Cultural Consultation in Child Psychiatry

This chapter addresses cultural consultation in child psychiatry. The mental health needs of immigrant and refugee youth are outlined, and different models of mental health services for immigrant and refugee children and their families are described. The work of two transcultural child psychiatric teams, one in Canada and one in France, are presented in order to illustrate the practice of transcultural child psychiatry. The aim is to outline practical strategies for consultation and intervention, and also to show how specific institutional, social and political contexts influence how clinicians address issues associated with minority status and culture in their cultural consultation work. The chapter concludes with some reflections on how sociocultural context influences the practice of transcultural child psychiatry in these two models of care.