Synthesizing Culture and Power in Community Mental Health: An Emerging Framework. American Journal of Community Psychology

Taking Culture Seriously in Community Mental Health is an Ontariobased community based participatory action research project devoted to developing, pilot testing, and evaluating mental health service models grounded in the concept of “cultural empowerment.” In order to stimulate knowledge mobilization efforts among partners, to clarify expectations held by members of the diverse groups participating in the project, and to forestall confusion or conflict, the research collaborative established a policy that expressed their common understanding of communications goals and practices. This paper provides an overview of the policy development process and of the policy itself, focusing on the broad issues of principles, authorship and acknowledgment, and planning and procedures.