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Browsing by Author "Edwards, Fiona"

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    Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth mental health: paving the way forward from the margin to the centre.
    (2024) Edwards, Fiona; Torres, Rose Ann; Nyaga, Dionisio
    Black youth are disadvantaged in Canadian society due to racial inequality. Within dominant institutions, Black youth are often oppressed, marginalized, excluded, controlled, and poorly understood. Research on race and mental health is largely focused on the adult population. Youth mental health, in general, is an understudied area, and critical investigations of Black youth’s mental health are even more limited. In addition, the mental health experiences of Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth (ACCY) are not well established within the Canadian context. The existing data that accounts for their lived experiences is very limited. Moreover, their personal narratives and experiences are too often marginalized in the limited research that does exist. Without data that accurately represents their experiences, it will be challenging, if not impossible, to institute any necessary changes at the structural level. In an effort to address this gap, my doctoral research explores the lived mental health experiences of ACCY between the ages of 16–18 who were born in Canada and reside in the urban areas of Southern Ontario. Using the data from this study, this chapter provides recommendations for practices and policies in the mental health system that are designed to prioritize and address the mental health and well-being of the Afro-Caribbean Canadian and Black youth in general.
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    Black youth mental health: reconstructing identity through art-based research
    (2025) Edwards, Fiona
    This article presents data from a creative art-based activity conducted as part of an ongoing youth-centered phenomenological study with Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth (ACCY) aged 16-18 in Canada. The youth in this study were asked to create identity maps to explore what it means to be Black and Canadian and how their identity affects their mental health and well-being at home, school, and in Canadian society. The art-based activity of this study was informed by Fine and Sirin’s (2007) concept of the hyphenated selves defined as “the social and developmental psychologies of youths living in bodies infused with global and local conflict, as they strive to make meaning, speak back, incorporate and resist the contradictory messages that swirl through them” (p. 17). It is well-established in the literature that Black youth are grossly underrepresented in research within the Canadian context, meaning that their perspectives are often missing. Therefore, it is significant to gain their perspectives on issues that impact their overall mental health and well-being. The art-based activity empowered ACCY to become knowledge producers, allowing them to construct their own narratives about their identity and how it shapes their mental health experience. A theoretical analysis of the identity maps produced by ACCY using post-colonial theory, critical race theory (CRT) and the concept of anti-Black racism (ABR) reveals that being Black and Canadian are two separate and distinct identities Black youth embody with varied outcomes on their mental health and well-being. This article emphasizes the importance of using art-based research with Black youth as a decolonizing approach to gain their perspectives on race and mental health in order to better understand and respond to their mental health needs.
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    The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth’s mental health and well-being
    (2025) Edwards, Fiona
    The Black community has been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, both economically and mentally. In addition, Black youth have had the added burden of coping with anti-Black racism (ABR) in conjunction with school closures, social distancing, and isolation — all of which profoundly disrupted their everyday lives. This study investigates, from their own perspectives and experiences, how the pandemic has impacted the mental health and well-being of Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth (ACCY) between the ages of 16 and 18 in urban southern Ontario. The findings from this article are drawn from a doctoral dissertation project which identified the mental health experiences of ACCY and examined the ways in which these experiences shape their use of mental health services. The ACCY in this study lived in urban areas in southern Ontario, were using mental health services, and were accessing spiritual and religious supports. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach rooted in a Heideggerian hermeneutics was used, based upon six semi-structured interviews with three female and three male ACCY. Analysis of data followed IPA guidelines. The analysis of the interviews led to the identification of three major themes related to ACCY’s sense of mental health: feelings of loneliness and isolation; self-awareness; and race consciousness of systemic anti-Black racism. The information gleaned from this research provides important insight into ACCY’s mental health and the various barriers, including systemic ABR, that maintain disparities in their mental health. This knowledge has implications for mental health policies and practices with Black youth and can be used to reduce systemic inequity, promote good mental health, and better understand the needs of Black youth in future crisis situations.
