BounceBack Launches NEW Language Diversity Campaign!

BounceBack is pleased to launch a new language diversity campaign!

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for many Ontarians. In fact, a recent CMHA Ontario poll demonstrates the strain the pandemic has had on the mental health of Ontarians. It shows that only a third of Ontarians (35 per cent) consider their current state of mental health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent,’ a significant decrease from 52 per cent as recorded in its first poll last May. Perhaps not surprisingly, rates of stress, anxiety, and depression during the pandemic are also worse than ever.

This makes it increasingly important that individuals are aware of and can quickly access proven mental health supports, from the comfort of their home and in their own language. As you know, we must provide culturally responsive, safe, and accessible services to meet the needs of our diverse communities. This also means removing the language barrier, which often prevents many individuals from seeking the mental health supports they need.

That’s where the BounceBack program can help. It’s a free, evidence-based, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skill-building program that can help adults and youth 15+ better manage their symptoms of low mood, stress, worry and mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety.

With the guidance of a trained coach and skill-building workbooks, participants will learn coping strategies to manage their symptoms. These symptoms may have been brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic or other significant life events, such as a new baby, divorce, job loss, chronic illness, chronic pain, loss of a loved one, school. The program takes about 3-6 months to complete, and during this time, participants will have access to up to 6 telephone coaching sessions. Telephone coaching and workbooks are available in many languages, including English, French, Cantonese (with workbooks in Traditional Chinese), Mandarin (with workbooks in Simplified Chinese), Spanish, and Tamil. For more information on BounceBack, please visit bouncebackontario.ca.

Together, we can help make important mental health supports like BounceBack available to clients and members in your community:

• Kindly promote BounceBack on your website, in your client newsletters, and on your social channels. To assist you, we’ve developed digital packages in the following languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, and Tamil.
• You and your clients can register for one of our one-hour BounceBack cultural presentations (in English). This will include information on stigma, discrimination, and how the BounceBack program has been culturally adapted to be safe, welcoming, and inclusive. Please see dates/times for available sessions below:

January 27^th at 2pm Register here

January 28^th at 11am Register here

February 1^st at 12pm Register here

• You and your clients can register to hear a 30-minute presentation on BounceBack from a coach in Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, or Tamil. Please see dates/times for available sessions below:

Cantonese – January 31^st at 11am Register here

Tamil – February 1^st at 2pm Register here

Mandarin – February 2^nd at 11am Register here

Spanish – February 3^rd at 2pm Register here

• You can also request DVDs of our BounceBack videos, available in Cantonese and Mandarin. The videos offer practical tips on a variety of topics, such as managing mood, sleeping better, and more. Email us at [email protected].
• Reach out to the BounceBack team at [email protected] with any questions, or to discuss opportunities to co-present with your organization to members of your community.