新作坊

MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION THROUGH EMPOWERMENT AND COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING AMONG EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE WOMEN

摘要：

In April 2002, the first round of "Women's Holistic Health Peer Leadership Training" program recruited over 161 women from the six project communities to form 11 peer leadership groups. Over a period of five months, a total of 127 women peer leaders completed the training program These peer leaders were proactive in their peer outreach; they collaborated with other community agencies and faith organizations to provide workshops and outreach activities on holistic health. Between July 2002 and March 2003, they conducted over 79 workshops and outreach activities, reaching 5,029 participants. They also put together a collective book project, Beyond rice & noodles- Our stories, our journey, to share their migration stories and their strategies of maintaining health in the midst of hardships.2 The women peer leaders' commitment and successes were celebrated at the Women's Holistic Health Peer Leadership Graduation Ceremony held in October 2002. The peer leadership training and outreach initiative, which started as a pilot project in 2001, has proven to be an effective and sustainable health promotion program. Over the past eight years, project staff have reviewed and reflected on the processes and outcomes of this initiative and shared this knowledge with researchers, service providers and policy makers (Wong et al., 2002; Wong, 2003; Wong, Wong and [Kenneth P. Fung] 2003; Wong, Wong & Yoo, 2009). Within the mental health field, there is a recent call for moving mental health promotion into the mainstream. The Hong Fook peer leadership training initiative has demonstrated that mental health promotion is achievable through the use of collective empowerment and capacity building as key strategies. More importantly, best practices are 'best' only if they are relevant and effective. To be effective, we must go beyond the popular discourses of 'cultural competence' and 'cultural sensitivity' to integrate the principles of social justice, access and equity into the research-policy-practice cycle to guide interventions at the grassroots, and mandates and directions within health organizations and public policy in the government sector, with the common goal of addressing the social determinants of mental health. 2 Altogether, four project publications were published and made available for service providers and women peer leaders. They were: "Women's Holistic Health Peer Leadership Training: Training Manual"; "Embracing Our Body, Mind, and Spirit: Holistic Health Promotion for Women: Community Workshop Manual"; "Stress and Mental Health Pamphlet"; and "Beyond Rice & Noodles- Our Stories, Our Journey: Health Strategies of East and Southeast Asian Immigrant Women". They are available from the Hong Fook Mental Health Association Webstie, http://www.hongfook.ca/en/health _info/OtherPublications.asp.