This section provides resources to relevant to the unique mental health needs of six vulnerable immigrant and refugee subgroups: women, children, older adults, survivors of torture, LGBTQ (i.e., people who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer) and persons living with disabilities.

Policy

• UNHCR - Guidelines on international protection: Gender-related persecution
  This document outlines legal interpretative guidance for governments, legal practitioners, decision-makers and the judiciary, carrying out refugee determination in the field.
• Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
  This document demonstrates that gender-related persecution is a form of persecution which can and should be assessed by the Refugee Division panel hearing the claim. Where a woman claims to have a gender-related fear of persecution, the central issue is thus the need to determine the linkage between gender, the feared persecution and one or more of the definition grounds.
• Chair Person Guideline 3: Child refugee claimants
  These guidelines address the specific procedural issue of the designation of a representative and the more general procedural issue of the steps to be followed in processing claims by unaccompanied children. The guidelines also address the evidentiary issues of eliciting evidence in a child's claim and assessing that evidence.

Resources

• Legal Aid Program
  This is a cost-shared program that provides contribution funding to the provinces and territories for the delivery of legal aid services for economically disadvantaged persons.
• Abuse is wrong is any language
  This booklet is intended for immigrant and refugee families experiencing any type of family violence, or service providers addressing these issues. This booklet is a starting place to answer your questions and to provide information about other resources.
• Caring for Kids New to Canada
  This is for health professionals and others who care for immigrant and refugee children, youth and families. It offers evidence-based information, including a section on mental health and child development.
• Mental health challenges for LGBT asylum seekers in Canada
  This information sheet outlines the mental health challenges of LGBT asylum seekers in Canada and is intended to be a resource for service providers who work with this population.
• Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual clients
  This outlines 21 guidelines that are intended to inform psychologists’ practice and to provide information for the education and training of psychologists regarding LGB issues.
• Ontario 211
  This is a database that provides necessary information to navigate the network of human services quickly and easily in Ontario.
• British Columbia: Seniors Transportation Access and Resources (STAR)
  STAR are specialists in the development of transportation that supports the diverse needs of Canadian communities. They offer a unique intersection of three types of knowledge and expertise: alternative transportation solutions, social enterprise and community development.
• Alzheimer society: Information in other languages
  This provides information about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in other languages.
• Alzheimer society: non-English resources
  These are most frequently used brochures that have been translated to make important information more widely accessible.
• Finding Your Way
  This resource helps people living with dementia, their families, caregivers and communities to recognize the risk of going missing, be prepared for incidents of going missing, and ensure that people with dementia can live safely in the community.
• Alberta: Transportation Alternatives for Alberta Seniors
  This resource outlines alternative transportation options in different communities.

Promising Practices

• Family Resources Centres in Manitoba
  Family Dynamics operates six neighbourhood family resources centres within subsidized housing developments throughout Winnipeg. Programs are developed to meet the unique needs identified by each community.
• Calgary Immigrant Women's Association
  CIWA is a culturally diverse settlement agency that recognizes, responds to, and focuses on the unique concerns and needs of immigrant and refugee women, girls and their families.
• Newcomer Centre of Peel (NCP)
  NCP is a multi-service charitable non-profit organization that assists the entire newcomer family in achieving settlement and integration within the Region of Peel.
• Just4Women Supports at International Women of Saskatoon
  Just4women seeks to provide services to empower and integrate newcomers, immigrants and refugee women and their families.
• Navigator Program – Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario 
  The program helps to better support the unique needs of refugee children and their families and includes partnerships with community agencies including settlement service-providing organizations.
• Vancouver Association for Victims of Torture (VAST)
  VAST provides counselling, documentation and referral services for refugees, as well as province-wide education, information, referral and case consultation for health and social service providers working with refugees in British Columbia. VAST offers an integrated approach in which settlement workers and trauma counsellors collaborate to provide services informed by their respective approaches.
• Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT)
  CCVT provides services to survivors of torture and their families in the Greater Toronto Area and links to other services.
• Volunteer Befriending Program
  The Volunteer Befriending Program is a promising practice that supports survivors’ ability to establish social ties, leading to community-building and promoting settlement and integration.\
• Rainbow Health Ontario
  Rainbow Health Ontario, a program of Sherbourne Health Centre, is a hub for providers, news, social, research and resources relevant to LGBTQ populations.

Reports

• Optimizing the Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing of Immigrants and Refugees in Winnipeg: A Conceptual Framework
  This report, developed by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s Immigrant & Refugee Mental Health Working Group, focuses on the mental health and emotional well-being of immigrants and refugees.
• When your patient is a survivor of torture
  This article provides firsthand recommendations from a survivor of torture.
• Canadian Mental Health Association: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Queer identified people and mental health
  This outlines specific information related to the mental health of LGBTQ populations, including: what are the main factors that impact mental health, the importance of intersectionality, and relevant facts and figures.