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An important part of overall health includes mental wellness. Our team of registered social workers can support you through managing changes in your life and offering tools to help you with the ups and downs of everyday life.
If you are a client or program participant at the London InterCommunity Health Centre and would like mental health supports, please speak to your health or program provider, or contact one of our systems navigators.
Psychiatry services are available to registered clients.
We Practise:
Holistic Wellness: “The medical approach to health and illness continues to suppose that body and mind are separable from each other and from the milieu in which they exist” (Gabor Mate). A holistic approach to mental health puts the patient, not their diagnosis or their symptoms, at the center of their treatment plan. By addressing their emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual needs, a holistic approach to mental health looks at the whole person.
Holistic wellness encourages those with depression and anxiety to eat nutritious foods, take up movement through yoga and exercise and learn the art of true relaxation through massage, aromatherapy, and meditation.
Biopsychosocial Mental Health Management: The biopsychosocial model encourages clinicians to explain phenomena such as depression by examining all relevant biological, psychological, and social factors that might be contributing to the development or maintenance of the disorder.
Intersectionality: Intersectionality recognizes that each of us possess more than one identity – a combination of various identity markers. Identity markers include our gender, sexuality, religion, age, caste, class, ability/disability, race, ethnicity etc. These identity markers overlap with each other to create an “intersection” which determines the unique ways in which each of our lives are shaped and the experiences we have. If we want mental health care services to move towards becoming more inclusive and diverse for all, it can only happen if service providers recognize that mental health is intersectional.
Trauma Informed Care: Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” A trauma-informed approach to care acknowledges that health care organizations and care teams need to have a complete picture of a patient’s life situation — past and present — in order to provide effective health care services with a healing orientation. Adopting trauma-informed practices can potentially improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, and health outcomes, as well as provider and staff wellness. It can also help reduce avoidable care and excess costs for both the health care and social service sectors.
Trauma-informed care seeks to:
- Realize the widespread impact of trauma and understand paths for recovery;
- Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in patients, families, and staff;
- Integrate knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and
- Actively avoid re-traumatization.
Inclusivity: Everyone deserves to have access to mental healthcare that is sensitive to their needs and identity. Mental health disorders can and do affect people of all backgrounds and experiences. Breaking down barriers can make mental healthcare more accessible, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, language, and geographic location. There is hope for healing, and treatment can be very effective. Inclusive mental health care involves acknowledging and addressing different mental health needs with unbiased approaches that appreciate human diversity.
Notes and Information
What is Cognitive Bias
Cognitive bias is a systematic thought process caused by the tendency of the human brain to simplify information processing through a filter of personal experience and preferences. The filtering process is a coping mechanism that enables the brain to prioritize and process large amounts of information quickly. While the mechanism is effective, its limitations can cause errors in thought.
Essentially, cognitive biases help humans find mental shortcuts to assist in the navigation of daily life, but may often cause irrational interpretations and judgments.
Cognitive biases often stem from problems related to memory, attention and other mental mistakes. They’re often unconscious decision-making processes that make it easy for individuals to be affected without intentionally realizing it. The filtering process and coping mechanism used to process large amounts of information quickly is called heuristics.
Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.
SMART Recovery
SMART Recovery is a fresh approach to addiction recovery. SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. This is more than an acronym: it is a transformative method of moving from addictive substances and negative behaviors to a life of positive self-regard and willingness to change.
For more information, visit: www.lihc.on.ca/smart
STOP: Smoking Cessation Program
As of February 2014, the London InterCommunity Health Centre is a registered site of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)’s STOP Program. This program is a province-wide initiative that delivers smoking cessation treatment and counseling support to eligible Ontario smokers who wish to quit smoking.
Since it began in 2005, the STOP Program has provided free smoking cessation medication and counselling support to over 100,000 Ontarians who wanted to quit smoking.
For more information, visit the link below.
Systems Navigation & Intake Coordination
It can be overwhelming to learn about everything the Health Centre offers. Our systems navigators listen to each person and assess their unique situations. They help each person find supports based on their needs.
If a person is looking for information our systems navigators will coordinate an intake appointment. At this appointment they will determine if the individual is eligible for our programs and services by asking questions about their health, income, housing, language, home country, and supports from friends and family.
For more information on how to join our client roster, visit the link below.
