New CAMH group ‘Womenmind’ raises funds to support women’s mental health

There’s been a lot of talk about the need for increased mental health resources for women during the pandemic. Now a group of philanthropists is doing something about it.

Sandi Treliving is the founding member of Womenmind, which is a program within the The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Foundation.

Womenmind is a group of women who want to spark more research by women, for women on mental health.

“We’ve already gained so much ground work,” Treliving said. “We’re hoping to include a large group of women that are interested in serving this under-represented, under-served, under-researched population, which is about 50 per cent of the population.”

Since Womenmind started, they have launched a seed funding competition with awards going to support three women researchers whose fields focus on new clinical tools to treat depression, nicotine addiction and safer use of benzodiazepines by women.

They have also developed a mentorship program for women scientists to provide training and skill development and created the first-ever Family Chair in Women’s Mental Health conjunction with the University of Toronto.

Treliving has been a director on the board of the CAMH Foundation since 2014.

For more information on Womenmind click here.