Post-Disaster Mental Distress Relief: Health Promotion and Knowledge Exchange in Partnership with a Refugee Diaspora Community

Abstract

After the 2004 Asian tsunami, a group of concerned scientists, physicians, and community service providers united to form a Local Distress Relief Network (LDRN) to provide information, referral, and care to affected members of the large Sri Lankan Tamil community in Toronto. The LDRN organized a workshop that brought together community-based organizations and international and local experts in mental health and disaster response to review existing knowledge on disaster response and to share community knowledge and experience. This article summarizes the development of the network, the workshop proceedings and joint recommendations for communitybased, culturally appropriate mental distress relief.