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    My life matters: The cost of being a Black youth
    (2021) Edwards, Fiona
    White supremacy presents Black communities with numerous challenges. We are constantly being injured by the anti-black racism that is deeply entrenched in the policies and practices of dominant institutions. These establishments, including, if not especially, the criminal justice system, purport to be responsible for ensuring the well-being and welfare of all, but only ever protect the rich and white. The recent re-mobilization ofbthe Black Lives Matter movement worldwide has reminded the public of the urgency of tackling anti-black racism, but much work still needs to be done if we want future generations of Black people to live freely. Like Black adults, Black youth are not immune from racist encounters. In such a time of racial crisis, the experiences of Black youth need to be centralized in a movement that opposes racial injustice and white supremacy. Accordingly, this poem adopts the lens of a Black youth to speak to the cost of growing up Black immersed in the dominant anti-black culture of our society, underscoring the troubling realities of what it means to be a Black youth in today’s world.
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    Open the doors and let us out: escaping the coloniality of racism
    (2020) Edwards, Fiona
    Racism is an integral part of racialized groups’ experiences as Whiteness continues to foster the power and privilege it affords to White people. This has resulted in the racialization of Black bodies inflicted by racism. For Black youth, escaping the coloniality of racism may seem to be an impossible task as racism is ubiquitous, and has been deeply embedded in societal structures for hundreds of years. However, a heightened consciousness of racism provides a platform to fight against racial injustice. Instead of being locked in systems of oppression whereby Black bodies are wounded, there is a movement in the youth population to end intergenerational racist ideologies of what it means to be Black. Open the doors and let us out: Escaping the coloniality of racism empowers Black youth to embrace their Blackness, use their bodies and voices to reconstruct their racial identities and positionalities in society with pride and dignity.
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    Our superior complex shadow is under a microscope
    (2021) Edwards, Fiona
    From the institution of slavery to current waves of systemic oppression, Black people continue to be negatively impacted. This calls attention to the pervasiveness of racism, specifically the anti-Black racism that contorts and constrains Black peoples’ lives. The magnitude of anti-Black racism punctuated human consciousness on a global scale after the public brutal killing of George Floyd, an African-American man in police custody. This poem is inspired by Floyd’s death and the emotional trauma and pain it ignited in Black people around the world. It illustrates the vulnerability of the Black community in respect to ongoing systemic oppression, the inferiorization of Blackness, and the corresponding suffering Black people must endure.
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    A place called home? "Aging out" of care in the housing crisis in Toronto
    (2024) Barlow, Amy; Edwards, Fiona
    In the midst of the worst housing crisis that our nation has ever experienced, the moratorium on ‘aging out’ of care of the state in Ontario, Canada ended on April 1, 2023. Stemming from the Youth in Care Hearings, the provincial government has instituted the Ready, Set, Go Program. It is designed to provide youth in care with a phased plan for ‘aging out’ of the system and access to much needed services. While we acknowledge the benefits of this program, we believe that it does not go far enough to alleviate the prevalence of mental health challenges experienced by youth ‘aging out’ of care. In an effort to disrupt the settler-colonial neoliberal policies and ideology that fosters the production and reproduction of the oppression of one of the most vulnerable groups in society, that of children in care of the state, this commentary contests the very notion of ‘aging out’ of care. Through a social justice and health equity lens, we examine the concept and argue that the Eurocentric neoliberal notion of ‘aging out’ of the system is an inappropriate measure for determining when a youth is ready to leave care. We argue further that the concept of ‘aging out’ in general, and within the context of the current housing crisis in Toronto, Ontario in particular, will cause significant harm to the mental health and well-being of youth leaving care. Rather, we advocate for a more nuanced approach that centres on a series of indicators that assess individual readiness and mechanisms that can take exogenous factors, such as the housing crisis, into consideration.
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    Refugee youth: early mental health intervention and support
    (2024) Gateri, Hellen; Edwards, Fiona
    Refugee youth are vulnerable to poor mental health due to exposure to trauma and disruptions to their psychological, emotional, and physical development. Using the public mental health theoretical framework, this chapter will explore the need for early mental health intervention and support for refugee youth during and after resettlement in host communities. Many refugee youth experience adjustment challenges following prolonged exposure to the stress of insecurity, fear, and loss. Further discussion will critically examine the support programs and services that have been developed.
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    Sitting in the dark: COVID-19 and mental well-being
    (2021) Edwards, Fiona
    COVID-19 has created a new reality for countries worldwide as leaders are tasked with the responsibility of enacting safety measures to stop the rate of infection. Social distancing is promoted as one of the main ways of curbing the spread of the virus. Such measures limit social interaction and the spaces people are free to occupy. The following poem, entitled “Sitting in the dark: COVID-19 and mental well-being” speaks to the mental health impacts of such closures on the youth population, highlighting that no one is immune from the virus. This poem also explores the interconnectedness of a person’s physical and mental health and the subsequent need to pay attention to both realities during times of global crisis. Despite the challenges the pandemic presents, it is imperative that youth find an outlet to cope, one that will help them develop resiliency and a sense of hope.
