The Refugee Mental Health Framework
The presentation will elaborate on the development of a Refugee Mental Health Framework using lessons learned from the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Toronto, Canada, as a case study. Despite the existing body of research on refugee mental health, professionals look toward the mainstream conceptualization and application of psychological theories and practice, overlooking the mismatch between the perspectives of the East and West, when working with this population.  This presentation will delve into how the framework helps with facilitating that gap.  It also stresses how a holistic framework for refugee mental health needs to go beyond the traditional realms of health and mental health care provision, to encompass system level factors including but not limited to research, policy and programming.