The Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association's The Way Forward Black Mental Wellness Program offers culturally grounded, confidential mental health support for Black children, youth, families and individuals across York Region.
Our services include free one-on-one counselling, family support, system navigation, Support for children and youth from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and wellness workshops — all rooted in culturally affirming care and community understanding.
Whether you are dealing with stress, navigating identity or seeking guidance, you don’t have to do it alone.
Our services include free one-on-one counselling, family support, system navigation, Support for children and youth from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and wellness workshops — all rooted in culturally affirming care and community understanding.
Whether you are dealing with stress, navigating identity or seeking guidance, you don’t have to do it alone.
Confidential. Compassionate. Community-Centred Care.
Healing starts with connection—NACCA is here for you.
Ready to Get Support? Register or Request Support by clicking the button below.
Ready to Get Support? Register or Request Support by clicking the button below.
What to Expect After You Register
When you complete and submit the registration form, NACCA’s mental health team will review your submission and a team member will contact you within 24 to 48 hours to learn more about your needs and connect you to the right support.
Our Mental Wellness Programs
We offer:
- Mental Health Counselling for adults (Over the age of 24yrs Old)
- Mental Health Counselling for children and youth (24yrs Old and under)
- Mobile Service Navigation (support with food security, housing, CAS, justice system and legal, employment, immigration, education, health care etc.)
Who can Access These Programs?
- Black children, youth and adults living in York Region
- Families looking for culturally relevant mental health support
- Community members seeking mentorship, guidance or connection
Black Mental Health Clinicians
Offering accessible, culturally affirming counselling for Black children, youth and families of African descent. Rooted in lived experience and evidence-based care, our clinicians support healing from the impacts of anti-Black racism and systemic barriers.
Services include:
Services include:
- One-on-one counselling
- Group sessions for youth and caregivers
- Support focused on healing from anti-Black racism
- Community training
Black Mobile Service Navigators
Navigators provide free, culturally responsive case management for Black children, youth and families in York Region. We support access to housing, healthcare, education, legal systems and mental health services—meeting people where they are, with care rooted in addressing anti-Black racism and trauma-informed approaches.
Mentorship Program Coordinator for Black 2SLGBTQIA+ Children, Youth and Community
Led by our Program Coordinator, this mentorship initiative supports Black 2SLGBTQIA+ children, youth and community members through identity-affirming, culturally grounded connections. Mentors with shared lived experience offer safe, supportive spaces to build resilience, belonging and leadership.
We Provide Quality Mental Health Supports
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Our services address a wide variety of issues ranging from trauma (sexual, physical and trauma related to immigration), depression, anxiety, worry, grief and stress, including societal stressors relating to the Social Determinants of Health (racism, poverty, housing, employment, family issues, etc.). We offer counselling support to diverse areas such as Black men’s mental health, caregiver support for parenting children and youth, seniors, wellness support for members of the Black 2SLGBTQIA+ community, to name a few.
Our network of therapists/counsellors work from an anti-oppressive and resisting anti-Black racism framework which encompasses both teaching and learning from individuals about the different forms of oppression that occur simultaneously in their lives on a day-to-day basis. Our therapeutic model involves Healing Identity Based Trauma and Racial Trauma using EMDR in COLOUR and other cultural humility centred approaches, an integrative process involving Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and therapy from a Recovery Model of Care.
Through therapy, Black youth and families will:
Our network of therapists/counsellors work from an anti-oppressive and resisting anti-Black racism framework which encompasses both teaching and learning from individuals about the different forms of oppression that occur simultaneously in their lives on a day-to-day basis. Our therapeutic model involves Healing Identity Based Trauma and Racial Trauma using EMDR in COLOUR and other cultural humility centred approaches, an integrative process involving Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and therapy from a Recovery Model of Care.
Through therapy, Black youth and families will:
- Play an active role in the development of their recovery model of care.
- Engage in a process of personal empowerment which leads to increased self-awareness and clarity.
- Engage in a highly effective journey to personal healing.
- Develop a critical sense of self and belonging.
- Gain identity-specific knowledge about the impact of mental wellbeing on interpersonal relationships.
- Develop key strategies for dealing with individual and familial stress and anxiety.
- Learn how to be one’s own advocate for mental wellness in community and country.
| Research and Ethics Guide |
Mental Health Impact Since 2019
Our mental health program is one critical way that we show up for Black residents in Newmarket and beyond. We are committed to prioritizing opportunity, access, validation and healing for the community we serve. To do this, we have gathered a strong pool of culturally relevant and oppression-informed therapist from a variety of intersecting identities to whom we can connect residents.
The program provides ongoing subsidized individual counselling and quarterly workshops for youth, parents and caregivers in York Region’s Black communities.
The program provides ongoing subsidized individual counselling and quarterly workshops for youth, parents and caregivers in York Region’s Black communities.
What The Literature Review Tell Us
- 60% of Black individuals in Ontario are at increased risk of psychosis.
- Literature on the health concerns and well-being of young Black women is almost non-existent in Canada.
- There is a gap in mental health services to support Black mental health and wellness through an intersectional approach.
- Long standing stigma around accessing mental health supports means that individuals may be struggling silently.
- There is a lack of culturally relevant treatment providers and Black therapists who take an African centred approach.
- Black individuals are more likely to qualify as low-income, experience unemployment and be uninsured, which presents as a barrier to accessing quality mental health services and support.
- Negative experiences with the health care system reduces Black individuals' willingness to seek and receive care. (Article: All Booked Up: The Frustrations of Finding a Black Therapist)
- Because of racial discrimination, Black youth are at greater risk for depression, anxiety, and other mental health struggles than their non-Black peers with suicide increasing at a faster rate for Black youth than any other racial group.
- LGBTQIA+ Black youth’s identification with multiple marginalized identities can make them more susceptible to decreased mental health. (National institutes of Health)
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Multigenerational Trauma -
What Baton Are We Carrying? -
The Blind Stigma
"People don't tend to think of mental illness or disrupted mental wellness as the day-to-day experiences of racial microaggressions. They don't think of it as the panic attack that you have every time you enter a school or a workplace and you can't describe it but you know you have a visceral reaction. So because people don't recognize that and they think the world is just set up like that, and they just have to figure it out and like grin and bear it, they don't understand that what they're experiencing, potentially, is a form of racial trauma if you're in a Black body." -Kamilah Clayton, MSW, RSW, CBT Social Worker, Psychotherapist