Download - THA Newsletter Vol 2 / Issue 1
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Message from THA
We are thrilled to see that the excitement and commit-
ment from the community and our volunteers has re-
mained strong! Over the past 20 months, the Tamil
Health team has been involved in some very important
projects that have paved the path for many more excit-
ing initiatives for the future. Research is a primary fo-
cus at Tami Health and this issue of our newsletter
focuses on some great projects we have been working
on! Health research provides important information on
population trends, identifies risk factors and deter-
mines outcomes of public health interventions. It is one
of our missions at THA to inspire research within the
Tamil community - we hope to receive your ongoing
support!
The Tamil Health Association Team
IN THIS ISSUE:
Healthy Food Program
2014 Movember Meesai
Strength in Unity (SIU)
THA First AGM
Opportunities to Join THA
Tamil Health Association Newsletter | தமிழ் சுகாதார அமமப்பு | Vol. 2 Issue 1 May 2015
Spice and herb palette from the Healthy Food program booklet – Courtesy of King Pictures
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Health Research | சுகாதார ஆராய்ச்சி
Project Inform
South Asian Autism Awareness Centre (SAAAC) and
Ninety9Thirty Creative Consulting, in partnership with THA have
launched Project InForm, an autism awareness campaign for
newcomers and recent immigrants. This project will promote a
basic understanding of autism and early screening and diagnosis
for autism amongst South Asian communities. The research
component (phase 1) will involve the assessment and
identification of gaps and barriers of current practices in autism
screening and diagnosis through a rigorous research process.
Phase 2 will involve identifying current autism screening tools,
promoting the use of appropriate screening tools, and the
development of accessible educational tools for autism in the
South Asian community with low health literacy. And finally, phase
3 involves the development of a toll-free helpline to support and
connect the South Asian community to autism resources.
Tamil Health Association’s
Strategic Plan, Mission, Values & Vision
The Strategic Planning Committee has been working on developing mission and vision statements that accurately re-
flect the Tamil Health Association. As you can imagine, this has been no easy task, especially faced with issues in se-
mantics and variability in the language used to develop these statements. Through much perseverance, research, and
brainstorms we have reached what we feel are statements that accurately convey the message of Tamil Health Associ-
ation to the public.
Our vision is to be at the
forefront of health promotion,
education and research.
We are on a mission to…
Explore Health beyond conventional understanding
Inspire Research through population specific perspectives
Expand Resources in a culturally relevant manner
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Healthy Food Program
The Tamil Health Association was 1 of 25 projects funded by the Women’s College Hospital to improve the health of
women in our community. The overall goal of the project was to improve the health of Tamil women by increasing their
access and utilization of healthy eating and food preparation resources. We wanted to be able to provide women with
the resources that could help them make healthier recipes and improve their cooking and food preparation skills. We
want the Tamil population to enjoy their eggplant curry, but we also want to make this curry a lot less oiler and
perhaps a little healthier. In addition, we also wanted to see whether providing these resources could influence the
eating habits of Tamil women. We chose to focus on the women in the family, as they are usually responsible for meal
preparation in their family (we know this is not always the case but for majority of the population). We want the Tamil
women in our community to make healthier choices and since they are primarily responsible for cooking, they can also
help improve their families’ eating habits!
We are pleased to announce the completion of the Healthy Food Program (HFP) Workshops! The HFP team
successfully delivered two workshops that were well received by the participants. The team worked hard to pull
together a unique resource that is bilingual (Tamil & English) which was presented to attendees at the workshops by a
Registered Dietician. This was a pilot program and we hope that this will inspire others alike to focus on developing
culturally relevant tools to help facilitate lifestyle changes that promote health.
The next steps of the project includes some additional analyses, write-up and knowledge translation activities; to
capture the amazing work that this team has done over the past 18 months. We look forward to sharing the outcomes
with the team and the community in the next newsletter! For now we will leave you with these pictures (courtesy of
King Pictures) that have captured the fun we had at these workshops.
If you are interested in working to complete the next steps of the HFP program, check out page 7!
THA will be conducting an environmental scan of mental health services
available to the GTA Tamil population. The objective of this project is to identify,
assess and categorize mental health services in accordance to whether they
provide culturally sensitive services to the target population. There is currently a
need to understand the gaps and limitations of existing services to see whether
they are able to provide adequate services to the population in need. This
project will be lead by Vinusiya Peranandan, for her Masters of Public Health
degree at the University of Toronto, under the guidance of THA. Experts in the
field of mental health within the Tamil community will act as advisors to steer the
project. The proposed end deliverable is an accessible tool for the public to help
identify relevant services available to the Tamil population in the GTA.
The Mental Health Project An Environmental Scan to Identify Relevant Mental Health Services
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Community Health| சுகாதார விழிப்புணர்வு
Movember Meesai Campaign 2014 THA once again joined the global Movember movement in 2014 and attracted 43 Mo Bros and Mo Sis from the Tamil
community to be the walking talking billboards for Men’s Health. For those that aren’t aware of Movember, it is a
globally recognized month long campaign during November that focuses on raising funds and bringing awareness to
Men’s health – particularly prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health.
We had an awesome turn out to our Annual Movember celebration.
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THA ran another successful social media campaign for
the duration of the month of November. Through joint
efforts from our community, we raised over $1000 and
raised awareness on men’s health across our Tamil
community.
