This Spark Talk will discuss considerations of qualitative approaches to “research” involving topics of “mental health” among immigrant communities. Issues of the limitations of ethics boards, Western and colonial ideas of mental health (or illness), the social constructing of (im)migrants, and reflexivity will be explored. The goal of this talk is to re-imagine a world that acknowledges the multifaceted lives of immigrants in Canada through re-storying.

Bio:

Zoha Salam is a 3rd year Ph.D in the Global Health program.  As a social epidemiologist, her dissertation explores how the intersections of immigration and mental health policies along with systemic racism shape access to mental health care services for racialized immigrants within Canada.  She brings work experience from local (YMCA, ODPRN), governmental (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Solicitor General, Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism), and global (WHO) agencies to her work.