Muslim Link would like to thank Umm Zaynab for her anonymous contribution which sheds light on a serious gap in Muslim community services in Canada.

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The loss of a loved one is something that most of us will inevitably experience in the course of our lives. It is surprising then that there are very few resources available in our communities and in our institutions to help and support those experiencing such a loss. Our mosques and institutions often seem to think that in the event of a death, their role ends with settling matters of the funeral - bathing, offering funeral prayers for and burying the deceased.

The following is a statement from the Justice for Soli coalition after learning that the Kawartha Lakes Police Service will not be pressing charges against those responsible for the death of Soleiman Faqiri.

Readers should know that this is the second time that a Muslim coping with schizophrenia has died after spending time in the Lindsay Detention Centre. The first was Somali refugee Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, who died in a Peterborough Hospital. Hassan was under indefinite immigrantion detention at Lindsay. Fellow immigration detention inmates went on hunger strike to demand an inquest into his death.

When I was diagnosed with my mental illness, it almost felt like a death sentence. Like the real me was dying. I kept thinking, ‘does this mean I’m crazy?’ In my community - the Muslim community - depression was an ill that -- well, it was not an illness. The myth is that such deep sadness can be a result of past wrongdoing, or maybe the patient of depression had not been praying enough, contributing to the community enough, not working hard enough, always never good enough - adding to the anxiety of a person with such a disorder. We are told that we were lazy, somehow less and ungrateful for the blessings we had.

Fatimah Jackson-Best is a healthcare researcher, advocate and academic. While studying for her PhD in public health science at the University of Toronto, she relocated from the city of her birth to the island where she traces half of her heritage: Barbados. Her PhD research project focuses on Afro-Caribbean women's maternal health; however, her interests also include the health of Muslim communities.

Mariam Nouser is an entrepreneur and blogger based in Toronto, Canada. While she is a full time student in university, she splits her free time between her presidential duties of the Ryerson MSA, running her own blog, being a Project Coach for the crowdfunding platform – LaunchGood as well as a barista for Starbucks.

In addition to her blessings, she has been the victim of Islamophobia whilst wearing the hijab and hopes to share her unique stories with everyone in order to cope with times of loss, confusion and trauma. As someone who suffers from a mental illness, she aspires to create a platform that increases dialogue within such a “taboo” topic.

On Saturday, August 20th, community members are encouraged to attend the Run for the Horn Marathon and BBQ at Britannia Beach to raise awareness about mental health issues in Ottawa and to raise funds to support the Habeeb Mental Health Foundation in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Muslim Link interviewed the team behind this event.

Serenity Islamic Mental Health Awareness held its first conference from May 20th to 22nd at the Ahlul Bayt Centre and the Carleton University Campus.

Along with tackling an important but often taboo subject within Ottawa’s Muslim communities, mental illness, the conference also marked an unprecedented collaboration between members of Ottawa’s Sunni and Shia communities.

The team behind Serenity Islamic Mental Health Awareness is organizing a major conference from May 20th to 22nd to destigmatize mental illness within Muslim communities in Ottawa. Subjects that will be discussed during the conference will include depression, suicide, and addiction. “We want to destigmatize the mystery around mental illness and normalize it because it’s there every day,” Berak Hussain, the conference director, stated. Berak, an Iraqi Canadian professional counsellor, works with Carleton University’s Health and Counselling Services, who have endorsed the event.

Inspired by a recent Letter to the Editor, I have decided to share some reflections on why we need to make it easier to talk about suicide in our communities.

May 2 to 8th is Mental Health Week in Canada. In recognition of this week, Muslim Link is publishing a Letter to the Editor from one of our readers, a Muslim woman in Ottawa who was recently diagnosed with depression. She shares her journey in the hopes that it helps other Muslims inshallah.