Our Purpose
Laboratory for Culture and Mental Health Disparities
The mission of the Laboratory for Culture and Mental Health Disparities (CMHD) is to promote mental health and wellness in historically underserved groups through behavioral science, education, and service. Through multidisciplinary faculty collaborations, the CMHD engages in empirical rigor, community and university service, and dissemination of findings that subsequently lead to development of culturally sensitive therapies (CSTs). Our lab is also interested in mental health disparities broadly, such as disparities due to SES, sexual identity, mental health disability, and mental health stigma.
The CMHD promotes research, teaching, and training to the community, faculty, staff, and students at the University of Ottawa for our increasingly diverse society.
Training Mission
The CMHD trains graduate and undergraduate students who are committed to alleviating mental health disparities, becoming culturally proficient scientists-practitioners, and developing programs in the community from a solid empirical basis. The CMHD provides training opportunities for undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students from academic programs across the University and visiting scholars to learn the skills needed to effect positive change in mental health disparity populations.
Research Mission
The research mission of the CMHD is to promote health and wellness in historically underserved families in the community and beyond through cutting-edge behavioral science. The work of the CMHD is interdisciplinary and collaborative, focusing on research with adults, children, couples, and families across cultures. Given the expertise in both familial and cross-cultural mental health arenas of the CMHD investigators, the research products from the CMHD are intended to contribute significantly to understanding mental health disparities in communities of color, leading to the ongoing development of culturally sensitive interventions.
Service Mission
The CMHD fulfills its service mission through educational lectures about mental health to the community and internationally, consultations with community organizations, and participation in community forums. The CMHD is also active in raising awareness through social media, media interviews, and public discourse. Our center is in the process of developing interventions for the provision of mental health care to the underserved.
Dr. Monnica Williams
