Racialized women face significant barriers when seeking mental health care, study finds

Poor access to mental health supports and cultural stigmas are holding many racialized women back from healing during the pandemic, a new study has found.

The research found the majority of respondents were already struggling with mental health before COVID-19 struck and service providers now can't keep up with the increased demand.

"Just focusing on your mental health can be a luxury and a privilege for some people, and that can largely fail to meet the needs of marginalized groups," said Grace Barakat, a sociology PhD candidate at Toronto's York University who led the study

The research was done in partnership with Islamic Relief, a Toronto-based charity that was seeing a rising number of people seeking help for mental health issues during the pandemic. Many respondents spent long hours juggling long commutes and family responsibilities. Many had little or no health benefits, which prevented them from getting the care they needed, Barakat says.

But the stigma surrounding mental health care was still the number one reason why respondents didn't seek it out, she says, adding that financial barriers were also high on the list.

The study was done online and included responses from 103 women and interviews with five service providers. The researchers warn the data cannot be considered reflective of the wider population of racialized women in Canada due to sample sizes and lack of randomization. But they did find 52 per cent of respondents struggled with anxiety before the pandemic.

"During the peak of the lockdowns and restrictions, we did see a large increase in percentage points for almost every single negative mental health outcome, especially anxiety levels and exhaustion and burnout," said Barakat.

Service providers told Barakat and her team referrals and requests during the pandemic were through the roof.

They "couldn't actually handle the volume that they were receiving," she said.

That finding resonated with Meghan Watson, a registered psychotherapist and founder of Bloom Psychology & Wellness, in Toronto.

"I found that the demand was overwhelming," she said.

Watson opened Bloom during the pandemic in 2020, and only a couple of months later she had to stop accepting new patients. Several of her clinical colleagues at Bloom also have full schedules, she says. 

Jasmeet Chagger, a registered nurse and co-founder of SOCH Mental Health, a non-profit that holds wellness sessions in English, Punjabi and other languages in Peel Region, says the pandemic brought on a new wave of inquiries.

Some people were already having mental health concerns that the pandemic made worse. Others had not considered mental health important for them until the pandemic awakened a new need, and in some cases, new openness to support, she says.