, more Canadians are getting sick with the flu
COVID-19 cases are on the decline, but more and more Canadians are getting sick with the flu across the country, Canada’s top public health officer said Friday. WATCH: Dr.Isaac Bogoch, Infectious diseases expert gives his diagnosis on the COVID situation in Canada and previews what the summer could look like ahead of the Victoria Day long weekend – May 18, 2022…
The mental health effects of racism
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – New York State Office of Mental Health shared the mental health effects of racism. When people are exposed to racism on a micro-level and macro-level, the effects can vary. When people experience racism, that can mean they experience it themselves or watch others experience it. It can also mean that they…
COVID infections among Canadian adults tripled during Omicron wave compared to previous waves: study
Researchers found nearly 30% of Canadian adults were infected during the first Omicron wave compared with roughly 10% who had been infected in the previous four COVID waves TORONTO — The number of Canadian adults infected with COVID-19 tripled during the fifth wave of the pandemic compared with the total number of adults infected in…
Trauma-informed mental health practice during COVID-19: Reflections from a Community of Practice initiative
ABSTRACT This article discusses insights arising from a Community of Practice (CoP) initiative within a mental health short stay inpatient unit adjacent to a major Emergency Department to explore how COVID-19 has influenced engagement and support of people in mental distress. The present initiative was designed as a collaboration between the University of South Australia…
Requests for mental health care higher than ever for racialized communities hardest hit by COVID-19
Policymakers urged to address the inequities that made visible minorities more vulnerable to COVID as the city and province look to move forward from the pandemic. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 40 people walked through the doors of Across Boundaries daily, looking for anything from art therapy, to literacy lessons, to a healthy meal for breakfast…