Youth Engagement
Youth engagement is about empowering young people as valuable partners in child and youth mental health to address and make decisions that affect them personally or that they believe to be important. Evidence shows that when young people have a voice and active role in treatment and service planning, access to mental health services is enhanced, agencies are able to be more responsive to community needs, community development is bolstered and young people are encouraged to be more civic-minded. Through engagement, young people experience positive changes, develop better critical thinking skills, teamwork and leadership skills.
Family Engagement
Family engagement is an ongoing process that includes families as active decision makers and equal partners in service delivery at individual, organizational and system levels. Evidence suggests that when families have a voice and active role in treatment and service planning at the system level, agencies and communities are able to be more responsive to the needs of children, young people and families. Embedding family voice into system initiatives not only increases community awareness and helps reduce stigma around child and youth mental health, engagement also improves infrastructure and services, all of which makes the system itself more sustainable.
For more information and resources on youth and family engagement, please visit the resource hub from the Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions: https://www.cymh.ca/en/projects/family-engagement.aspx
In the embedded video, members of the YWHO project team, and youth and family advisors, highlight the importance of meaningful youth and family engagement in an integrated youth service model. Video content includes:
- Meaningful engagement principles and practices and why they are important in the context of YWHO;
- Ways to apply core components of youth engagement; and
- Ways to engage family in a youth-driven care model.
Sources
The Knowledge Institute for Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions (March 2021). Quality standard for youth engagement. Ottawa, ON. Available online: www.cymh.ca/ye_standard
The Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions (March 2021). Quality standard for family engagement. Ottawa, ON. Available online: www.cymh.ca/fe_standard
