Posted: May 11, 2021 5:00 AM MT | Last Updated: May 11
Lending An Ear offers phone support in multiple languages to people in their own community.(Brian A Jackson/Getty Images)
Calgary s South Asian community is seeing a surge in people with mental health issues like depression and anxiety, according to organizations that help people in crisis.
Counselling and support groups say many prefer to reach out to local organizations in their own community, but some don t reach out at all due to stigma and language barriers.
They say there have been more suicides in the community, some involving younger people.
Beena Ashar helps take calls for a small grassroots organization set up last year in response to the pandemic. Lending An Ear offers phone support in multiple languages to people in their own community.
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Coping with COVID-19: Your mental health questions answered
CBC Calgary got answers to your questions about mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Facebook Live forum on Thursday. Our host, Shannon Scott, was joined by Dr. Peter Silverstone, a professor and interim chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Alberta, Natasha Dharshi, the senior operations co-ordinator for Distress Centre Calgary and wellness coach Sonja Franzmann.
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ASK AN EXPERT | Let s talk about mental health
4 months ago
1:04:58How are you coping with COVID-19? Our expert panel took your mental health questions today as Alberta implements more COVID-19 restrictions.1:04:58
CALGARY Life in Alberta during the pandemic has turned into a real tension convention. That was the word from a national organization Wednesday, when Morneau Shepell released its latest findings of its Mental Health Index, revealing that the greatest increase in stress month-over-month was for respondents living in Alberta, followed by Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Mental Health Index is published monthly beginning in April 2020 and compares against benchmark data collected in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Paula Allen, the global leader of research and total wellbeing at Morneau Shepell, said she wasn’t surprised that Alberta topped the list. She said that’s likely because mental health issues for Albertans started long before the pandemic - way back in 2014 with the collapse of oil prices.