Our story

The organization is registered as a non-profit organization (NPO) with the Quebec Enterprise Register under its current name, La Maison Multiethnique Myosotis, whose mission is to offer affordable psychological support to people from diverse cultural communities in Montreal. Its beginnings were discreet and gradual. With the support of the board of directors, whose first president was Daniel Fournier, the team sought funding to continue and expand its services. Two years later, the organization received its first funding from the PSOC (Financial Support for Community Organizations). Despina Filippidis became the first director of La Maison Multiethnique Myosotis.

Composed entirely of psychologists who have experienced immigration to Quebec, the small team at Maison Multiethnique Myosotis seeks to develop its expertise in the intercultural approach. Inspired by ethnopsychiatry, the team participates in meetings of the transcultural clinic at Jean-Talon Hospital. It also benefits from the guidance of psychiatrist Dr. Segura, head of the ethnopsychiatry department at the University of Montreal Hospital Centre (CHUM).

The intercultural approach is becoming integrated into the traditional psychotherapy approaches used by professionals within the organization who address complex problems specific to the immigration process, such as: emotional and social disruptions, culture and climate shock, loss of cultural and familial bearings, devaluation of values ​​and social status, identity deconstruction and disorientation, and also all the difficulties related to the adaptation process: unemployment, poverty, language barriers, and family conflicts, to name just a few. As for refugees, many have experienced trauma related to war or persecution and, consequently, are very vulnerable upon arrival in the host country and, in most cases, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Comme le mentionne, Maria Dudek, cofondatrice et directrice de La Maison Multiethnique Myosotis depuis 2000, l’approche interculturelle tient compte, avant tout, de l’individu et de son expérience: « Chaque personne est spécialiste de son pays, de sa culture, et de ses modèles. Celle-ci nous enseigne et, ensuite, nous nous adaptons aux différentes réalités et conceptions qui la définissent afin de la guider, l’accompagner et la soutenir dans son cheminement vers l’équilibre psychique et émotionnel. Il s’agit d’une approche de compréhension interculturelle favorisant une véritable rencontre humaine, basée sur le regard croisé (contrairement au regard lineare: thérapeute-client.e), où l’on entre dans le territoire de la culture de l’autre, tout en préservant le nôtre. »