COMMUNITY ONE BLOG

Gender Affirming Health Clinic Video Series: 2022 Rainbow Grants Recipient

Over the coming weeks we’re sharing the 39 stories of our 2022 Rainbow Grants recipients! All of these deserving projects are receiving critical grant funding as a result of your generous donations to Community One Foundation. Read more and support these projects where you can! If you’d like to see more work like this supported in our community, please consider donating to Community One!

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JAMES STEWART GRANT

The James Stewart Rainbow Grant was created thanks to the generous bequest from James Stewart, the Toronto mathematician and musician who passed away in December 2014. As one of the Toronto-based 2SLGBTTIQQ charities to receive philanthropic support from Mr. Stewart’s estate, Community One is honoured to offer this annual grant in his name.

This grant is available to a registered charity for up to $10,000. The James Stewart Rainbow Grant focuses on one or more of the following key areas:

  • seed new and innovative projects to combat discrimination on the basis of sexual/gender identity and create an atmosphere of respect and acceptance
  • support needed but underfunded services to LGBT individuals and families
  • provide programming specifically aimed at supporting newcomers to Canada who have identified themselves with the 2SLGBTTIQQ community

The Canadian Mental Health Association, York Region will create a 5-part video series to support trans and gender diverse individuals while on waitlist for in-person services. Videos will improve mental health of clients, increase knowledge re: transgender/gender diverse issues and transition options and improve resiliency/coping skills to manage the distress/discomfort often felt with gender identity/expression in this population.

The Gender Affirming Health Clinic at CMHA York is the first of its kind in our community and has been essential in mitigating some of the barriers that trans and gender diverse people face when trying to access care. The Gender Affirming Health Clinic video series will support clients while they are on the wait list for essential trans and gender diverse services through a 5-part webinar series that would be designed to provide both education and evidence-based coping tools. The webinar topics would be developed based on the common issues often sought out by trans and gender diverse youth in our community and would be divided as such:

1. Gender Identity and Expression

2. Social Transition, Family Support and Acceptance

3. A Mental Health Toolkit for Gender Dysphoria

4. Hormone Replacement Therapy

5. Mindfulness for Trans and Gender Diverse People

As the nation-wide leader and champion for mental health, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) facilitates access to the resources people require to maintain and improve mental health and community integration, helps build resilience, and supports recovery from mental illness.

CMHA York Region and South Simcoe is a multidisciplinary community mental health agency, which in 2020/2021 served 42,613 clients, providing specialized care from assertive community treatment and early psychosis intervention, to court diversion, case management, housing first and supportive housing, specialized youth care, gender affirming health clinic, psycho-social rehabilitation – employment, peer support, occupational therapy and social-recreational skills, cognative behaviour therapy and clinical therapy.