Caledon South Asian Association hosts mental health awareness event

Community groups come together for event at Southfields Community Centre

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Local non-profits came together to promote mental health awareness last Friday. 

On April 26, the Caledon South Asian Association (CSAA) hosted a mental health awareness event at the Southfields Community Centre. 

For the event, the CSAA brought together community partners such as Caledon Community Services (CCS), the Caledon OPP, Soch Mental Health, and the Malton Women Council.

Hunar Kahlon, Vice-Chair of the CSAA, explained the non-profit wanted to host an event as May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

“We'll get a jumpstart on that… we're putting a spotlight on what resources are available for mental health,” said Kahlon “Our goal at the CSAA is to bring people up to date…sometimes people don't know these services are available to them.”

Kahlon said newcomers to Canada face many challenges adjusting to a new language and culture.

“They don't have those community connections already… we want to bridge those gaps,” said Kahlon.

Dr. Vikas Puri, Chair of the CSAA, said as a non-profit it's great to be accomplishing goals.

“The fact that we are able to do this more and more… I think we're on track to accomplishing our mission and vision, opening up opportunities for people,” said Puri.

Puri explained the CSAA is going to be a part of Culture Days in Caledon this September and October.

“We're going to be able to bring South Asian culture to people and educate them on some of the history, the culture, traditions, dance, music and so forth,” he said.

Uzma Aziz Irfan, Executive Director of the Malton Women Council, a non-profit dedicated to empowering women, explained the group, which started in Malton, recently held its first meeting in Caledon and had 45 women come out.

“We are offering many services like mental health services, programs for survivors of domestic abuse, one-on-one counselling, skill-building workshops, as well as the women's support group,” said Irfan.

At the first meeting, Caledon women shared ideas for the types of programs that could be offered by the Malton Women Council in Caledon.

“We will support as much as we can the residents of Caledon, this is our first step,” said Irfan.

Maneet Chahal-Gill is a registered nurse and one of the founders of Soch Mental Health, a non-profit that's goal is to enhance mental health awareness in the South Asian community by using culture and language. She explained that “Soch” means “to think” or “a thought”.

“We identified a huge gap in the South Asian community… the stigma was so large no one was really addressing (mental health),” said Chahal-Gill. “We do a lot of community workshops, we do online anti-stigma campaigns, and we're really present in ethno-cultural media outlets.”

Chahal-Gill said many people from Caledon have reached out to her as they or someone they love is struggling with their mental health. 

“This is my first presentation here, but with the power of social media… we've already had a presence here,” said Chahal-Gill. 

Attendees of the mental health event received refreshments and were able to listen to a variety of presentations from all the groups in attendance.