Let's Talk About Mental Health

Early YEEPI projects focused on soliciting and transporting direct donations of needed goods to impoverished communities in Suriname. More recently, our projects have had a component of empowering these communities to lift themselves out of poverty and produce their own supplies, for example, through the establishment of a locally owned and led micro-enterprise and of a sister non-profit organization in Suriname.

We are also focusing increasingly on promoting mental health and well-being, having organized three Suriname Maroon Mental Health Conferences involving government, mental health professionals and community leaders from Suriname, Canada, the United States, England, The Netherlands, and the Caribbean. Another is planned for 2025. The importance and power of information and, resource sharing, and collaborative action were strikingly demonstrated to us. We now seek to apply this learning to the needs of racialized Calgarians.

On March 1st, we intend to promote communication and purposeful collaboration with partners to foster cross-cultural communication and raise awareness about the mental health needs of their communities through a mental health community dialogue.

Host or Publisher YEEPI Education Foundation of Calgary