We are a mental health organization offering culturally sensitive psychotherapy and services to clients from diverse backgrounds. The organization and its members have passionate interests in offering psychotherapy services to individuals and families from diverse cultural backgrounds and demographics, including immigrants, students, parents, couples, and professionals. One of the key contributions of the organization is the positive outcomes that it envisages through the creation and promotion of mental health by connecting not only with individuals and families but large groups of persons, providing culturally and methodological sound information and care. This approach is even more relevant in the current contexts of unprecedent challenges in an era of pandemic, forecasting significant challenges in its aftermath. Although there are numerous government-funded organization in Ontario that offer these services for free, C2C Psychotherapy is uniquely providing support not only to the residents of Ontario but also the newcomers to Canada by offering mental health support to help them persevere in the new country, including personal, educational, and work environment. The directors of the organization are Registered Psychotherapists with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). All members of the organization bring a unique skills set and expertise with a wealth of experience in working with diverse populations for many years. Moreover, their experience and Canadian education have privileged them with the opportunity to stay up to date with mental health laws and policies that are observed in Ontario.

The idea for the company emerged from two key points. First, engagement in training and the field provided knowledge of struggles that persons from diverse cultures have been experiencing due to a lack of resources, awareness of resources, affordability, and language issues. Although there are organizations offering free services, the wait times have been too long, or language barriers restricted the scope of services. However, if mental health concerns prolong without timely intervention, the effects can be catastrophic for individuals, families, communities, and societies.

Second, while preparing together to be registered psychotherapists in Ontario who were internationally trained professionals, the members of the company developed an affinity that they thought should be exploited for greater service to humanity in the mental health industry. Importantly, the thought of working together for this common good, utilizing our diverse cultural backgrounds and languages was well-received by the members of the organization. The main idea was to serve communities by initiating awareness campaigns, offering webinars, lectures, coaching, and psychotherapy.

The next step in the process was to research and evaluate organizations offering services to diverse populations, including helping persons to settle in their new environment in Canada. This review indicated that there has been a barrier to service as the wait time in most organizations has been too long, affecting a large percentage of clients in need of services. From personal experiences, it was discovered that most organizations were not actively engaged in increasing awareness about mental health among persons from diverse backgrounds. Also, it was noted that the primary reasons could be funding, a lack of grants, a lack of other necessary allowances, and permissions. For example, during one of our webinars that the members of the company conducted for a college, it was realized that the students knew the resources that were available, but they did not know how and when to access them. Moreover, they were testing their thresholds under the assumption that they were the only ones experiencing mental health challenges. Fortunately, our team was able to inform the students that they should understand their mental health concerns similar to physical issues and utilize the available resources. It was emphasized that they were not alone as we all go through some overwhelming moments in life.