Finding Ground When the World Shifts: Displacement & Mental Health

Displacement is not only about a physical upheaval, but also a journey of safety, identity, and survival.

Whether someone is fleeing war, political persecution, discrimination, or violence, the loss of home is deeply and profoundly disorienting, especially those from marginalized communities.

The experience of displacement placement brings both hope and hardship.

As someone whose own family arrived in Canada as refugees, I can understand how migration carries the weight of both trauma and the longing for possibility.

My family’s journey was filled with the hope of a new beginning—a promise of safety and dignity in a “new home” where we can live freely and authentically. We also learned that crossing a border doesn't automatically bring healing or safety. To transverse two worlds; one known that we must abandon due to safety to one completely new and foreign for survival, the psychological journey is just as long, complex and harrowing as the physical one.

Many displaced individuals include refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied youth, and those who live with impairments or identify as 2SLGBTQ+, have fled their homes in pursuit of survival. Their stories often include dangerous journeys across land, sea, and air, marked by loss, violence, and the absence of basic human needs like food, clean water, or hygiene. Displacement often leads to the loss of jobs, homes, and community.

Being displaced is a life altering experience. The life-threatening events, ongoing and chronic distress can include feelings of:

• Isolation

• Frustration

• Grief

• Stress

• Isolation/loneliness

• Sadness

• Fear

• Worry

• Guilt

Here in Canada, home is now a place for so many who have escaped countries where being open about one’s gender, culture, political views, identity, religion, or sexual orientation and expression could mean legal persecution, violence, or death. While this “new” safer environment offers many a chance to live with dignity; to be seen, and to be safe, there are systemic barriers that still exist in this new foreign land.

Some systemic barriers to consider may Include:

• Language barriers

• Employment challenges

• Credential/educational recognition

• Access to services and support

• Discrimination and racism (due to culture, language, race, gender, abilities, identity, religion, immigration status etc.)

• Navigating access to health care

• Housing affordability & stability

• Family separation

• Financial strain

• Lack of individual supports

• Loss of community and cultural connections (the lack of personal and professional networks)

• Risk of exploitation and abuse (working in unsafe conditions, low wages)

The process of adjusting to life in a new country, starting anew and finding a way to simply meet your basic needs—especially if you’ve been forced to flee—can be overwhelming and far from simple.

This can further perpetuate the existing feelings of isolation, stigma and discrimination, which can impact post migration populations and their mental health and wellness.

For families like mine, addressing any mental health concerns, symptoms of depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma, grief and loss, as a “need” was seemingly non-existent, especially when survival meant meeting basic needs (food & shelter) was a threat and unstable.

Sometimes, even in a supposedly safer place, there are moments of not feeling safe at all.

Inheriting the expectation to “start over” while still grieving what was lost is a space many displaced populations live/lived.

Displacement changes everything about a world that once existed and it is possible to find solid ground again—even when the world has shifted beneath your feet.

In our therapeutic space at LRCG, we are committed and believe that affirming care means a trusting space for individuals of vulnerable refugee and displaced migrant populations of diverse gender identities and cultures.

We also recognize the importance of understanding the sociopolitical and historical contexts that drive people into exile, as this awareness is essential in helping navigate some of the challenges of displacement.

Having the opportunity to explore support can be quite profound, propelling forward doesn’t always mean forgetting and erasing what’s been endured, it can also mean honouring the stories of grief, deep loss and permission to grow, grieve and develop a sense of community; at your own pace.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Toronto Distress Centres: 416 408-4357or 408-HELP

• Suicide Prevention Hotline: 988

• Gerstein Crisis Centre: 416 929-5200

• Spectra Helpline: 905 459-7777 for Brampton and Mississauga 

• Multilingual Distress Lines: TTY: 905 278-4890; (Languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, Portuguese)

• Assaulted Women’s Helpline: 416 863-0511; Toll-free: 1 866 863-0511

• Kids Help Phone: 1 800 668-6868

• Community Crisis Line Scarborough and Rouge Hospital: 416 495-2891  

• Durham Crisis and Mental Health Line: 905 666-0483

• Distress Centre Halton: For Residents of the Halton Region (Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville)

• Oakville: 905-849-4541; 

• Burlington: 905-681-1488; 

• Milton/Halton Hills: 905-877-1211