Research Summary
One in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in any given year—and by age 40, about half of the population will have had a mental illness. But not all people dealing with mental health issues have access to the same quality of services. Dr. Monnica Williams, Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Innovation and Equity, is focusing on understanding and improving psychological wellness across race, ethnicity and culture.
She and her research team are examining the difficulties faced by Black, Indigenous and other racialized people when it comes to accessing mental health services. They are developing new assessment tools to better measure mental health disorders and applying culturally informed research methods to ensure that novel treatments are accessible to everyone. At the same time, they are analyzing societal structures and systems that adversely affect the mental health of stigmatized and racialized groups. Ultimately, their work will provide better tools and cross-disciplinary approaches to help solve mental health problems nationwide.