Youth Mental Health
Child and Youth Mental Health Programs and Supports
Some facts about Youth Mental Illness
Living with a young person can be a stressful time for parents. Often they seem to change overnight from friendly and agreeable children to difficult strangers. In the adolescent years, the brain is experiencing a lot of changes, and your teen may be less able to manage emotions, make good judgments and control impulses. Most of the time this is just part of growing up. Young people are simply searching for their own personal identity. Sometimes, however, there are signs that can point to something more serious, such as ADHD, anxiety or depression. Mental illness can prevent a young person from performing in school or from making friends, and in some instances, may lead to thoughts of suicide. The good news is that mental health problems and illnesses are treatable.
Seven numbers every Canadian should know:
• 75% of children and youth with a mental health problem or illness will not receive treatment
• Suicide is the #1 cause of non-accidental death among youth
• As many as 173,000 young people will try to take their own lives this year
• Almost 90% of people who die by suicide have a mental illness
• Every year we lose 762 young Canadians to suicide. That’s 2 every day
• Three times as many youth (15-24) die by suicide than by all forms of cancer combined
BGC Kawarthas offers a broad range of Youth Mental Health programming at no cost to participants. These include but are not limited to:
Enhanced Staffing: Enables children and youth who require added supervision to attend and participate in Club programs. This service provides the opportunity to experience social and recreational programs.
Reach Youth Support Program: The Reach Youth Support Program is designed to be a preventative service. The intention is not therapy but rather a less restrictive intervention. The focus of the program is to aid youth in developing skills to deal with day to day life. This is facilitated through the client/worker relationship. Reach groups take place at designated Trillium Lakelands District Schools, Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic Schools, and BGC Kawarthas Lindsay facility.
Warehouse Youth Centre: Specific staff within the Youth Warehouse are designated to recognize and support youth who are showing signs of mental health issues or ask for assistance in dealing with mental health issues in their lives.
FLEX Your Head: Is a universal mental health program Goals of Flex Your Head. The aim of Flex Your Head is to promote mental health and resiliency among participating youth. Primary goals of the program are to create awareness and enhance understanding of mental health and mental illness among youth members. To help youth develop strategies to cope with stress, promote healthy relationships and understand the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. To help youth translate their understanding of mental health into positive, anti-stigma attitudes and actions in their communities.
Youth Outreach Program: Supports youth with service navigation.The Youth Outreach program is an early intervention service for youth ages 12-24. The Youth Outreach Worker’s role is to connect with young people, build rapport, identify barriers, and empower youth to overcome. This is done through mentoring, navigating community supports and actively connecting youth and their families with services that will meet their needs.