Welcome to our Online Women’s Mental Health Centre.

Our Vision:
To be Canada’s leading online mental health program focused on women’s mental health.

Our Mission Statement:
To promote the empowerment and well-being of women by:

• being a resource for up-to-date information on mental health
• giving voice to women’s varied experiences
• providing online mental health support

This site will grow and we will attempt to provide up-to-date and accurate information based on the current knowledge in the field on some of the mental health conditions that affect women most:

• Mental Health and Well-Being
• Perinatal Mental Health
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Trauma
• Eating disorders

Women’s College Hospital has been on the cutting edge of women’s health for over 100 years. Now we’re bringing that expertise to our new state-of-the-art mental health site. We are dedicated to excellence in women’s mental health and improving the mental health care of all women.

Check back regularly for content updates as our site grows and evolves with new features and resources. This website is focused on the unique aspects of women’s mental health. It will include:

• high quality information on women’s mental health
• state-of-the-art interactive opportunities for our readers
• resources that support women’s mental health

Mental health is relevant to everyone; so why focus on women? There are many reasons.

There are mental health issues unique to women. For example, reproductive-related issues like postpartum depression.

There are mental health issues that affect both men and women, but with unique implications for women. Economic, political, and social forces influence women’s mental heath, and our access to care. Often women are socialized to express their feelings in certain ways, and not others. This can result in their mental health problems looking different than men’s, which is often categorized by the medical field as “atypical.”¹ For example, women who are depressed report more physical symptoms than men.²

Women are more often the primary caregivers in families and can experience stress balancing their multiple roles: mother, employee, friend, etc. Consequently, while women may share many health concerns with men, they have unique health-care needs.

Our vision is big, and our passion is bigger! This site will continue to grow and develop over the coming weeks and months, with more topics, more features and more resources. Check back regularly for content updates.

Here’s what we’ll be bringing you in the weeks and months ahead:

Information on women’s mental health issues:
Experts in the field will write about more women’s health topics, such as postpartum depression.  

Interactive opportunities for our readers:
We will launch state-of-the-art interactive opportunities for you. We will invite you to share your stories, ask questions and connect with other women on our website. Stay tuned to find out more about our interactive projects. 

Resources that support women’s mental health:
We will guide consumers to community resources, share tips for navigating the mental health system and provide information on what you need to know in order to find the help best suited to your needs. Come back and see what tips we have that might be helpful to you. 

^1,2Canadian Mental Health Association: Women’s Mental Health. Available: http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/women.asp?cID=5619