About Us

Wanasah is dedicated to supporting Black youth and their families living in Regent Park and surrounding areas with mental health and problematic substance use needs through Black-centric, inclusive, holistic, and culturally safe care.

Wanasah Values You

Why Wanasah

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Wanasah understands that many Black youth in Regent Park and Toronto at large are directly and indirectly affected by anti-Black racism, inter-generational trauma, poverty and the rise in gun violence in their communities. .

These issues can lead to an increase in mental health and addiction needs that are for a large part, unmet. A range of factors are behind this service gap for Black youth. The overall shortageof free mental health services, coupled with systemic and provider level discrimination and a lack of culturally safe care, as well as individual and community barriers such as stigma all contribute to a lack of access to effective, culturally safe care.

Wanasah was created to help bridge this gap through offering Black-centric mental health and addictions support to Black youth in the Regent Park community and surrounding areas.

Our Story

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In a community where over 75% of the population identifies as a visible minority and 30% are under the age of 24, Regent Park is home to the first Wanasah project.

Wanasah was birthed over a decade ago out of a community-based peer mentorship program, which served over 1000 youth over an 8-year span. Through the community connections that were formed, the mentorship program evolved into a support network that served four families, 25 children and a mother’s group. It was out of these grassroots efforts, run entirely by volunteers, that that Wanasah was born.

Wanasah is a non-profit community-based organization that prioritizes dignity-affirming, Black-centric mental health and addictions services for Black youth and their families. Co-founded by a Regent Park resident, we work in close partnership with other local organizations to support the mental health needs of Black youth and their families facing mental health and addictions challenges in Regent Park and the surrounding area.