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    Spirit and self: a holistic approach to Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth mental health care
    (2025) Edwards, Fiona
    Black youth continually experience stressful environmental conditions that negatively impact their mental health and well-being. Some seek religious and spiritual support to cope with these daily environmental stressors. Although the practice of spirituality through religious activities has allowed Black people and their communities to find meaning and comfort during times of pain, cope with injustices, and find hope for a better tomorrow, most of what is known about the importance of religiosity and spirituality in Black communities originates from research conducted in the United States. Within the Canadian context, the religious and spiritual experiences of Black youth, especially those of Afro-Caribbean background, are rare within the field of social work education and practice. This article presents data from six Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth (ACCY) between the ages of 16 and 18, two parents, and three faith-based leaders drawn from a doctoral youth-centered phenomenological study in Canada. By sharing their perspectives, this article examines the impacts of religious and spiritual support on the lives of ACCY. Recommendations for the use of religiosity and spirituality in social work education and practice are discussed.
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    Toward holistic and community-based interventions in the mental health of Black and Filipino youth
    (2022) Ticar, Jessica Ellen; Edwards, Fiona
    The field of social work needs critical education on how colonialism and oppression have impacted the mental health experiences of Black and Filipino youth. The psychological and socio-political factors impacting these particular youth have been examined in the literature, and we highlight the need for transformative change within service provision and interventions. Our article proposes an alternative model based on culturally relevant, decolonial, intersectional, holistic, and community-based interventions within the Region of Peel, Ontario, Canada. Situated within a settler colonial nation-state, we maintain that our proposed interventions have the potential to engage in decolonization and the building of solidarities with other marginalized groups, specifically other racialized communities and Indigenous Nations, going beyond the dominant clinical models in youth mental health. We propose that these interventions centre the particular and respective experiences of Black and Filipino youth in this geographical location, dismantling settler colonialism using intersectional and decolonial frameworks.
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    The true north strong and free? Casting shadows on whose history students learn in Canadian universities
    (2021) Barlow, Amy; Edwards, Fiona
    Race-based discrimination in Canada exists at the institutional and structural level. While acknowledging its existence is a crucial first step in eradicating this particular form of discrimination, an essential second step includes implementing structural changes at the institutional level in Canadian universities. In an effort to disrupt the Eurocentricity of knowledge production this commentary argues that the Canadian government’s official historical narrative that depicts Canada as being born of the pioneering spirit of British and French white settlers fails to capture the actual history of the country. Rather, it fosters the continuation of the supremacy of whiteness thereby causing significant harm through the perpetuation of racial bias. We argue that the history and contributions of Indigenous, Black, and Chinese Canadians, all of whom were in this country prior to confederation, should be told in a mandatory university course. Our findings indicate that while a number of universities have individual courses, usually electives and some graduate degrees on Indigenous, Black, and Chinese history, there is little offered from the Canadian context and certainly nothing that is a mandatory course requirement. In addition, we suggest compulsory university staff-wide anti-racism training; the ongoing hiring of professors and sessional instructors who are racially representative of the population of Canada; and community outreach, mentorship, and counselling programs that are designed to help students who are underrepresented in Canadian universities. In our opinion, we believe that these changes have the potential to provide a lens to disrupt settler colonial spaces, mobilize race in academic curricula, and encourage social justice actions that can offer a more inclusive learning environment.
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    What is the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers?
    (2020) Gateri, Hellen; Richards, Donna; Edwards, Fiona
    At the start of the 2020 Corona Virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Canada, many social workers throughout Canada worked on the frontlines, providing essential services in hospitals, long-term care facilities, shelter systems, the social services sector, and the criminal justice system, as their places of employment were deemed essential services. This presented often confusing situations for social workers; who were faced with the challenges of simultaneously complying with crisis-level provincial and federal safety guidelines and mandates, directives from their regulatory bodies, and protocols from their employers, while keeping themselves and their families safe and healthy as they continued working with clients. The following paper discusses the precarious situations faced by frontline social workers, the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them, and we offer recommendations to support frontline social workers’ mental health during this and future pandemics.