Sure, I'll address this one. Thank you so much for the question.
The overarching issue with newcomer women, social isolation and social integration is that we need to talk about the systemic racism that is entrenched in that aspect. Not only are they facing multiple barriers, not only are they incredibly stressed and mental health is something they cannot even talk about, but they encounter racism at every turn. The benefit of the early intervention with social connections is key, particularly when they are the backbone of their family. They are the ones who are responsible for taking care of the household and for the child rearing in those cases. In a lot of cases, particularly with some of our communities out in Peel, newcomer families are in multi-generational homes, so there is the added burden of senior care that comes with being a woman who also has to take care of children.
What importance, in that long queue of priorities, does social connection and reducing social isolation take? At first glance, of course, they don't see it as such. Women put others' needs ahead of theirs. Newcomer women, particularly racialized or marginalized newcomer women, will place the needs of others ahead of theirs.
Again, getting back to my earlier point about how wellness goes beyond the physical, making sure they're aware of that and making sure there are resources available to them when they come to access our services makes it okay. It's okay for you to think about yourself. It's okay for you to take some time to connect with other women or connect with other female professionals or female entrepreneurs. It's okay to take care of yourself. In fact, you need to take care of yourself in order to be the caregiver, which is expected of you when you return home.
I'm not sure if that really answers your question, but that's certainly something that comes out a lot, and we're incorporating that into our services. For example, concerning the career pathways program that you mentioned earlier, we make it a point to have a meetup group every month where women can connect with other women like them who perhaps look like them or have similar stories to theirs. They talk about wellness and well-being and can share stories and empower each other. The career pathways program is about finding a job, but we make a point to have those conversations at the table and have the women have these conversations with each other.