Women who identify as Black, Indigenous, and women of color (BIWOC) in Canada face additional mental health challenges due to racism, discrimination, and social inequalities, as well as disparities in accessing and benefiting from mental health care due to a lack of culturally informed services. This needs assessment was conducted to identify the mental health barriers and needs of BIWOC in Ottawa, Canada, and to generate recommendations on responsively designing and adapting mental health services. Using a mixed methods, community-based participatory action research design, we surveyed 130 BIWOC in the Ottawa region and conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with representatives from four community agencies representing diverse groups of BIWOC. Survey data were descriptively analyzed, and qualitative data were analyzed via reflexive thematic analysis. Findings highlighted the presence of both systems-level (e.g., financial and language barriers, difficulty navigating mental health systems, lack of culturally appropriate services) and psychosocial (e.g., stigma) barriers. BIWOC's mental health needs included stress, worry, depression, and racism-related stress. Culturally informed, community-based care was emphasized as crucial to meeting diverse needs. A comprehensive list of recommendations is provided, which outlines strategies for mental health programs in Canada to improve service provision to best meet the needs of BIWOC. Recommendations include building strong partnerships with existing community organizations, offering flexible and responsive mental health services in safe community spaces, prioritizing training in culturally responsive care for clinicians, and implementing BIWOC-specific services that address unmet mental health needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Woolridge et al. (Mon,) studied this question.