28% of Recent Immigrants Reported Poor or Fair Mental Health with Lower Levels of Self-reported Mental Health Compared to Long-time Canadians [1] – Immigration Stress, Struggles and Strengths
At Hawthorn Counselling we are counsellors who have also been newcomers. Research shows that recent immigrants are less likely than long-time Canadians to access mental health care and that this access may be crucial to avoiding weakening of what researchers call the “healthy immigrant effect” (Ng and Zhang, 2021). This effect is where newcomers arrive in good mental and physical health, but have declines over time, typically due to obstacles like employment barriers, lack of sense of belonging, feeling isolated and/or racism. Accessing mental health care/counselling can help address the emotions that come with these obstacles.