Dr. Fatimah Jackson-Best to lead Pathways to Care Project

Dr. Fatimah Jackson-Best to lead project aimed at improving mental health and addiction services for Black Children,Youth and Families  

On behalf of the Board of Directors I am pleased to announce that Dr. Fatimah Jackson-Best will join the Black Health Alliance as Project Manager for the Pathways to Care Project effective September 4, 2018. We are very excited about the extensive knowledge and expertise she brings to the project.  

Dr. Jackson-Best is a public health researcher who specializes in mental health and whose work focuses on communities in Canada and the Caribbean. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health and conducted her dissertation research on Black women’s experiences of maternal depression in Barbados

Dr. Jackson-Best has held other notable appointments such as a Global Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Ottawa, where she conducted a cross analysis of mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and physical disability stigma with a focus on interventions and intersectionality frameworks, and most recently worked with the Trinidadian NGO I Am One to pilot the ‘Your Story’ research project which explores the lived experiences of LGBTQ people in the Caribbean.

Dr. Jackson-Best has been published in peer reviewed journals such as BMC Public Health, Gender and Education, and the Journal of International Women’s Studies.

Dr. Jackson-Best fiercely believes that everyone has the right to good mental healthcare, noting that: “my hope is that through the Pathways to Care Project we can centre and prioritize the needs of Black children, youth and their families across the province, and come up with solutions that adequately serve to meet their needs.”

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Fatimah Jackson-Best to the Black Health Alliance.

Dalon Taylor,
President,
Board of Directors

About the Pathways to Care Project:

The Pathways to Care Project aims to remove barriers and improve access to mental health and addiction services for Black children, youth and their families in Ontario by making interventions at the policy, sector, and  population levels. The project is a four-year strategic collaboration between Black Health Alliance, TAIBU Community Health Centre, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), East Metro Youth Services, and Wellesley Institute, with additional partners outside of Toronto being brought on over the next 12 months.

Through engagement with Black children, youth and their families, governments, and the mental health and addictions sector the project will:

• Conduct community based research across six Ontario cities to better understand the needs, challenges, and opportunities for change;
• Develop a comprehensive strategy to inform the sectors improvement;
• Define and improve the pathways to care for Black children and youth who need mental health and addiction services; and
• Develop resource tools and capacity building supports to increase the capacity of agencies to deliver culturally safe and responsive mental health and addiction services.