Rural and remote women and the Kirby-Keon report on mental health

This paper analyzes the Highlights and Recommendations of Out of the Shadows at Last with a gender-place lens focused on women living in rural and remote areas in Saskatchewan: • to draw out the references that would strengthen the response to their needs, and • to point to gaps not acknowledged in the report. [...] Gender, and the health of women, have not typically been the focus of research, policy reviews, or health planning, and this trend continues in the current Kirby-Keon report.4 In anticipation of Out of the Shadows at Last, a working group convened by the Canadian Women’s Health Network (CWHN) and the CEWH made recommendations specific to women’s mental health and addictions.5. [...] The format and headings of the Highlights and Recommendations document of the Kirby-Keon report form the basis for the remainder of this report. [...] Thus this discussion of the recommendations of the Kirby-Keon report begins with Chapter 3. The authors acknowledge the particular concerns of northern women, but due to the experience of the authors this paper does have more of a focus on rural women in the southern half of the province – further analysis is needed for a fuller picture of the needs of northern women. [...] The report also states that because of the overlap of causes and effects of addictions and mental illness, there is need and opportunity for the two sectors to work together and possibly integrate the services (Recommendation 45).