At the end of a successful Movember campaign, we
hosted a celebratory event, the Meesai Party, to thank
fellow Mo Bros and Mo Sistas. This free event was held
at a cozy Scarborough venue, attracting just about 100
Mo Bros and Mo Sistas. The night included a series of
team activities that engaged attendees to identify major
health concerns in the Tamil community and further,
brainstorming solutions for these problems. Our annual
Meesai fashion show allowed Mo bros to show off their
month-long hairy journeys on the THA runway. The Mo
Bro with the best Meesai (by audience vote) received a
prize pack full of Movember goodies. The night
concluded with phenomenal presentations by two guest
speakers Dr.Vathsala Jayasuriya-Illesinghe and Arthy
Sathasivam. Dr.Vathsala shared information about the $3
million Movember funded project, Strength In Unity, and
Arthy Sathasivam shared her personal story about her
father’s journey with cancer. An incredible performance
by Unplugged Tunes of Bharathi Arts melodiously
concluded the night with Nishan, Praveen, Thadjenan,
Nirosh and Thuzhi who serenaded us with a compilation
of over a dozen AR Rahman classics.
The Meesai Party was once again brought to the
community at no cost and was possible due to our
generous sponsors. The cost of running the event was
covered by our friendly Real Estate Agent Chandran
Sornalingam, who specializes in serving your residential,
commercial and investment property needs. The mouth
watering food was prepared and presented by Fusion By
T. Audio and special effects was provided by Akkash
James from The Experience by A.James and SPSYN
captured the moments of the evening.
Finally special thanks to those who attended the event
and helped with the coordination. Everyone’s efforts had
made Meesai party a fun and educational event that
brought the community together!
Strength in Unity (SIU)
THA collaborated with Ryerson University as a
community partner for Strength in Unity (SIU), the first
comprehensive anti-stigma intervention research project
among Asian communities in Canada - a $3 million
project funded by the Movember Foundation. SIU aims to
reduce mental illness stigma in Asian communities by
mobilizing Asian youth and men to become Community
Mental Health Ambassadors (CMAs) by training them in
either Acceptance Commitment Training (ACT) or
Contact-based Empowerment Education (CEE). Data will
be collected pre- and post-study to evaluate the
effectiveness of both the ACT and CEE interventions.
THA assisted in recruiting Tamil males for the study by
hosting a Let’s Talk About Men’s Mental Health
networking event where several community members
signed up to participate. Additionally, an active and
insightful dialogue about the need to address mental
health in the Tamil community was conducted that will
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subsequently inform the mental health study that THA
is developing. THA remains a part of the Project
Advisory Committee as the study unfolds.
SIU is currently recruiting Asian males (aged 17+) for
the study. Contact [email protected] or (416) 979
-5129 if you are interested. Compensation will be
provided to participants ($50-$400).
Mental Health Week - Let’s Talk Healthy Minds!
“Manathil Uruthi Vendum - Let's Talk Healthy Minds!”, an annual mental health awareness campaign, is a grassroots
effort to promote action that changes attitudes and behaviors toward mental health at the individual and community
level. The expectation is that the annual awareness campaign will increase the interest in the community to learn more
about positive mental health, bring awareness about mental health services in the community and promote
collaboration among community groups and organizations.
The 2015 campaign is three-fold and will run from
May 4, 2015 to May 9, 2015.
Media campaign (May 4-8): disseminate knowledge
about mental health through local Tamil media outlets.
Online campaign (May 4-8): engage the audience in
conversations related to mental health using social
media.
Half-day workshop (May 9, 2015): marks the end of the
mental health week; aims to mobilize strong voices to
stamp out stigma.
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What is "good" mental health?
We all have mental health, just as we all have physical health. It’s a state of well-being. Every one of us has the
potential to live an optimal healthy life that includes good mental health. When we are mentally healthy, we enjoy
our life and environment, and the people in it. We can be creative, learn and try new things, and take risks. We are
better able to cope with difficult times in our personal and professional lives. We sometimes feel the sadness and
anger that can come with the death of a loved one, a job loss or relationship problems and other difficult events. But
with having good mental health, we bounce back and start enjoying our lives once again. What does it take to
maintain one`s mental well-being? In today's lifestyle, this is a question that we all ask ourselves. To learn more,
join us! Let’s start learning, talking, reflecting and engaging with others on all issues relating to mental health.
Join our team!
Do you want to leave a positive impact on the Tamil community?
Do you want to get involved in some amazing projects? We are always seeking energetic, passionate, individuals with a variety of skills and experiences to join our team in community health, health research and operations!
Contact us at [email protected] and include “Volunteer Interest” in the subject line. Examples of current opportunities include:
Operational
Financial Committee Co-lead
Communications Committee Co-lead
Community Health Co-lead
Research Committee Member, Grant Writing
Fundraising Committee Member, Event Planner
Projects (Community Health & Health Research)
THA Website: An Information Hub, Project Design
Healthy Food Program, Research Assistant
Stay connected!
www.TamilHealth.ca /TamilHealth @TamilHealth
May 9th Workshop Agenda:
8:00AM - 9:00AM | Complimentary Breakfast
9:00AM - 9:15AM | Introduction
9:15AM - 10:00AM | Breakout
Session 1: Grief & Loss by Denley McIntosh
Session 2: At-risk Youth & Addictions by James Erdt
Session 3: Nutrition & Mental Health by Thevaki Kulendran
Session 4: Postpartum depression by Pushpa Kanagaratnam
10:15AM - 10:45AM | Healthy Dance Break & Group Activity
10:50AM - 12:00PM | Mindfulness