The Women’s Wellness Program is culturally customized and accessible program for Arabic-speaking refugee women in Canada. Its goal is to enhance newcomer well-being, dignity and social connections and to better meet the unique needs of vulnerable clients and communities.

The program is made up of four components: Mental Wellness First Aid Kit (a series of e-learning videos that help overcome mental health stigma, teach self care concepts and introduce tips on parenting traumatized children), Tips for Healthy Living (e-learning videos that promote healthy living choices), Therapeutic Recreation (videos on the therapeutic effects of yoga including four full yoga sessions taught in Arabic), and Women’s Expression Circle (a chance for women to share experiences and ask questions with a trained facilitator).

The program is meant to implement a new technology based model for delivering awareness programs for newcomers and refugee women. The foundation of the program is tailored e-learning videos that are disseminated through a hybrid model of e-learning paired with in person workshops. This pairing introduces the concept of e-learning but along with in person guidance, which is still necessary for this audience. E-learning helps to streamline the content provided and the in person workshops add the human touch needed to accommodate vulnerable populations. The videos will be presented and then discussed in small workshop settings run by trained facilitators.

QED has already implemented the program in Guelph, Scarborough, and Mississauga. QED aims to take the program to other cities in partnership with settlement agencies across Ontario.

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