On the Frontlines: Inside the Role of a Mental Health Worker

About

December 4, 2024 – As a Mental Health Worker with the Community Builders Group (CBG), Mia Abbas knows the impact of developing meaningful relationships. Mia is an alum of the Food, Nutrition and Health program and through her studies, she gained insight on the importance of community, food and intersectionality – insight that Mia extends to her clients. Additionally, the flexibility to take electives, like psychology and social justice, within the FNH program also helped her prepare for her current role.

Mia shares some highlights of her job:

Building lasting relationships

“A part of my role as a mental health worker with Community Builders Group (CBG), which is a non-profit supportive housing provider, has been building rapport with the clients. Since I have a permanent position at a housing site, I have been able to get to know the personal history of the clients who live there. This in turn has allowed me to better understand their needs and goals while fostering positive, lasting and rewarding relationships. The clients are able to work with someone they are familiar with, allowing for a greater level of trust.”

Connecting the community with resources

“Although I am able to provide support to clients as a mental health worker, a large part of the role involves understanding how to connect clients with resources, such as health and employment services. Furthermore, I encourage my clients to form healthy connections to their family and community. Another crucial aspect of my role involves working with external agencies: mental health teams, such as Car 87, and the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. Moreover, in this role, I advocate for the clients and try to ensure that they are receiving appropriate care, and to assist them in reaching their goals whilst respecting their agency and choices.”

Utilizing interdisciplinary approaches

“Since working for CBG, I have been able to work with various interdisciplinary teams within the housing sites. Many of these sites are staffed with building coordinators, health care aids, home support workers, resident support workers and operational managers. The staff within those roles bring various different skills and insights which has taught me how to better support our clients. All staff are required to have standard first aid and naloxone training. We have revived clients and guests from overdoses using Narcan kits which has saved countless lives. Furthermore, a harm reduction approach is employed which includes, but is not limited to, providing sterile supplies and assisting clients to connect with detox centres when they are ready.”