Introduction to Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO)
YWHO is an initiative that aims to bring the right services to youth and their families at the right time and in the right place. YWHO is a critical step toward improving the experience of Ontario’s mental health and substance use services for youth and young adults by:
- Providing rapid access to easily identifiable mental health and substance use services with walk-in, low-barrier services and clear service pathways;
- Providing evidence-based interventions matched to individuals’ level of need, and supported transitions to specialized care services when appropriate;
- Integrating mental health, substance use, primary care, care navigation, peer support, employment, education, housing and other inclusivity-based wellness services into a one-stop-shop model of care offered in a youth-friendly space;
- Reducing transitions between services through co-location and shared services in a single place;
- Establishing common evaluation across sites; and
- Co-creating services with youth & families.
YWHO builds on similar initiatives and other evidence-informed models already underway in Canada such as ACCESS Open Minds (Pan-Canadian) and Foundry (British Columbia), as well as previous international initiatives such as Jigsaw (Ireland) and Headspace (Australia). There were also four existing research-funded hubs in Ontario – Scarborough, Toronto East, Central Toronto (YouthCan IMPACT), and Chatham-Kent (ACCESS Open Minds), as well as many youth hubs in development across the province.
Learn more about YWHO in the attached onboarding manual, including:
- The purpose of YWHO;
- Our values;
- Core services;
- Core components of the model;
- Commitment to health equity and anti-racism; and
- Locations of the ten YWHO sites.
